Car News

The 2021 Kia Picanto has landed in Australian showrooms, with the facelifted hatchback range ushering in increased prices and upgraded exterior styling and fresh infotainment features. The Picanto, which was Australia's top-selling micro car for July 2020, has risen in price by between $300 and $800 depending on the variant, but retained its sub-$15,000 entrypoint (before on-road costs).

Take-up of pure electric vehicles may be slow in Australia but we’re embracing the idea of petrol-electric power in record numbers. Excluding Tesla which does not publish sales figures, electric cars represented just 0.2 per cent of all new vehicles reported as sold in July 2020 (138 of 72,505 sales) as demand dropped by 40 per cent – in an overall market that was down by 12.8 per cent.

The facelifted 2021 Kia Stonic compact SUV has been unveiled in Europe – ahead of its Australian showroom arrival in late 2020. While the Kia Stonic has been on sale in Europe since 2017, its Australian debut was timed to coincide with this mid-life styling and technology update. The Kia Stonic will sit below the popular Kia Seltos, as the Korean brand aims to fill every niche in the hotly-contested sub-$40,000 SUV segment.

Australia, we have a new winner: the Toyota RAV4 topped the monthly sales charts for the first time ever in July, as buyers continue to shift towards SUVs and shun passenger cars. It is the first time in the 26-year history of the Toyota RAV4 nameplate that it has led the Australian new-car market in the monthly sales charts.

Iconic classic Volkswagen models appear set to become available with the option of converted electric powertrains, if new trademarks filed in Europe are a guide. The classic model names Beetle, Golf, Kubel and, Karmann were all filed with the European Union Intellectual Property Office in late June, this time with the prefix “e-”. It is possible some of these names are being reserved for modern interpretations of the classic cars, rather than electrified original examples.