Priceless in Australia: Crazy Old Bastard Shot Me for Doing Burnouts! [NSFW]

We're not going to lie and say we don't like watching or doing burnouts ourselves, but truth to be said, there's a place and a time for these things, and constantly annoying your neighbors by leaving loads of rubber outside their house, isn't something we advised you to do, because you may end up in the same situation as this young Australian named Shane Tenhaguis.

A long running dispute between the 23-year old father from Marrakai in Northern Australia and an unnamed 61-year old neighbor over the former's love for burnouts in his Ford Falcon and Holden Commodore turned violet when the latter had enough and came out with a gun and began firing shots at the young man and his cars!

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Aussie University Creates a More Mainstream Solar-Powered Car called Eve

When one thinks of solar-powered cars, the thought conjures up images of going along at three miles per hour, in something that looks nothing like a car. However, they have to be made ultra-aerodynamic, to make the most of what little power it is able to capture from the Sun.

Now, the University of New South Wales in Sydney, which benefits from the experience of the Sunswift team, has announced that this year’s car (their fifth-gen vehicle) will be approached differently, and the plan is to make it more like an actual car, and just generally “be more mainstream.”

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Aussie BMW Dealership Transforms First-Gen X5 Into a Ute / Pick-Up

There are quite a few documented cases of people taking every-day vehicles and turning them into pick-up trucks, or utes, as they are called in Australia where they have just done it again, this time with a first-gen BMW X5 SUV.

While some of the similar projects we’ve seen varied in terms of quality of the finished product, I think this X5, which was done by a BMW dealership from Queensland, is one of the better ones I’ve seen.

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Volvo to Enter Australia's V8 Supercars Championship in 2014 [w/Video]

Volvo announced on Monday that it will have an official Volvo Polestar Racing taking part in the 2014 season of Australia's V8 Supercars Championship. Two Volvo S60 V8 Supercars will be entered in the series that starts next year.

Volvo Car Australia will join forces with Volvo Car Group's global motorsport partner Polestar and the V8 Supercars team Garry Rogers Motorsport, forming Volvo Polestar Racing Australia.

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Fail Turns Into Win for Aussie Off Road Dwellers

A group of off-road buddies in Australia had a bit of an adventure when one them tried to cross through a bed of muddy water in a fifth generation Nissan Patrol SUV and ended up getting stuck.

One of his friends in what looks to be a fourth generation Patrol from the 1990s was there to give a helping hand. It took a couple of pulling efforts, but he was able to muscle out the Japanese off-roader from the murky pond.

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Holden Launches New Malibu Sedan in Australia Priced from $28,490

Sporting the same exterior looks as the pre-facelift Chevrolet Malibu sans the Holden badges and front grille, GM's Australian unit confirmed the model line-up and pricing for its new mid-size sedan that will slot between the Cruze and the Commodore in its range going up against the likes of the Honda Accord, Ford Mondeo and Mazda6.

The Holden Malibu goes on sale in Australia this month offerings customers a choice of two trim levels, CD and CDX, and a pair of engines, a 2.4 liter petrol rated for 165hp (123kW) or a 2.0 liter common rail turbo diesel developing 157hp (117kW), with prices ranging from $28,490 to $35,990.

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Australian VW Owners Speak of Sudden Power Loss, After Death of 32 Year-Old Golf Driver

It seems that Volkswagen has some things to set straight with its cars in certain markets. After recent recalls over issues with DSG transmissions in China, Japan, there have been reports about engine problems in Australia.

According to a report from the Newcastle Herald, Many Aussie owners of VWs spoke out this week, claiming they had problems similar to those believed to have caused the 2011 death of Melissa Ryan, a 32-year-old owner of a Golf equipped with a manual transmission.

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Vauxhall Launches New VXR8 GTS with 576BHP Supercharged V8 in the UK, Eyes BMW M5

Vauxhall has announced that the new VXR8 GTS model, based on Holden’s new GEN-F GTS, is available for order in the UK beginning from today.

