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Menampilkan postingan dari Juni, 2025

The ACT is making electric cars more expensive, and ‘slamming the brakes on progress’

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The Australian Capital Territory’s latest budget will change the stamp duty concession of electric vehicles, making it more costly for owners to get them on the road. From September 1 this year, it will become more expensive to register electric cars in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) – which has to date had a greater uptake of electric vehicles (EVs) than any other state or territory. Part of the ACT’s 2025-26 budget will see it “reducing motor vehicle concessions for zero emissions vehicles”, meaning stamp duty will soon need to be paid upon an EV, plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV), or hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) changing hands. According to the budget papers, the move is to “safeguard the sustainability and stability of [the state’s] revenue base as the electric vehicle market continues to mature” with electrified models soon to be hit with a minimum 2.5 per cent tariff. The tax will also increase “proportionally based on emissions and value”, with an 8 per ...

BYD distances itself from former distributor’s ambitious plans for market dominance

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Now selling cars under factory control, BYD has set more modest expectations for its sales growth in Australia after ambitious targets to overtake Toyota were laid out by its former distributor EVDirect. BYD Australia has seemingly stepped back from the bold goal set by its former independent distributor to topple Toyota and become the country’s top-selling new-vehicle brand by the end of the decade. An ambition to become Australia’s Number One brand in less than a decade was set in late 2023 by EVDirect, the former distributor of BYD cars in Australia, which handed back the reins to a factory-backed BYD head office operation in July . To become Number One in Australia, BYD would need to deliver more than 200,000 vehicles annually – up from about 20,000 last year – and dethrone a brand that has topped the charts for the past 23 years. And while topping the charts is still an eventual goal, BYD Australia Head of Product Sajid Hasan told Drive that sales and position are on...

This could be the rarest McLaren collection in existence, and it’s up for auction

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While owning any McLaren car is exotic enough, this collection of final production examples belonging to the former owner of the British marque could fetch $70 million at auction. Image: Tom Hartley Jnr While McLaren’s Formula One team is currently enjoying a comfortable lead in both the Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championship so far in 2025, a rare set of McLaren luxury sports cars with a special story are set to go under the hammer. Dubbed the ‘Mansour Ojjeh Collection’, classic car dealer Tom Hartley Jnr is set to auction off 20 McLaren models belonging to Mansour Ojjeh, the late and former McLaren owner. RELATED: Under the skin of McLaren’s $4 million hypercar According to global sports outlet ESPN , the collection is valued at approximately $AUD70 million, which makes sense given the historical significance of the vehicles. Though owning any standard McLaren is an honour in itself, the auctioned collection takes rarity to a whole new level. Tom Hartley Jnr states m...

Car brands to rack up fines under new Australian emissions rules, from today

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The day of reckoning has arrived for Australia’s top-selling new car brands, as they will now be held responsible for the CO2 emissions of each new vehicle they sell – and face fines if they miss strict targets. The Federal Government has today begun its tally of the CO2 emissions output of every new vehicle brought to Australia , which is predicted to see the country’s top-selling car brands accumulate as much as $2.8 billion in fines over the next five years. The New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES) sets CO2 emissions targets for each new car on sale, which manufacturers must beat across their model line-ups in a calendar year to avoid hefty government fines. While the controversial policy came into effect on January 1, 2025, regulators would not track the importation of new vehicles – and the emissions of each one – until today, July 1, 2025. MORE: NVES explained – everything you need to know about Australia’s new vehicle emissions rules Industry analysts say tha...

2025 LDV Terron 9 price and specs: Bigger, all-new ute more than $10,000 dearer than T60

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LDV’s first all-new ute in close to a decade is larger and more powerful – but now starts from about $50,000, less than a comparable HiLux or Ranger but significantly more than the T60 it will live alongside. 2025 LDV Terron 9 pricing and specifications New ute is one of the largest in the class 3.5-tonne towing from 163kW 2.5-litre turbo-diesel Cheaper T60 to remain on sale for buyers on a budget Priced from $50,990 drive-away, excluding launch offers The 2025 LDV Terron 9 dual-cab ute will start more than $10,000 dearer than the smaller and older T60 – alongside which it will be sold – when it arrives in showrooms in the coming weeks. LDV will offer two Terron 9 variants – both with a 163kW/520Nm 2.5-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel and four-wheel-drive – priced from $50,990 drive-away with an ABN, or $53,674 for private buyers. It bridges the price gap between other budget-priced Chinese utes – including the regular-size GWM Cannon , at $43,490 drive-away with ...

