Car News

Last year was a big year for Holden, both emotionally and financially. Now, the local boss says the shackles have finally been released. 2017 saw the closure of local manufacturing and the termination of 30 dealer franchise agreements, with the brand electing not to renew them beyond December 31, 2017.

McLaren has revealed more information about the Senna, ahead of the car's full public reveal in Geneva. Although we learned all about the 588kW/800Nm twin-turbo V8 engine when the car was announced in December, there were plenty of questions remaining. How much downforce does the car make? How fast will it go? The latest release from McLaren goes a long way to answering those questions. Let's start with aerodynamics. Running at 250km/h, the car produces a whopping 800kg of downforce.

BMW Australia is considering a subscription fee for Apple CarPlay, potentially following in the footsteps of its American counterpart. Speaking to CarAdvice at the 2018 Bathurst 12 Hour, Lenore Fletcher, local communications boss for BMW, said the company was in discussions about making customers – who currently pay upfront to have CarPlay fitted – make yearly payments to use the service.

UPDATE: Mazda has confirmed the turbo-petrol engine from the sedan will be offered in the wagon. The copy has been tweaked to reflect that. Get excited, wagon fans. The updated Mazda 6 wagon has been revealed ahead of a full debut at the Geneva motor show in March. Up front, the face-lifted wagon adopts the look debuted on the 6 sedan in November 2017. It gets a new grille, headlamps and fascia at the front, while the rear... actually, there are no photos of the rear yet.

Holden has taken steps to bring a fully-electric car to the Australian market, but the business case depends on government support. In August 2017, Holden lodged a trademark application to protect the use of Chevrolet Bolt. The company then transported a vehicle to Australia for local testing – and display at the Holden Dream Cruise in 2017. The Chevrolet Bolt is an all-electric car capable of travelling 320km between charges, and retails for around US$30,000 in its home market.