Articles by Paul Gover

...although it is still officially only known as the Global Small Car. The Malaysian maker believes its next effort could be the car to finally give it traction in countries where it is struggling for acceptance, including Australia.This reporter is on Twitter: @paulwardgover 

The bewildering battery of buttons in the Ford Focus has finally been banished. A clean new cabin with far less confusion is on the way as part of a major overhaul for the car that Ford now claims as the world’s bestseller.It’s 12 months away but the Focus overhaul is a major move that brings a sophisticated new look - with an Aston edge to the nose - and is also expected to include a 1.5-litre EcoBoost economy car for Australia.This week’s preview is in advance of the Geneva motor show and sales in Europe later this year. The timing for production in Thailand, one of eight Ford factories that builds the Focus, is not set. “All we’re confirming is 2015,” says Ford Australia spokesman Neil McDonald.“We get our cars from Ford Thailand Manufacturing, so there is a customary delay while they ramp up production for our region.” The new look for the Focus follows a similar styling drive for the Fiesta and Mondeo, although only the former is available in Australia.“Mondeo is probably arriving really late this year, with the official launch at the start of next year,” says McDonald. “The Fiesta has already been launched with the global front, and Mondeo is next cab off the rank.” The button blitz in the cabin follows widespread complaints about the confusing layout of the dashboard but there are other major changes to the Fiesta.Ford claims fuel economy improvements of 17-19 per cent for its petrol and diesel engines. A new 1.5-litre EcoBoost powerplant will join the existing 1.0-litre motor in Europe. The car is also available with SYNC2 infotainment, perpendicular parking assistance and an improved city-stop safety package.Mechanically, Ford says the Focus will return to the top of the driver rankings in the compact class with a stiffer front end, revised suspension and dampers and new electronic stability control.Ford is not discussing specifications for Australia, although McDonald confirms the Focus wagon, very popular in Europe, is not coming. The Blue Oval brand says the restyling of body and the cabin changes are likely to get the biggest tick from buyers - and the Carsguide test team.European design boss Martin Smith says: “When redesigning the interior of the new Focus, Ford listened to consumer feedback and responded with a more intuitive layout, complemented by a steering wheel and central stack with fewer controls and switches.”  The new Ford Focus has undergone a major overhaulThis reporter is on Twitter: @PaulWardGover

These pictures show the STI tackling some of the unique challenges at Mount Panorama, from the twisties out of The Dipper to the left-right flick through The Chase. Subaru says they are pictures that celebrate the car’s motorsport heritage, moving on from its World Rally Championship days into a new era of track racing.Except... Except the STI has never been to Bathurst. Not yet, anyway. "We haven’t had a car in Australia. This is all news to me," the managing director of Subaru Australia, Nick Senior, tells Carsguide. "There definitely wasn’t a photo shoot."Which means the pictures are faked, in the nicest possible way of course. And it’s a flattering tip to Bathurst. They are new-age COMGEN files, which means they are computer generated images which combine pictures of a real STI inserted into a fake background.Mount Panorama is easy to find in the world of computer gaming, which is probably where the pictures originated. The shots are clear and full of impact, although missing the latest advertising billboards - we know for sure after racing for Team Abarth in the Bathurst 12-hour race - and any on-track officials or spectators.But the pictures have got some people thinking at Subaru, especially at the STI race team which has built a car to compete in this year’s Nurburgring 24-hour race in Germany. The racer is based closely on a road car, although it does have big wings and lightweight panels, and it would sit comfortably inside the rules for the 2015 running of the Bathurst 12-hour.This reporter is on Twitter: @PaulWardGover

Subaru's performance flagship is the car it should have been last time. But is that enough now?

Aussie car fans and nostalgia buffs will tell you that local motoring reached its peak in the 1970s.