2026 Kia Stonic poised to add fuel-saving mild-hybrid tech in Australia

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Kia’s smallest SUV may be about to take the first step towards full hybrid technology in Australia with a model update next year. User ‘Laffey_Sin_Geun’, via Autospy. Kia’s smallest SUV – the 2026 Kia Stonic – looks increasingly likely to introduce mild-hybrid technology in Australia as part of a model upgrade next year, as strict CO2 emissions rules for new vehicles loom. Offered in Europe for some time, the 48-volt technology is not a full hybrid akin to a Toyota Yaris Cross, as it cannot drive the wheels on electric power alone. However, it trims fuel use by about 5 per cent – or 0.3 litres per 100 kilometres – in European WLTP lab testing , and will assist Kia under Australia’s new New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES) regulations. MORE: 2026 Kia Stonic update due in Australia next year Current Kia Stonic GT-Line. Roland Rivero, Kia Australia’s head of product, hinted at plans for reducing fuel consumption in the brand’s smallest SUV. “Even though we do have...

2026 Tesla Model Y Performance caught undisguised

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Tesla’s new flagship SUV for right-hand-drive markets has been spotted without camouflage ahead of a reveal in the coming months. This is the world’s first look at the updated 2026 Tesla Model Y Performance electric SUV, without camouflage, ahead of its global launch due by the end of this year. Footage shared by Tesla owner Elizabeth with the German-speaking Nextmove YouTube channel shows a red Model Y Performance testing in the Swiss Alps, followed by a regular Model Y support car. No licence plates are fitted to the Performance, suggesting it is being used for photography ahead of its global reveal, rather than road testing and development. MORE: 2026 Tesla Model S and Model X revealed as latest update for decade-old cars The clearest view is of the rear end, where the flagship Tesla variant gains a black lip spoiler – as with today’s model – and a sportier lower bumper with additional aero inserts, and new sculpting behind the rear wheels. New wheels are visib...

How do average speed cameras fine you?

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New South Wales is set to become the latest state to permanently add average speed cameras to local roads. But how do these cameras fine you? We find out. Various Australian state and territory road rules are on the verge of major reforms, with the new changes set to affect drivers from July 1, 2025 . While most of the big changes relate to the introduction of new AI-powered road cameras and harsher penalties, in the case of New South Wales, the state government will permanently add average speed cameras to local roads. RELATED: Do average speed cameras apply to cars? If you want the full breakdown of how average speed cameras work, visit Drive’s previous coverage here . In a nutshell, multiple cameras are positioned at various points of a road, with the new technology recording a vehicle and calculating a driver’s average speed from one point to another. It’s worth noting that average speed cameras, otherwise known as point-to-point cameras, are nothing new in NSW. Howe...

2027 Volkswagen ID.4 overhaul poised to bring back buttons – report

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A comprehensive update to the Volkswagen ID.4 electric SUV has been confirmed to debut next year, with the changes set to be similar to the difference between a Mk5 and Mk6 Golf. 2025 Volkswagen ID.4. The 2027 Volkswagen ID.4 electric family SUV will be “completely different” to the current model, the brand has confirmed, but it won’t be an all-new car. It is expected to debut at the end of 2026, only 18 months after the imminent Australian arrival of the current model following several delays, but five years after the first-generation car was revealed, and four years since European deliveries started. A Volkswagen representative told UK publication Auto Express the future ID.4 will have a “completely different” exterior and interior design compared to the current model, with more physical buttons set to be introduced in its cabin. MORE: New Volkswagen Amarok Walkinshaw still at least 12 months away 2025 Volkswagen ID.4. “Everything on the outside will be differ...