Car News

While the debate about electric cars continues in Australia, a battery-powered ute might be just around the corner. US start-up Rivian says it is planning to sell its R1T double-cab pick-up and R1S family SUV in Australia, with a possible showroom arrival as early as 2022. At the 2019 New York motor show, company spokesman Chris Wollen told CarAdvice: “Right-hand drive is coming, it’s been in the plans from the beginning”.

The Kia Habaniro was revealed overnight at the 2019 New York motor show. Said to feature an all-electric drivetrain, the Habaniro has a driving range of over 480 kilometres (300 miles). The car has an electric motor for each axle, but Kia has not provided any power or torque figures. Penned by the company's American design centre, the Habaniro has a flat floor, seating for four people, and access via four butterfly doors.

Mini has unveiled a mid-life facelift for its compact Clubman wagon. Changes over the outgoing model are subtle and mainly lie in the aesthetics department. Up front there’s a revised grille with longer horizontal slats, flanked by optional matrix LED headlights and all-new LED fog lights. Around the rear, LED tail-lights are now bundled as standard, with a version of the recently-refreshed Mini Hatch’s Union Jack LED taillights available as an option.

At this week's New York motor show, Nissan has given its monstrously powerful GT-R a small update for the 2020 model year, including a revised Nismo range-topper and a new 50th Anniversary special edition. The flagship GT-R has received a number of aerodynamic and handling tweaks to further improve its performance.

The first all-electric Aston Martin is upon us, unveiled today at the Shanghai motor show. Just 155 examples of the Rapide E will be built, and they’re almost all spoken for. Rather than a full, series production model, it’s a technical test bed for Aston Martin, as the brand looks to push electrification across the range through the 2020s.