Car News

The 2018 Lexus LS350 has quietly broken cover this week, debuting at the Shenzen-Hong Kong-Macao international auto show in China. While there's no official press release from the Japanese marque, yet, the LS350 will be powered by the same 3.5-litre V6 petrol engine found in other Lexus 350 models, such as the smaller GS350. Outputs of 318hp (237kW) and 380Nm are quoted by auto-sina.com.cn, and the V6 engine will be coupled as standard to a 10-speed automatic transmission.

A new Do Not Disturb While Driving feature is coming to Apple iPhone devices from around the third quarter of this year. When Do Not Disturb While Driving mode is enabled, the phone can block incoming messages and also automatically reply with something like: "I'm driving with Do Not Disturb on. I'll respond when I get to where I'm going." Selected special contacts can reply with "urgent" to break through the phone's automatic message blocker.

New car buyers can soon expect to see a more aggressive approach from Renault, Mitsubishi and Nissan as the brands push for greater relevance in the busy Australian market, following a strongly-worded press conference with the global head of all three brands this week.

Strewth! It turns out 15 of our HSV GTSR supercharged specials are going to the Poms, badged as Vauxhalls. Dubbed the Vauxhall VXR8 GTS-R, the 435kW/740Nm supercharged 6.2-litre LSA V8-powered HSV GTSR will not only rock their limey socks off, it’ll also become the most-powerful car Vauxhall has ever sold in the company’s 114-year history.

One of the key figures behind Volkswagen's dominant return to the World Rally Championship (WRC) has been appointed managing director of the German manufacturer's ever-popular 'R' performance arm. Volkswagen has announced that, effective June 1, Jost Capito will head up Volkswagen R GmbH, despite leaving his post as Volkswagen’s director of motorsport in August 2016 to take up the position of CEO of McLaren Racing just one month later.