Victoria is Australia’s car theft capital

Mark Schneider | 26/10/2016 10:01:44 AM

Australians tend to be a little parochial when it comes to their home state, proudly proclaiming the superiority of NSW, Victoria, Queensland, WA, or wherever else they call home. We even have a history of putting state slogans on our number plates. But here’s one you’re unlikely to see adorning Victorian number plates: “Australia’s car theft capital”. Yes, Victoria has earned that unwanted title after an extraordinary 33% rise in car thefts in the year to Ju...

Never ignore drowsy driving

Mark Schneider | 17/10/2016 11:57:46 AM

You’ve been driving for several hours with several more to go and you’re starting to yawn. Next the blinking starts and you’re having trouble keeping your head up. Your thoughts are wandering and suddenly you’ve nodded off for a second, drifted out of the lane or off the road and jerked your head up with a sudden shock. That was scary! If that sounds familiar it could be that you’ve been working too hard and not getting enough sleep and it’s definitely ...

Transport is more expensive than you think

Mark Schneider | 5/10/2016 2:41:23 PM

The Australian Automobile Association (AAA) certainly raised a few eyebrows recently with its revelations about just how much it’s costing Australians to get around in their wide brown land, or at least around their suburbs. The AAA’s Transport Affordability Index showed the average Australian family is spending up to $22,000/year on transport. It’s a remarkable figure but what’s also surprising is the difference in costs between our most expensive ci...

Marketers’ dream or another high-tech distraction?

Mark Schneider | 28/09/2016 3:58:46 PM

As if texting in cars wasn’t bad enough, drivers may soon be faced with another distraction when they’re behind the wheel – in-car marketing. According to a report in on-line magazine Marketing Land, cars are about to become the next mobile target for marketing, and it promises to distract us in a number of ways. Targeted billboards For starters there are digital billboards which are going interactive. Ads that are synchronised to changing traffic speeds are just...

Formula E is electrifying motor racing

Mark Schneider | 27/09/2016 12:07:54 PM

The cars may look familiar and the action is fast, furious and close. The commentators hyperventilate with excitement and even the drivers’ names are steeped in motor racing royalty. There’s a Prost and a Senna and a Piquet on the grid alongside former Formula 1 drivers Jarno Trulli, Sebastien Buemi and Nick Heidfeld. But when the rubber hits the road at any race of the Formula E series there’s something distinctly different about it. It’s the sound – there&r...

Autonomous Cars Take a Giant Leap Forward

Mark Schneider | 2/08/2016 10:18:37 AM

Autonomous cars have just taken another big step into the future with the release of a new computer that collects data and enables autonomous navigation. NXP’s BlueBox computer collects information from radar, Lidar, cameras and other sensors and processes them in real time to build a model of the vehicle’s surroundings. The system can process an astonishing 90 million instructions per second and uses less than 40 watts in the process. It’s already had the s...

Chinese start-up poaches BMW’s electric experts

Mark Schneider | 19/07/2016 1:01:59 PM

In a sure sign that China is getting very serious indeed about the future of electric cars, Chinese electric vehicle startup Future Mobility has recruited the brains behind BMW’s electric i8 sports car. The Chinese company may be an unknown in the vehicle world, but it’s backed by some very big money - the curiously named Tencent Holdings and Foxconn. Tencent Holdings is an electronics, social media and online gaming giant worth over US$200 billion, while Foxconn, which manufa...

Ford's Australian Influence is Here to Stay

Mark Schneider | 15/07/2016 9:33:44 AM

The end of Ford Australia’s car production may be just months away but Ford Australia’s Research and Development and Product Development team will be playing a major role in developing new products world-wide. In doing so, the company will become Australia’s biggest automotive sector employer from next year, according to Ford. After its last cars have left the production line Ford’s Broadmeadows, Victoria plant will be transformed into its Asia-Pacific Product Deve...

When comprehensive insurance just isn't enough

Mark Schneider | 5/07/2016 10:02:49 AM

Sometimes life’s harshest lessons come at the worst possible time. I learnt a harsh lesson about insurance recently when I was involved in a car crash. Happily I was quite OK but my car was a write-off. The other driver was entirely at fault, his insurance paid out on my claim and I didn’t even have to pay the excess. But here’s the harsh bit – my car won’t be replaced, I won’t get any money for another one and I’m now looking at a bill for nearly...

Has Tesla Killed Off Car Dealerships?

Nigel Malcolm | 30/06/2016 1:47:44 PM

With new technology comes disruption. And self-driving cars are attracting a lot of attention from a technology point of view: how do they work? Are they safe? Will they be affordable? Far less attention is being given to the way they will disrupt the motor industry. But the reality is that self-driving cars will not only revolutionise the way we move. The method by which cars have traditionally been distributed, sold and traded will be transformed in ways that most of us haven’t ev...

From Vacuum Cleaners to Cars

Mark Schneider | 17/06/2016 12:47:15 PM

The coming motoring revolution in electric cars and autonomous vehicles is producing some unlikely aspiring carmakers. Who would have guessed 10 years ago that Google, an internet search engine, and Apple, a computer and smartphone maker would be getting serious about making cars? Now there’s another unlikely starter on the blocks – Dyson. That’s right –Dyson, the company that manufactures vacuum cleaners that reputedly “never lose suction,” is developi...

Volvo is dead serious about death-free driving

Mark Schneider | 10/06/2016 12:03:38 PM

If you were to do a word association test and the word “Volvo” came up, then it’s a reasonable bet that the first word that popped into your head would be “safety”. Volvos have always been synonymous with safety. Long before safety equipment like airbags, head restraints and even seatbelts became compulsory, Volvo were building safety into their cars from the tyres up. Well lately they’ve been taking that commitment to a whole new level with a commi...

The fastest PR Job on Wheels

Mark Schneider | 31/05/2016 10:31:37 AM

You’ll need more than just money to buy Ford’s latest hero hypercar, the 2017 Ford GT. You’ll need influence, social media smarts, public relations skills, a personal history with Ford and quite a bit of luck. But you will need money – lots and lots of money - because the 2017 Ford GT will set you back somewhere north of US$400,000. Buying a Ford GT is nowhere near as simple as marching into your nearest Ford dealer and handing over a cheque for all that money. Wit...

Every Extra Drink Makes You More Likely To Crash

Mark Schneider | 23/05/2016 10:30:15 AM

For most of us who’ve been driving for a few years it seems so natural that we might be tempted to think that we’re probably OK to drive when we’ve had a few drinks. Well the reality is very different. While it might seem like second nature, driving is always a complex task requiring coordination, reflexes, judgement and concentration and they’re the very things that are badly affected by alcohol. Your ability to drive is affected from the moment you start drin...

Holden Designs Find a Worldwide Market

Mark Schneider | 12/05/2016 10:29:37 AM

Australian-built Holden cars may be disappearing from the nation’s new car dealerships with the end of production in 2017, but cars designed by Holden’s Australian design team will be finding a global market well beyond that date. Holden’s design centre in Port Melbourne has been designing Holdens since the 1967 HR first hit Australia’s roads. Before then Holdens were designed in the US. The Port Melbourne studio is one of 10 GM design studios around the world. ...