Welcome back to your weekly wrap up of car news and reviews, where we find all the best stories of the week and condense them down into one easy read
When dealing with an industry layered so thick in marketing and, at times, deceptive jargon we relish the chance to catch up with the big bosses and have a straight conversation.
This week, Chasing Cars shared our full and exclusive interview with the global CEO of Cupra, Wayne Griffiths, and spoke about their foray into the Australian market.
Alongside this, we covered a big week of news with rumours on everything from the new Subaru Impreza arriving soon and Lexus CT transforming into an electric small SUV – as well as the arrival of a host of new electric SUVs from Mercedes-Benz.
We’ve also published a suite of reviews on everything from the Kia Niro hybrid to a head-to-head between two full-electric SUVs – but our highlight of the week is the virtually unknown but very cool Cupra Formentor which deserves a very special mention.
We’ve had a drive on the track and now we’ve had a go on less than ideal roads and all in all, we’re still very impressed with the Cupra Formentor.
Reviewed here in plug-in hybrid VZe guise, the Formentor is technically a midsize SUV but in the flesh, it’s more of a raised wagon – and all the better for it we reckon.
During our testing we saw an electric-only driving range of 49km and its suspension is well-suited to Aussie roads, proving itself quite a fine commuter.
And when you finally lean on it properly (as you should) the Formentor VZe has some seriously engaging handling that makes it feel like more of a sports car than an SUV – it’s just a shame that stock is so limited for this model at the moment.
If you want to find out more go read or watch our review and after that, if you still want more Formentor content, you won’t have to wait long as Chasing Cars will soon be taking on a Formentor VZx as a long-termer.
How do you sell electric cars to a fan base which is well known for despising the very thought of adopting the technology? It’s a question with an answer that could make or break the future of Dodge.
The demise of combustion-engined vehicles appears all but inevitable and Dodge doesn’t want to be left behind, prompting it to make the brave decision this week to announce it would retire the Charger and Challenger models as we know them next year.
With its present-day given a definitive death date, Dodge unveiled its future the very next day with the Charger Daytona SRT concept. Featuring a very Challenger-like design with some clever aerodynamics on the front of the car, the concept simply looks the part.
Dodge also rattled off some interesting features hidden behind some simply nauseatingly cheesy marketing that we did our very best to translate into English.
This includes an ‘E-rupt’ transmission that simulated the experience of a petrol car, as does the ‘Fratzonic chambered exhaust’ which blasts out an engine noise of sorts, Dodge claims, at up to 126dB – a figure akin the highest volumes ever documented by stadium rock bands.
While Dodge did not disclose any performance figures for the concept, it claims the 800-volt ‘Banshee’ electric propulsion system makes the new electric coupe “faster than a Hellcat in all key performance measures”.
The Polestar 2 liftback has been a real hit and the Polestar 3 SUV isn’t far away so with its core products accounted for, the Swedish automotive brand is going back to its performance roots with the Polestar 6 convertible.
It won’t be built until 2026 but Aussies can place an order now if they’ve got a spare USD$25,000 (est. A$35,700) sitting around, with Polestar stating that the total estimated price will be around $286,000.
We’ve only seen the concept of this convertible so far but we’re impressed, though it remains to be seen what the final product will look like.
The platform it sits on is capable of 650kW of power and 900Nm of torque, which should provide some pretty ferocious acceleration times that will take the fight to the Tesla Roadster.
The Kia Niro hybrid is, in my option, a severely underrated small SUV, that packs enough space inside to fit the family and due to an influx of stock, you can actually get your hands on one right now, as I discussed in my review of the GT-Line grade this week.
The Toyota Camry is bloody brilliant in our eyes and this week our infatuation with this once incredibly dull sedan was renewed once again when we reviewed the SX hybrid, which we think represents a far better option than an SUV for many family duties.
Honda’s CR-V is getting on in years now and while it does have a number of advantages going for it (mainly price) but the rate of pace among its competition mean it’s slowly being left behind, as the affordable VTi X grade made clear in our review this week.
We put the Volvo XC40 and Lexus UX300e head to head to compare which of these electric SUVs is the best to buy.
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