Articles by Stephen Corby

Luxury Car Tax Loophole in Australia.The Luxury Car Tax is one of the most controversial topics in the car industry, and has been since it was introduced way back in 2000. It is, in simple terms, an additional tax that car buyers are forced to pay when they purchase a new vehicle over a price point the government, or at least someone at the ATO, deems is a luxury.At the time of publication (early 2024), the current 2023-24 threshold is set at $76,950 and $89,332 for fuel efficient vehicles - which is any vehicle that uses less than 7.0 litres per 100km. The LCT means you pay an extra 33 per cent of the value of the vehicle above the threshold amount.This means anyone buying a new car above the LCT threshold is paying an additional tax on top of the other government charges for a new vehicle, which already include GST and stamp duty.People who buy luxury yachts or luxury helicopters, luxury watches or luxury luxuries do not pay a luxury tax on those things. Strange.Naturally, as with most taxes, people are curious if there is a luxury car tax loophole and often ask how to avoid luxury car tax in Australia. Sadly, and in order not to ruffle any feathers at the ATO, we have to report there are not any easy, obvious and legal loopholes to avoid paying the LCT. And if there were I might be in trouble for knowing about them.In the past, however, there have been some, shall we say, questionable practices from some dealers, who would reportedly get the LCT refunded from the ATO and then re-sell that car without including the LCT. However, the ATO cracked down on this behaviour back in 2021.One possible loophole that remains is that the LCT only applies to cars that are two years old or newer, so if the car sits on the showroom floor for more than two years, in theory you can avoid paying the LCT as it is no longer considered a ‘new’ car. However, this does require owning a car dealership, or being prepared to wait two years for a car to sit on a dealer lot - which is unlikely to happen by accident.Yes, it’s quite easy. You just need to buy a car under the threshold and you will avoid paying any LCT.Unfortunately for those looking to save money on their tax bill the government and ATO have been quite clever in the way it they have implemented the LCT. It simply adds the additional tax to any and all vehicles above the threshold, which makes cheating the system nearly impossible.Ultimately, that means plenty of new vehicles not traditionally considered ‘luxury’ are hit with the LCT, which includes the likes of the Toyota LandCruiser, Hyundai Palisade and Ford Ranger.If those cars are luxury, I'm a helicopter.

One of the most controversial taxes the Australian Government has enacted. Theoretically, it’s designed to raise more revenue to pay for road infrastructure funding by adding an additional tax on new vehicles the government deems as ‘luxurious.’

Polestar led with the stunning Polestar 1 coupe. But built in left-hand drive only it never made it to Australia. In recent years the brand has built its presence here with the Polestar 2 sedan and soon it will be joined by the Polestar 3 EV SUV. Steve Corby has had an early drive of this much-anticipated newcomer... in the Arctic Circle... on snow and ice!

Sure, we all know things are tough, but clearly they’re less tough for some of us, because luxury car sales - and we mean genuinely luxury ones - have been on the rise over the past decade.

Love it or hate it, you can’t deny that Tesla has changed the car industry, and indeed the world.

The 1980s was a golden age for cars on the small screen, indeed, for those of us who grew up in that era, it was a golden age for everything, which is why Netflix mega-hit Stranger Things mines such a rich river of reverie.

In Australia, fully electric cars range in price from $44,990 (total drive-away price) for the MG ZS EV, to $770,000 for the Rolls-Royce Spectre.

Ever wondered how much electric cars cost? The good news is that as Electric Vehicles (EVs) slowly but surely rise in popularity, prices are starting to drop, at least a little, thanks to some decent entry-level cheap electric cars finally hitting the market. Thank you, China.

If you think that a battery-powered utility truck (or "pickup truck", if you're from the US of A) couldn't possibly have the power and durability of a similar ute powered by petrol or diesel, all-electric trucks may soon have you changing your mind.

There is a surprising benefit to driving a hybrid or electric car. It's got nothing to do with fuel economy or the range between charges.Instead, it's a massive saving on the cost of brakes. Yes, you probably knew that EVs save you money in the long run by being cheaper to fuel and service, but one very specific, and little discussed, area of saving is brakes.Because hybrids and battery cars are continually harvesting the energy normally lost as heat when slowing, there is much less stress on the brakes. That means much lighter wear on the brake pads and longer distances between skimming or replacing the rotors.Under deceleration, the car's electric motor enables "regenerative braking" for a vehicle, spinning to generate electric power which is fed to the battery pack.So, how does this technology work? Do hybrid brakes last longer? Is it the same for an electric car? If you’ve got questions, we’ve got answers. Read on to learn more about how ‘regen’ braking works.In a conventional car (one powered by an internal-combustion engine) the braking system uses friction to slow the car. As you press the brake pedal the brake pads clamp down on the rotors (or the brake drum if you’ve got an older or cheaper car) and slow the wheels down, just like they do on a bicycle.However, the story is very different on a car with an electric motor, either a full battery electric vehicle (BEV) or a hybrid model (HEV), as it can use the electric motor to slow the car.In basic terms, regenerative braking uses the resistance from the electric motor whenever you lift off the accelerator pedal to capture kinetic energy and slow the car down.What this feels like, in practice, is that the car is stopping without you even touching the brakes, or, to put it another way, like a far more extreme version of engine braking (drivers of manual cars will know this feeling).Obviously all BEVs and HEVs still have conventional brake rotors, pads and calipers, but because the electric motor is doing the majority of the work slowing the car, there is actually very little use made of the braking hardware.When a conventional car slows down the brakes convert the energy created in the friction process into heat, which is ultimately wasted energy. That’s not the case for electrified cars, with either an electric or hybrid brake system able to make use of that energy.Instead of generating heat, the regen braking produces kinetic energy and directs it to the battery pack, so not only are you slowing the vehicle down you’re also charging the battery. In a BEV that energy is all directed to the battery, while in a hybrid it can be used in a variety of ways, including powering the auxiliary systems like the air conditioning, or it can go directly to the battery for storage.Yes, because you’re not using the conventional mechanical braking hardware - the pads and rotors - nearly as much and instead relying on the electric motors to slow you down, so the brakes do wear a lot slower.However, it’s not as simple as asking ‘how long do brake pads last on a hybrid?’ or ‘how often do I need to change the brake pads on my EV?’ because every car is different.Both BEVs and HEVs can offer different levels of regen braking, allowing you to alter just how quickly the car slows when you lift off the accelerator.Often this is found in the multimedia system menu, but some modern electric cars, such as the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Kia EV6, have paddles on the steering wheel that allow you to adjust levels quickly on the move.Why is this useful? Well, if you’re on a freeway or motorway you don’t want to slow suddenly whenever you lift off the accelerator, so you can set the regen to its lowest setting and coast like an internal-combustion vehicle.Then, when you find yourself in a stop-start environment, such as a suburban road or traffic jam, you can dial up the regen and harvest more energy for the batteries.Taxi drivers are reporting huge improvements in brake wear as they use 'regen' instead of the brake pedal to slow in stop-start traffic. One Camry hybrid driver says he did 400,000km on a single set of front brake pads, and Prius cabbies regularly record 200,000km-plus.It takes a while to adjust to regen driving, where you lift off the accelerator early before applying the conventional brakes for the last part of a big stop, but the benefits are obvious.