The all-new Chrysler 200 is unveiled at the Detroit motor show with plenty of technology and quality, as well as impressive promises. But only for the USA.Just like the smaller Dodge Dart - and despite an ongoing series of promises from Chrysler headquarters that stretches back to the 1900s - the 200 has not received the crucial right-hand drive development work needed to bring it to Australia.Chrysler has invested the extra to get right-side steering into the latest Jeep Cherokee but, even though the 200 shares the same basic building blocks from the Alfa Romeo Giulietta, it has missed the boat.“I want to send the 200 to Australia, but …,” the president of Chrysler Brand, Alistair Gardner, tells Carsguide. “I need a good business case. We don’t have that. Can we do it? Yes. Have we done it? No.”He makes no apology for the decision and says it comes down to dollars and sense, because medium-class cars are not popular enough in Australia and other right-hand drive countries including Britain and India.But Chrysler is bullish about the chances of the 200 in North America. “Make no mistake, this is our new flagship. It will re-define the brand. From bumper to bumper, the new 200 had to be flawless,” says Gardner.Development of the car cost an estimated $800 million and Chrylser has spend another $1 billion on a factory at Sterling Heights to build it, including more than 1000 new robots. The Chrysler 200 is fitted with the same 3.6-litre Pentastar V6 used in the Grand Cherokee in Australia, as well as a nine-speed automatic with a Jaguar-style rotary shifter, and an available four-wheel drive system. There are 60 safety and security features up to automatic emergency braking.The body shape cuts through the air with a 0.27 drag co-efficient and the overall look is a total reverse from the angular gangsta style of the 300C. Quality is claimed to be up another level from the Grand Cherokee that re-set the bar for Chrysler products.“It had to have an emotional design impact. Call it a wow factor,” says Gardner. To put the Chrysler 200 right into perspective, particularly against Australian medium cars including the Toyota Camry that starts at $30,490, the base price for the 200 is $21,700.

The Concept XC Coupe is a long way removed from a seven-seater SUV, yet it still points the path to the next Swedish family hauler later in 2014. This XC is the second of three concepts and a great looker that stretches Volvo’s new design direction, even if everything from the doors upwards is more about fantasy than reality.“While it is a concept car, there are some very strong design cues that hint at future models,” the spokesman for Volvo Australia, Oliver Peagam, tells Carsguide. “XCs have always been an important part of our vehicle lineup. The all-new model will be revealed globally towards the end of 2014.”There have been XC models in the Volvo family since 1997, with the bloated V70 wagon that was rapidly joined by everything up to the classy mid-level XC60 and family-sized XC90. Apart from the styling, the XC Coupe is also intended to reflect the flexibility of Volvo’s new ‘Scalable Product Architecture’."It brings us a bit closer to the all-new XC90, but it goes without saying that a three-row, seven-seater will have a larger and fuller look than this four-seater. XC Coupe is more of a cross-country version of a sleek sports wagon,” says Thomas Ingenlath, the senior vice-president of design at Volvo Car Group.Beyond the XC90 tease, the concept car picks up some other new Volvo stuff. “Every strong brand needs a set of visual keys that makes it unique,” says Ingenlath. "Future Volvos will be characterised by the distinctive iron mark in the floating grille, flanked by the T-shaped daylight running lights. The larger bonnet with its new topography, the beltline spanning an elegant bow along the length of the car, and the sharpened shoulder connecting with the new rear light are other important design signatures.”He describes the XC concepts as headlining a “confident stance” for the brand, which is stretching itself with backing from its new owners in China. Just as Jaguar Land Rover has blossomed since a takeover by Indian owners from Tata, which also owns Tetley Tea, Volvo now believes it has emerged from its dark times. The three concepts are also planned to push a more youthful lifestyle for a brand that has traditionally been aimed at safety-first families. “Concept XC Coupe is ready and willing to bring you into the adventure zone and back,” says Ingenlath.

