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Cars

This Month

Tesla sales had slowed, with the carmaker cutting prices to stimulate growth.

Tesla sales disappoint despite Elon Musk’s carmaker slashing prices

The company makes the dominant electric vehicle model in the country. But it faces intense competition from luxury European rivals and cheaper Chinese brands.

  • Simon Evans

October

A Golf automobile, left, and a Tiguan sports utility vehicle (SUV), produced by Volkswagen AG (VW), are transported on elevation platforms as new VW automobiles sit in storage bays inside one of the automaker's glass delivery towers at the VW factory in Wolfsburg, Germany, on Tuesday, March 14, 2017. Volkswagen sought to draw a line under the diesel scandal that has locked it in crisis mode for more than a year, with sweeping restructuring efforts starting to take hold and profitability improving at the namesake auto brand. Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg

Why Europe’s car crisis is mostly made in China

The once-lucrative market is now highly competitive and more Chinese EVs are being exported, compounding slower sales at home.

  • Kana Inagaki, Edward White and Sarah White
A prototype Glydcar autonomous vehicle at Glydways’ testing facility in Concord, California.

Ride-sharing robopods are the future of cities

Self-driving, on-demand cars could change the way we move around cities and dramatically increase throughput of congested streets.

  • Vinod Khosla
There are two seats inside Tesla’s futuristic Cybercab but neither is designed for a driver.

Are you ready for a driverless taxi?

No steering wheel, no brake, no accelerator, no door handles: Musk says Tesla’s Cybercab will be in production before 2027 – and to cost less than $US30,000.

  • Jennifer Dudley-Nicholson

What it’s like to drive a hot lap in a $1m Ferrari

Daunting, nerve-racking and exhilarating. Behind the wheel of a $1m Ferrari for a course that mimics the most challenging racetrack corners.

  • Tony Davis
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September

A Porsche Cayenne GTS, a Porsche 911 GT3 and two Wolf GB08 Tornado racing cars are among 30 cars, bikes, trucks and go-carts confiscated from instigators of the Plutus Payroll tax scandal to be auctioned off.

Luxury cars among Plutus Payroll tax fraud spoils up for grabs

A Porsche Cayenne GTS, a Porsche 911 GT3 and two Wolf GB08 Tornado racing cars are among 30 vehicles confiscated from instigators of the fraud that will be auctioned off.

  • Ronald Mizen
BYD - Build Your Dreams - is the No.2 selling electric vehicle brand in Australia, behind Tesla.

Federal government warned of Chinese EV software security risk

The federal government is being warned that a timid approach to risks from Chinese vehicle software could undermine national security.

  • Simon Evans, Tom Rabe and Jessica Sier
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ASX slumps; Westpac gets new CEO; Boomers drive luxe apartment demand

Read everything that’s happened in the news so far today.

Turo’s Australian managing director, Tim Rossanis, says Australians are fans of the car-sharing model, despite Uber Carshare’s failure.

Uber jumps straight back into car sharing with global partnership

Two weeks after pulling the pin on the product that let people rent out their cars, Uber has signed an international partnership with US-based operator Turo.

  • Paul Smith
The Toyota RAV4 Hybrid is Australia’s No.1-selling car of any type. Around 95 per cent of all RAV4 models sold in August were hybrids.

Car buyers going greener turn to hybrids not full EVs

The No.1 selling vehicle in Australia in August was the Toyota RAV4 hybrid.

  • Simon Evans
The first Zeekr, a small SUV known as the X, will be sold in Australia from October.

Your electric car choices are about to explode

The first Zeekr, a small SUV, will be sold from October, and will be followed by as many as 10 other brands from China’s vast portfolio of carmakers.

  • Tony Davis
Only 28 per cent of AFR readers said they make their next vehicle purchase an EV.

‘More for a second-hand toothbrush’: Why EVs are on the nose

The most commonly held concerns about buying an electric vehicle related to upfront cost, charging facilities, and deterioration.

  • Gus McCubbing

August

Drive Mate’s Jake Hyde says his company is ready to pick up the slack left by Uber’s sudden closure of is car sharing division.

Why this start-up thinks it can succeed where Uber failed

Drive Mate says it has had a 39 per cent increase in vehicles listed to rent on its platform since news broke of Uber’s plan to close its car sharing service.

  • Paul Smith
Uber couldn’t make the carsharing business model work, and will close down the service.

Uber targets car rentals after Carshare failure

Uber has blamed a blow-out in operational costs for the failure of its Carshare service, which will cease business from September 12.

  • Paul Smith

260km/h? Porsche’s new Macan EV is its fastest ever

Porsche’s new fully electric SUV will entice those wanting the model with the biggest numbers.

  • Tony Davis
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CAR Group boss Cameron McIntyre (right), with David McMinn who runs US-based Trader Interactive.

EV sales splutter, but not this group’s offshore expansion strategy

CAR Group’s big move in the US came at a time of rising rates and softening consumer demand. It still worked.

  • Anthony Macdonald
The Toyota RAV4 was the top-selling vehicle in Australia in July, with many of those models a hybrid version. Hybrids are winning over more buyers, compared with full-battery EVs.

Battery EV sales slump as cautious buyers opt for hybrids

Hybrid vehicles – with a petrol- or diesel-powered engine and a smaller battery and electric motor – are proving very popular as some buyers baulk at full-battery EVs.

  • Simon Evans

July

Car yards are full and dealers are worried they are in a race to the bottom on prices.

Car yards are full and dealers worry they are racing to the bottom

There’s been little economic data to offset expectations that the RBA needs to raise interest rates. A review of conditions at car dealerships caught our eye.

  • Updated
  • Anthony Macdonald
The Ferrari Roma Spider.

Ferrari’s first electric car may cost more than $800,000

By the end of the decade as much as 80 per cent of the car maker’s new vehicles could run on batteries. The first is scheduled for 2025.

  • Bernhard Warner

Transport needs to avoid becoming the nation’s biggest emitter

Without dramatic changes, this may be the last industry to decarbonise. Aurizon, the winner of the Logistics and Transport category, aims to change that with its electric locomotive.

  • Agnes King

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/topic/cars-hpy