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Biggest disappointments: The cars we wish would come here

Biggest disappointments: The cars we wish would come here

Australia may be more cluttered with car brands than ever before, with even more due in 2023, and yet that doesn’t mean the floodgates are opened for every new car launch.

Our fairly stringent safety regulations help keep out a lot of vehicles, while the fact we’re part of a minority of right-hand drive markets means various vehicles are non-starters for us.

And so it goes, we cover myriad new vehicle launches every year and all too often we have to bear the bad news: said vehicle isn’t coming to Australia.

Here are the cars revealed in 2022, thus far ruled out for Australia, that we’re most disappointed to not see on our shores.

Scott Collie

The Acura Integra might be a Honda Civic in a sharper (or should that be sportier) suit, but I’m sad it’s not coming Down Under.

The regular model is

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2023 Lotus Emira deliveries starting in January, orders grow

2023 Lotus Emira deliveries starting in January, orders grow

The first shipment of Lotus Emira sports cars has touched down in Australia ahead of customer deliveries commencing in January next year.

Richard Gibbs, CEO of local Lotus distributor Simply Sports Cars, told CarExpert this first shipment consists of 20 Emira V6 First Edition manual models.

He added these first models will be heading to every state in Australia and all six exterior paint colours are represented.

The first examples of the Lotus Emira V6 First Edition were originally supposed to arrive locally in the middle of this year, but due to global parts supply shortages they were delayed by six months.

Following these first manual-equipped Emira V6 First Edition models, Mr Gibbs said Australian-bound V6 First Edition automatic models will go into production in the first quarter of 2023 ahead of second quarter deliveries.

Australian-spec four-cylinder First Edition models will then go into production in the second quarter of

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Hyundai RN22e (Ioniq 6 N) review: Track test

Hyundai RN22e (Ioniq 6 N) review: Track test

What strikes you immediately about Hyundai’s RN22e ‘rolling lab’ concept is its sheer size more than anything else.

Stretching almost 5.0 metres long and nearly 2.0 metres wide, this ground-hugging, full-tilt EV is a high-performance, monster-size version of the brand’s upcoming Ioniq 6 all-electric sedan.

It’s not the first time we’ve seen this prototype in action, either. Earlier this year at Hyundai’s Namyang proving facility in South Korea we saw it testing, while only a couple months ago CarExpert’s Paul Maric also drove it in Germany (video below) after a relatively deep dive into the technology.

Nevertheless, this is the first Aussie drive, and what better circuit than The Bend in South Australia (West Circuit) to put the RN22e through its paces, but over just four laps.

The bonus was that N-guru and chief architect of N sub-brand, Albert Biermann, along with Till Wartenberg; Vice President N Brand and Motorsport,

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2023 Cupra Born review | CarExpert

2023 Cupra Born review | CarExpert

The Volkswagen Group finally has a rival for the Tesla Model 3 in Australia, and it won’t be coming from Volkswagen, Skoda, or even Audi.

Cupra, the newest member of the Volkswagen Group family Down Under, will be leading the charge with the arrival of the new Born EV hatchback.

We won’t see the Volkswagen ID range or the Skoda Enyaq SUV for at least 12 months, giving Cupra a significant head start on its corporate cousins in Australia’s electric space.

When it lands in earnest during March 2023, the Born will take on a growing pool of rivals including the Nissan Leaf, Hyundai Kona Electric, Kia Niro EV, and top-selling Tesla Model 3.

With a price just shy of $60,000 before on-road costs and a range of more than 500km, it certainly has the tools to make a splash… on paper.

We’ll have to wait a bit longer

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Cupra on track to top 1000 sales in 2022

Cupra on track to top 1000 sales in 2022

The newest Volkswagen Group brand in Australia, Cupra, is expected to sell more than 1000 cars in its first six months on sale.

The sporty Spanish offshoot of SEAT says it has taken more than 1500 orders since hitting Australia in May, and will deliver more than 1000 cars by the time 2022 draws to a close.

“The year has been a pretty wild ride for our customers and for us, but a tremendous success as well,” Cupra Australia brand director Ben Wilks told CarExpert.

“1500 plus orders, we’ll finally deliver more than 1000 cars. Of course we have had some cars that were slower to get here than we’d like, and that’s holding us up from a delivery point of view,” he said.

