Car News

Masamichi Kogai, CEO of Mazda, has stated that his company isn't currently working a sports car larger than the MX-5. During an interview with Automotive News, Kogai was asked if the company had plans for a "larger sports car entry", to which he simply stated no. This seemingly rules out a new rotary-powered sports car in the near future and contradicts an August report in Japan's Holiday Auto, which claimed that the company was prepping an RX-7 successor for 2020.

The next-generation Honda CR-V is expected to match it with the segment’s top sellers when it launches in the third quarter of 2017, returning the well-known nameplate to the lion’s share of buyers’ consideration lists. The expanded new CR-V range, expected to comprise five- and seven-seat derivatives and both front- and all-wheel drive configurations, is slated as a return to form that’ll trouble the top-selling Mazda CX-5, Hyundai Tucson, Nissan X-Trail and Toyota RAV4.

The next-generation 2018 Holden Commodore hatch and wagon have been spied completely undisguised, in their overseas Opel Insignia form, during a photo and video shoot. Despite the German plates on these vehicles, this promotional shoot actually took place in California. Aside from some tape hiding various badges around the vehicle, both the hatch and wagon show the final form of the production vehicle, which will go on sale in Europe next year.

The Australian new vehicle market was steady in November, up a modest 0.3 per cent to 98,937 units. The total market remains on record pace at 1,079,370 year-to-date (YTD). Interestingly, a pair of utes were the top-selling models. As has become familiar, it was SUVs (38 per cent market share) and light commercials (19 per cent market share) that showed sales growth, offsetting a 4.5 per cent decline in passenger car sales, still the market-topping segment with 40 per cent market share.

We will likely see more BMW M Performance models before we do ‘true’ BMW M models, the company says. CarAdvice spoke with a number of M Division executives, including Peter Quintus, Vice President of Global Sales and Marketing, in Australia for the Festival of M promotion and to meet with the local BMW team.