Rolls-Royce has joined Bentley in a performance push at the top end of motoring and has upgraded the output of its 6.6-litre Ghost, which was already “more than adequate”, to a high-performance “perfectly adequate”.The car’s V12 engine has been tuned to liberate an extra 22 kiloWatts, with 80 per cent of the power available from idle. The result is a 0-100km/h sprint time of just 4.7 seconds, despite the heft of a car that qualifies as a full-scale limousine.Rolls-Royce has tagged the result as its Ghost V-Specification and has upgraded it with everything from 21-inch polished alloy wheels to ‘visible’ chrome exhausts and a number of V-Specification logos on everything from the pinstriping on the body to the seats.“Wraith has built on the success of Ghost in attracting younger, more dynamic group of successful men and women to the marque. Ghost V-Specification’s contemporary aesthetic reflects this,” the global production communications manager, Andrew Boyle, tells Carsguide.Production has already begun on the V-Specification cars and will run until June, although Boyle cannot confirm final pricing or numbers for Australia despite acknowledging the car will top the $645,000 sticker for a regular Ghost.The V-Specification comes as Rolls-Royce works to lower the age of its owners, a number that’s been coming down since the arrival of the Ghost in 2009 and the arrival of the Ghost-based Wraith coupe last year. But Rolls-Royce denies any long-term performance push.“It is a one-off vehicle available for a limited period of time. We have asked our engineers to deliver a small power increase to add to its exclusivity,” says Boyle. “V-specification does not change the character of a Rolls-Royce; it merely offers another bespoke Collection to our connoisseur and collector customers.But what about a V-Specification car based on the Wraith, which already starts with a harder edge. “We have no current plans to announce in this direction. In short, no. Ghost and Wraith engineering teams are separate. The company also resists any comparison with Bentley, or suggestions that the two brands are engaged in any sort of arms race.“Rolls-Royce and Bentley are two very different marques that operate in two distinct market segments. As the world’s leading super-luxury goods company our competition comes from goods outside the automotive sector such as helicopters, fine art, yachts.“Rolls-Royce Motor Cars would never 'push the power' of its models. We engineer our cars with a commitment to fine engineering and craftsmanship. Mass-luxury segment model marketing techniques never inform our thinking. And there is a sideswipe for Bentley, too.“We do not chase volume. Our customers value the rarity of these automotive works of art and do not wish to see them on every street corner. A volume driven approach may be appropriate to other organisations, but is not appropriate for Rolls-Royce.”But Bentley has just sharpened the power of its Continental GT V8 S and is coming off a record sales year, with global deliveries in 2013 up by 19 per cent to 10,120 cars. According to Bentley’s chairman, Wolfgang Schreiber, the S - available as both a coupe and convertible - is more of the same for the GT.“It is more agile, with with a lower and uprated suspension, faster, with more power and more distinctive with its signature S styling and a unique V8 S soundtrack,” he says. Power is up to 389 kiloWatts, with peak torque of 680 Newton-metres for a 0-100km/h that just edges the V-Specification at 4.3 seconds.

Sime-Darby is already the importer for Peugeot and Citroen, and made its first move into retail with a Porsche dealership in the west of Sydney. Its takeover of Brisbane BMW is worth an estimated $85 million for 70 per cent of the company and includes the buy-out of the silent partner in the business, trucking magnate Lindsay Fox. There is a longer-term plan to take full control.The deal involves Brisbane BMW's two retail outlets, one in the Fortitude Valley strip of motor traders, as well as a repair centre, a Mini outlet and the Lamborghini agency for Queensland. It's taken more than six months to put the deal together, with dealer principals Martin Roller and Marvin Burke to continue on a long-term deal that includes a minority shareholding.Sime Darby is already ranked in the top five of BMW Group businesses worldwide, selling around 40,000 vehicles a year for the German company. The Brisbane BMW takeover was announced from Kuala Lumpur and Roller has no comment on the deal. But Sime Darby Motors' managing director, Lawrence Lee, says it is a signficant move into Australia."As a major regional automotive group, we have been exploring expansion opportunities in new and existing markets," he says. "The acquisitions … will allow us to further consolidate our position in the luxury segment in Australia."This reporter is on Twitter: @paulwardgover 

An American heavyweight SUV is being readied for a potential attack on Toyota's LandCruiser. After more than 15 years of unfulfilled dreams and broken promises, Dodge is finally planning to bring its Durango seven-seater to Australia.American sources confirm to Carsguide the early stages of a right-hand drive program that's been promised on the Durango since it was launched in 1998. The RHD plan exploits a mechanical platform and factory shared with the latest Grand Cherokee that's been a big success for Jeep in Australia.The massive SUV could be here inside 18 months. The Durango could even be badged as a Jeep and could, potentially, be sold with a price tag that's $5000 or less above the current $43,000 starting sticker for the Grand Cherokee.The Durango is big and bold, sells well in the US and would be relatively cheap and easy to produce in right-hand drive. Fiat Chrysler admits the idea of a Durango in Australia is a good one."If it was available, with the right mix of specifications and pricing, we are confident that Australians would love the Durango," says company spokeswoman Karla Leach."With nearly 50 per cent of the SUVs in the Grand Cherokee's competitive set being seven-seaters (having the same number) would allow us to offer a fresh and appealing alternative in this significant market segment."This reporter is on Twitter: @PaulWardGover