Articles by Laura Berry

Bugatti is looking to develop a production car capable of hitting 500km/h and its new V16 powered Tourbillon could be the hypercar to do it — it’s just the tyres they need to get right according to the brand’s boss.

Fiat’s high-performance division Abarth will no longer use combustion engines in its cars and switch entirely to electric motors, the Italian brand’s boss has announced.

Nissan is about to launch its new N7 electric car in China, which it hopes will attract some of the attention away from the country's local brands.Australia appears to be off the cards for the new EV, despite there being plenty of enthusiasm here for electric cars.Nissan and joint-venture partner Dongfeng revealed the sleek-looking N7 at the Guangzhou motor show over the weekend, showcasing the first model to be built on the JV’s new modular architecture. The N7 is a large sedan 4930mm long, 1896mm wide and 1487mm tall, with smooth lines and a fastback profile. The N7 will have interactive exterior LED lights. At the front are 710 LEDs, while at the rear are 882 OLED units.Inside, the cabin will feature a next-gen media system, which promises to offer outstanding connectivity thanks to the higher-powered Qualcomm Snapdragon 8295P processor.The N7 will also have an advanced form of autonomous technology with Nissan teaming up with self-driving company Momenta.Nissan hasn’t revealed any further details regarding motor outputs, battery capacity or driving ranges. We expect to know more soon due to Chinese government regulations which require all car manufacturers to submit specifications that are published ahead of the vehicle going on sale.In Australia the only electric car sold by Nissan is the Leaf, but this second-generation model arrived in 2017 and production ceased in March this year, leaving Australia to rely on the dwindling stock remaining in the country.We’ve seen spy images of the third-generation Leaf, but the new EV won’t enter production until 2025 and even then it might not be available to buy in Australia for up to two years.Australia is also still waiting on Nissan’s all electric Ariya SUV, which according to the Japanese brand was due here this year but was held up from going on sale due to it not meeting Australian Design Rules (ADRs) for a child seat anchor point.Nissan told us the ADR issue has now been resolved and the Ariya will be available to buy in the second half of 2025. China is far and away the biggest market for electric cars and business for EVs is booming with year to date sales for electrified vehicles up by 35 per cent.Australia is also experiencing its own EV boom with 69,962 fully electric vehicles sold this year, compared to 65,743 this time last year. That’s a 6.5 per cent increase.The sales are fuelled by the arrival of affordable electric Chinese cars from BYD and MG. BYD’s year-to-date result has increased by 74.4 per cent with the brands Seal proving particularly popular with 5308 sold so far in first full year on sale in Australia.

Would you be happy to have your car’s speed limited? Not just so it can’t hit its top speed of say 200km/h, but automatically reduced in line with the posted limit for the area you’re driving through? Well, if you answered no then you’re in the minority according to a survey, which asked Australian drivers how they felt about speed limiting technology and I’m beginning to agree myself.

The electric car industry is rushing to find better batteries for EVs, and we’ve learnt that Chinese carmaker IM is only weeks away from rolling out a mass-produced model with a revolutionary semi-solid state battery called the Lightyear in its L6 sedan.

If one more person tells you there’s a slump in electric vehicle sales ask them: “Where?”.

Kia's Carnival now comes in a petrol-electric hybrid variant and it's lived with the Berry family for two months - find out what it does best and what it could do better.

Kia has given us a glimpse of its updated Sportage mid-size family SUV.

Hyundai’s next-generation Palisade large SUV has been spied testing again, this time we’ve been given a glimpse of the interior and it sure looks like it has nine seats.

Toyota could be about to surprise the market with a tiny and very affordable electric SUV in a joint venture with Suzuki.