This week on Chasing Cars: new Ford Mustang rumbles in, GR Corolla confirmed for Aussie shores, Ferrari launches the Purosangue SUV

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This week through the Chasing Cars news desk, we saw a stack of new performance models announced across the world. 

From the unveiling of the new Ford Mustang in seventh-generation guise to the reveal of Ferrari’s first SUV, it was certainly an exciting week to be a motoring journalist!

And to top it all off, Toyota Australia announced it would be officially bringing its new GR Corolla hot hatch down under. 

We also published new reviews of the new Volkswagen T-Roc R, Volvo XC40 Pure Electric, the hotly-anticipated Ford Everest and the Volvo XC90 Recharge plug-in hybrid. 

Ford reveals its seventh-generation pony car 

As part of the North American Auto Show proceedings, Ford pulled the covers off the seventh-generation Ford Mustang that will retain its V8 and four-cylinder powertrains for 2023, however no hybrid was announced. 

Ford has also confirmed that a new Dark Horse Mustang variant will be coming to Australia in the future with a unique colourway and plenty of go-fast bits. 

Ford has also announced that a new version of the Ford Mustang supercar will debut at Bathurst this year, followed by a launch into racing in 2023. 

Toyota brings out two performance models for Australia 

In the same busy week, we also got the Australian pricing for the Toyota GR86 and the announcement that the Toyota GR Corolla will be coming to Australia, albeit with just 500 units allocated for the initial release. 

The GR86 is priced at $43,240 before on-road costs for the base GT manual and will reach a price of $45,390 for the top-spec GTS automatic. Power and torque outputs are the same as its Subaru BRZ twin, producing 174kW/250Nm. 

Long awaited Ferrari Purosangue unveiled at last!

Also in the news here at Chasing Cars was the exciting announcement of the Ferrari Purosangue SUV – the first SUV to be produced by the Maranello company – and it will feature a 6.5-litre V12 engine, making it the only SUV to feature such an engine. 

The engine will produce 533kW of power and 716Nm of torque, making it one of the most powerful production cars to be available to the public. 

It’ll go up against rivals such as the Aston Martin DBX707, the Lamborghini Urus and the Porsche Cayenne Turbo GT coupe. 

Volkswagen goes off road with the ID Xtreme 

Volkswagen launched its ID Xtreme concept this week that is based on ID4 underpinnings and will make 285kW of power. It isn’t confirmed for production just yet, however Volkswagen did say that if it did get enough support from fans, the company would strongly consider it. 

The ID Xtreme differs from a ‘standard’ ID4 thanks to beefier offroad suspension, wider plastic wheel arches, 18-inch alloy wheels and a sealed aluminium underbody. A roof bar with a pretty cool integrated LED light bar is a nice touch, also. 

All the cars and SUVs we reviewed this week:

• Volvo XC90 Recharge PHEV
• Ford Everest 
• Volvo XC40 Pure Electric 
• Volkswagen T-Roc R

Other car and SUV news we covered this week:

• Apple has integrated car crash detection software into its new iPhone 14, however it is not new tech, with Google beating the Silicon Valley giant to the race in 2019

• Toyota was ranked last in a decarbonisation study by Greenpeace that found the Japanese maker was slow in adopting emissions-friendly vehicles 

• Ford unveiled its e-Transit Custom model that will be coming to Australia by 2024 as part of five new models to be electrified by the company

• The Ford Ranger and Ford Everest both scored five-star ANCAP ratings and both performed well across all of the core safety areas

• The Audi R8 will get an all-electric successor in the future and will likely be the halo electric model for Audi’s future

• Mercedes-AMG doesn’t want to axe the V8 engine any time soon and could continue producing the bent-eight engine up to and possibly beyond 2030

• The Toyota GR Yaris is set to receive a 10 percent power boost with the same tuning from the GR Corolla Morizo Edition, now 220kW

• Subaru has revealed the new Crosstrek small SUV model globally which will see its existing XV name in Australia changed for the first time

• The Chrysler 300C will bow out for the final time in 2023 with a well-equipped edition that is very similar to the SRT setup sold in Australia up to January 2021.