Access for Aussies to American oversize utes took on a whole new scope a few years ago when factory-backed offerings became available through RAM Trucks Australia (RTA) and HSV/GMSV for Chevrolet products.
It is hard to spot under the giant rear wing — but it is there. Off-center and low down in the shrouded, sculpted aero rump you see the license plate: P1 POW. Small detail, big impact: this thing’s road legal. You recognize the Porsche 911 rear lights. They are the 996 shape — the one from the late 1990s. Between them, and above that street-legal plate, it says GT1. Small number — but, once again, big impact.
Back in 2003, Volkswagen may have just debuted the latest 3.2-litre V6 hot hatch, but somebody at Wolfsburg decided that engine would work far better planted in the middle of a sleek roadster powering the rear wheels – enter the Volkswagen Concept R.
It was an act of rebellion. Nothing made in Australia could match the exotic, space-age-looking exterior of the Purvis Eureka shown at the 1974 Melbourne Motor Show. The Eureka name came from Founder Allan Purvis, a determined man who — the story goes — was told that it would never make it past Australian Design Rules. Like a red flag to a bull, Purvis took a chance on the fiber-glass sports car to show that a small local operation could overcome both the bureaucracy and critics of the kit-car industry with a truly desirable unique product.
With the launch of the second generation NX, not only is Lexus taking on the established diesel set with its latest selfcharging hybrid four-wheel drive SUV, but for the first time it’s embracing plugin hybrid technology and launching a more powerful 304bhp edition to compete with other premium PHEVs.
Not only is the X7 BMW’s largest SUV (for now), it can also carry the largest number of passengers, with space for seven in comfort. Eclipsing even the X5, which can also be ordered in seven-seat guise, The X7 boasts an additional 229mm of length, of which 130mm has been added into the wheelbase. Measuring over 5.1 metres long, it’s a bit of a beast and first went on sale in 2019, initially with a choice of 261bhp xDrive30d or mighty 394bhp M50d engines.
From blown diffusers to front-tyre-warming, toe-angle-adjusting steering columns, both born then banned in the past two decades, Formula One has been defined by relentless rule-bending engineering innovations since its inception. However, the most primal of them all doesn’t even hail from this century; it supersedes carbon fibre as F1’s go-to construction material in the 1980s.
Although Jaguar had come close to building a competition version of the F-Type not long after its 2012 debut, apparently working with the Williams F1 team to develop such a model, it never came to fruition. In early 2018 a genuine racer based on the car finally broke cover. But although it was built by Jaguar’s Special Vehicle Operations (SVO) based in Ryton, having been developed for an independent team, Invictus Games Racing, it wasn’t the works effort many had been hoping for.
