CAR ADVICE

Top car makers and industry groups have pushed back on changing regulations that currently allow them to stockpile electric cars and profit from their rivals’ struggles to meet tough emissions rules. EXCLUSIVE Some of Australia’s top car makers have pushed back against closing a loophole that could allow them to ‘dump’ thousands of excess hybrid and electric cars in holding yards to help beat tough penalties for missing government CO2 targets. The rules, known as the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES), count vehicles towards a car maker’s emissions average when, or before they arrive in Australia, not when they are sold. It opens the door for low-emissions cars to be stockpiled – long before they reach customers – in order to bank ‘credits’, which can be sold at a premium to rival car brands struggling to meet the rules, or kept in-house to offset dirtier models in the line-up. MORE: Polestar to bail out rival car brands that can’t meet CO2 emissions targets Vehic...

After putting an end to failure-prone hidden and motorised door handles, Chinese regulators have turned their attention to irregular steering controls. Chinese regulators have drafted a new safety standard that could see ‘yoke’ style steering wheels banned on future vehicles. In a bid to reduce injuries caused by irregularly shaped wheels, or those with open ends, the new regulation includes impact tests at ten specific points around the steering wheel rim. The new test criteria, which call for impact tests at the “midpoint of the weakest area” and the “midpoint of the shortest unsupported area” on the steering wheel rim mean that ‘half-spoke’ or yoke-style steering wheels without a complete outer rim would not physically be able to comply with these tests. The new regulations, published by the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), are set to come into force from the first of January, 2027. MORE: The correct way to hold a steering wheel revealed ...

Mapping glitches have slowed the rollout of Apple CarPlay to Tesla cars, after years of resisting the popular technology. The introduction of Apple CarPlay smartphone mirroring technology to Tesla electric cars has been delayed after hitting a speed bump during development, according to a new report. News outlet Bloomberg – via reputable Apple-focused journalist Mark Gurman – broke the story last year that the US electric-car giant was looking to implement the popular feature, amid feedback from potential customers. It was initially forecast to roll out as soon as the end of 2025, according to Gurman, but “compatibility hitches” with the iPhone’s in-house Apple Maps have reportedly forced the launch to be delayed. MORE: Tesla poised to adopt Apple CarPlay, backflipping on long-held stance – report According to the report, the turn-by-turn guidance offered Tesla’s in-house navigation – which uses Google Maps data – would not synchronise correctly with Apple Maps’ rou...

There is more to why Australia’s overall road toll has risen for five consecutive years for the first time since the period following the end of World War II. Despite Australia’s driver fatalities dropping year-on-year since 2023, the country’s overall road toll has risen for five consecutive years for the first time since the period following the end of World War II. The latest data published by the Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics (BITRE) shows the overall road toll increased for five consecutive years between 2020 and 2025, despite driver deaths falling for three consecutive years between 2023 and 2025.  The overall road toll’s continued rise, despite the recent fall in driver fatalities, is largely sustained by a rise in pedestrian, pedal cyclist, and ‘unknown’ road user deaths over the past few years. Motorcyclist fatalities also rose year-on-year from 2020 to 2024; however, they dropped in 2025. The road toll’s incremental rise over the pa...

BYD and its Chinese rivals will sell you more space, luxury, and tech than Kia for the same money, but the Korean giant won’t turn to massive discounts to compete. Kia EV3 Air. Kia Australia says it will not “burn” existing customers with drastic discounts to compete on price with the growing array of budget-priced electric cars from China. The South Korean car giant is Australia’s top-selling electric-car brand that isn’t Chinese, though its most popular battery-powered model, the EV5 , is made in the nation from which BYD , MG , and Geely hail. The cheapest EV5 is similar in price to an entry-level BYD Sealion 7 , but it has 80km less driving range, and lacks luxuries such as leather seats, wireless phone charging, a 360-degree camera, and a sunroof, which are standard on its rival. A Geely EX5 electric SUV is similar in size to the $56,770 EV5, yet starts from just $40,990 before on-road costs, with a similar range and longer list of features. MORE: 2026 Kia EV4 revie...

Yes, BYD Australia is passing on local feedback on the Shark 6 to head office in China. BYD is looking at improving the off-road capability of its big-selling Shark 6 plug-in hybrid ute. In an interview with Drive , BYD Australia’s chief operating officer, Stephen Collins, said the brand was looking to satisfy the requirements of those who want to take their Shark 6 on more arduous off-road terrain. There’s been some criticism of the current Shark 6’s performance when taken off the beaten track, and BYD is aware of the vehicle’s shortcomings. “We are really, really proud of Shark and we’re very, very proud of the customer reaction, the market position it’s in … but having said that, I don’t think anything’s perfect,” conceded Collins. MORE: 2026 BYD Shark 6 Dynamic cab-chassis price leaked “So we are constantly feeding back where there’s opportunities to improve, where there’s opportunities to upgrade… We’ll have a bit more to say about that in the coming months wi...