Australian automotive sales have started strongly in 2012 with a total of 76,783 sold. That’s an increase of 3199 sales compared to the same month last year. Sadly, we think, the growth is due in part to the seemingly insatiable appetite the Australian market has for SUVs. In this segment sales were up almost 30% [...]
Australia registered over one million new vehicle sales in 2011 the latest FCAI press release reveals. The final tally of 1,008,437 represents the fourth time the country has passed one million sales in a calendar year. Despite dropping more than 27,000 sales (-2.6%) on 2010 numbers, FCAI chief executive Ian Chalmers reminds us this is [...]
Hold on tight everyone Australia should crack 1,000,000 car sales in 2011 after VFACTS figures show 88,654 new vehicles were sold in November. That brings the year to date total to 925,978, which should allow the 1 million mark to be broken for only the fourth time in Australia’s history. “For the past four months [...]
Like us you couldn’t make it to the 2011 Tokyo Motor Show either? Fear not as we’ve assembled a variety of images from the show featuring the usual suspects, such as the Toyota 86 and it’s close relative the Subaru BRZ. There’s also the weird and wonderful, too, in the form of the Daihatsu FC [...]
Mazda promised us back in October they’d be bringing this smooth looking Takeri concept to the Tokyo Motor Show. At the time they were a bit hush-hush on the finer details. Now that the Tokyo show is here they’ve given us a few more pics and a new video, but still not much else. One [...]
The facelifted Mazda3 range hit Australian shores last month, but with its recent European launch comes a raft of new information. Suspension and cosmetic enhancements feature across all Mazda3 models. The facelift also brings the addition of the Mazda3 SP20 SKYACTIV. There’s heaps more after the break, including photos, video interviews with key Mazda executives [...]
At the Australian International Motor Show earlier this year we were impressed by the gorgeous Mazda Shinari concept. It would seem the Shinari has spawned the equally stunning Takeri concept you see here. The Takeri will be presented to the public for the first time at the Tokyo Motor Show in early December. Where the [...]
Things are looking up as far as new vehicle sales in Australia are concerned. At total of 88,082 sales were recorded in August. That’s up 7091 compared to the previous month and 5960 more than August 2010. Steve Payne, FCAI acting Chief Executive, explains the market is trending upwards after a slow start to 2011, [...]
Formula One’s mid-season slumber will end in just over one week when the circus comes to the small Belgian village of Spa-Francorchamps. Home, of course, to one of the world’s most loved racetracks. Helping us to get back into the swing of things is this footage from Mazda UK filmed onboard an MX5-GT. Mark Ticehurst [...]
A total of 80,991 new vehicles were sold last month according to official VFACTS numbers. That represents a small drop of 1.7% compared to July 2010. Steve Payne, FCAI Acting Chief Executive, explains the year-long trend is lower again, “While the drop in sales in July is small compared to the same month last year, [...]
Apologies for missing last month’s update and for those keeping score Holden actually pipped Toyota to the highest selling marque for May. A result largely due to supply issues in Japan following the tsunami earlier this year. Indeed the total sales for May were 77,406 a fall of 13.2% on 2010 figures. And so it [...]
We’ve waxed lyrical about the Mazda Shinari Concept already, but it really is an object of true beauty. It was first revealed to an invitation-only press event in Milan almost 12 months ago. Back then the media were given a gander inside (see Autoblog). If we had to take Mazda to task, that would be [...]
Updates from our visit to AIMS last Friday haven’t progressed as well as we had hoped, so to give you a taste of what’s to come here’s a quick teaser of the five cars that stood out the most for us. 1. BMW Vision EfficientDynamics We’ve covered this car before, when it was first revealed [...]
Last November Autocar brought word that Mazda is hoping to bring its next-gen MX-5 to market with a sub-1000kg kerb weight. Now, InsideLine has raised expectations further by nominating a sub-800kg figure. However, it’s unlikely that Mazda will reach such a low weight, so expect a kerb weight somewhere near the first-gen MX-5, which was [...]
April’s Easter and Anzac day holiday break is being cited as the cause for an 8.8% drop in sales compared to 2010 figures. In all 74,214 new vehicles were sold. Japanese marques are expected to have temporary ongoing supply issues following the unfortunate earthquake and tsunami. Toyota and Holden continue their reign as the country’s [...]