Ford F-150

We don't want to sound like we're complaining, but sometimes being a small, far-flung, right-hand-drive country has its downsides. While being an Australian certainly has some perks (we'd list them but we just keep coming back to Tim Tams, sprinklers slung over Hills Hoists in summer, and outstanding '80s cricket moustaches), it also means we miss out on a bunch of overseas car brands and models we'd rather like to take for a spin.

A rematch of the Tesla Cybertruck tug-of-war with the Ford F-150 is not going ahead anytime soon after Ford issued an official statement dismissing the challenge as “tongue-in-cheek”. Earlier this week a senior executive at Ford had issued a challenge to Elon Musk via Twitter after a Tesla video showed a Cybertruck towing a Ford F-150 backwards up a hill. The Ford tweet said: "Send us a Cybertruck and we'll do the apples-to-apples test for you.” Musk responded: “Bring it on”.

JATO Dynamics says global car sales totalled 44 million during the first six months of 2018, up 3.6 per cent on the same time last year, with SUV sales up 14 per cent to at least 14.95 million units.

Ford has detailed its upcoming product rollout – for the United States, at least – which will focus on the SUV and pickup segments. The Blue Oval says will replace "more than 75 per cent" of its current portfolio by 2020, while also adding four new trucks and SUVs. Additionally, the company will commence the rollout of hybrid and electric variants of existing models form 2020.