With 914 sales to date in 2022, Cupra is currently sitting near new electric brand BYD (845) on the sales charts, along with

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Hyundai’s N division seeks to make petrolheads desire EVs

Hyundai’s N division seeks to make petrolheads desire EVs

Hyundai’s transition from internal combustion engine cars to battery-electric vehicles is already well underway, led by the flagship Ioniq 5 and Ioniq 6.

The brand’s ‘N’ performance division is now set on injecting some fun factor into battery-powered vehicles.

Its high-powered, dual-motor Ioniq 5 N debut EV is therefore being designed find plenty of favour from the current crop of traditional petrolheads out there.  

“We want to get the petrolheads who still today say they will never drive an EV because this is no fun,” said Hyundai Executive Technical Advisor and all-round N brand guru Albert Biermann.

“So we want to have some of those guys sitting in an Ioniq 5 N and going on track days with the Ioniq 5 N and giving that traditional-thinking petrolhead a good lesson as to what is a fast lap around a race track.

“[It] could be fun to

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China’s JAC plans Australian growth, pickups are just the start

China’s JAC plans Australian growth, pickups are just the start

As reported last week, another Chinese brand is preparing to hit the Australian market in 2023, with dual-cab utes on the launch menu – both diesel and (shortly after) electric.

The company is called JAC Motors (full name Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Group Co., Ltd), and is State-owned, based in Hefei, and trades on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

Little-known here, it sold more than 500,000 vehicles last year and claims to have exported more than 700,000 cars to 130 countries and regions in its history.

As well as making EVs, cars, utes, vans, trucks and buses, it’s also a tier one supplier of chassis, drivetrains and axles. Moreover, the company claims that among its 5000-strong R&D team are a subset dedicated to vehicles for western markets.

JAC also operates a Chinese joint-venture with Volkswagen, and is contracted to produce premium electric vehicles for fast-growing startup Nio through another joint venture announced

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Volkswagen Golf hatch sales being paused in early 2023

Volkswagen Golf hatch sales being paused in early 2023

Volkswagen expects to record close to zero Golf hatchback sales in the first quarter of 2023 due to a supply issue affecting a specific chip.

A spokesperson for the company told CarExpert that VFACTS figures for the first quarter will consist solely of the unaffected wagon and any leftover hatchback stock.

The missing chip powers the reversing camera, and Volkswagen Australia says it won’t import vehicles without this feature.

Volkswagen is adamant, however, that the Golf isn’t being pulled from the market like the Ford Focus and that this is merely a temporary obstacle.

Customers looking to purchase a Golf and who don’t want to wait will be directed to the T-Roc, which the company says will be in very good supply next year.

The spokesperson also told CarExpert that Volkswagen is no longer the “Golf company” and that even with this supply blackout, the brand is still

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Ex-Holden designer Simcoe promoted again, now GM senior VP

Ex-Holden designer Simcoe promoted again, now GM senior VP

Former Holden chief designer, Australian Mike Simcoe, has continued his march into the uppermost levels of management at General Motors (GM).

Starting January 1, Mr Simcoe will move into the role of senior vice-president, Global Design, having previously served as vice-president without the ‘senior’ tag attached.

The new title for GM’s head designer “signifies continued emphasis on design as GM accelerates transformation to an all-electric future”, the company told shareholders.

Mr Simcoe has led GM Global Design since 2016, after his work across Australia and the Asia Pacific drew notice from the very top. Prior to this he was responsible for design in GM’s international markets.

He joined GM in 1983 as a designer at Holden in Australia, became director of GM Asia Pacific Design in 1995 and executive director in 2003, and then moved on to become executive director of GM North American Exterior Design the following year.

Under

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Hyundai preparing virtual dual-clutch gearbox for EVs

Hyundai preparing virtual dual-clutch gearbox for EVs

A virtual dual-clutch gearbox (DCT) dubbed ‘N e-shift’ is among the most interesting of a suite of technologies being developed for Hyundai’s first high-performance electric vehicle (EV), the Ioniq 5 N.

In development onboard the N brand’s ‘rolling lab’ concept known as the RN22e, said N e-shift feature seeks to match the overall feel of a paddle-shift action of the DCT in a petrol-fuelled N model.

There’s also intended to be an accompanying sound that mirrors the engine revs right up to the bap, bap, bap of the rev limiter, via speakers. At least, that’s the part the engineers are working on now in readiness for sign-off in around April or May 2023.

“The idea is to come pretty close to the feel and sound of the DCT in the i30 N hatch,” said Hyundai Executive Technical Advisor and all-round N brand guru Albert Biermann.

“This is what we want

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