Fitted with a 6.2-liter V8 engine that drives the rear wheels producing 576bhp – a whopping 150bhp more than the outgoing model, the new Vauxhall VXR8 GTS will be an interesting alternative to more expensive cars like the BMW M5 or the Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG.

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Holden Says It will Continue to Build Cars in Australia despite Ford’s Exit

Following Ford’s announcement that it will stop making cars in Australia in 2016, the country’s other major car manufacturer, GM-owned Holden, said it remains committed to making cars in the country.

Holden CEO Mike Devereux said in a statement that Ford’s announcement is a reminder of “just how tough it is for manufacturers in Australia, even the most committed, like Holden, which is bringing out the most technologically advanced car ever made in Australia.”

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Official: Ford to End Australian Production in 2016, Kills Off Falcon

As we reported earlier, Ford announced today that it will cease its Australian manufacturing operations on October 16, 2016, leading to the loss of around 1,200 jobs out of a total of 3,500 people it employs at its production plants at Broadmeadows and Geelong that build the Falcon and the related Territory SUV.

During a press conference held in Melbourne today, Bob Graziano, president and CEO of Ford Australia, said that the company could not continue to build cars in the country after reporting a loss of $141 million after tax in the last financial year, and more than $600 million over the past five years.

Like his counterparts over at Holden, which will likely kill the Commodore in 2016 and put the final nail in the coffin of Australia's long production-run of rear-wheel drive sedans, utes and estates, Graziano also blamed the rising value of the Australian dollar against other currencies.

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Breaking News: Ford Poised to Shut Down Shop in Australia, Announcement is Imminent [Live Video]

We'll know for sure in about half an hour from now, but the word on Australian news sites, including The Australian and ABC Online, is that Ford plans to stop producing cars in the country by 2016, with the official announcement to be made during a press conference at 10.45am (AEST) today. Read more »

2014 Holden Caprice Comes with New Interior and a $10,000 Price Cut

Holden has just rolled out the long-wheelbase version of its Commodore series, the Caprice (offered by GM as the Chevrolet Caprice police car in North America), which gains the new interior of the VF Commodore, but misses out on the aluminum body part upgrades and exterior revisions.

On the other hand, both the 2014 Caprice V6 LPG and Caprice V V8 benefit from a substantial $10,000 price cut over the outgoing 2012 models (read our test drive here). While Australian buyers will surely appreciate this move, it also raises some reasonable questions about Holden's previous pricing policy…

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New HSV GEN-F Range Includes Australia's Fastest Production Car Ever

The presentation of the redesigned 2014 Holden Commodore VF Series (offered as the new Chevrolet SS in the States) earlier this year has been followed up with the release of the Holden Special Vehicles (HSV) flavored editions of the car known as the GEN-F range.

HSV touts the GEN-F as one of its most important updates ever as it features "the most significant exterior styling makeover since E-series" and includes the most powerful performance production car ever built in Australia, a country known for its muscles cars, the 577hp (585PS / 430kW) GTS. Unfortunately, it may also be the last of its kind as GM is considering a front-wheel drive replacement for the next Commodore due in 2017.

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Woman Hurled Into the Air by her Partner-in-Crime After Trying to Steal Gas

True, gas prices have gone up in most places around the world in the past few years, but are a few gallons of petrol worth more than the safety and well-being of your partner?

Obviously, for most people the answer to this question would be "no", but when it comes to criminals and possibly harmful individuals, anything goes, as we see in this surveillance video from a gas station at Mt Warren Park in southeast Queensland, Australia.

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Swedes Tell the Tale of the New Volvo S60 Polestar Sports Sedan

In a somewhat ironic twist, Polestar's first true performance production model, the new Volvo S60 Polestar, won't be offered in its home market. In fact, it won't even be available in Europe. Instead, the only country that will get the car is located several thousand miles on the other side of the world, in Australia – at least for the time being, as Volvo did say that further markets "are under investigation". Read more »

Volvo S60 Polestar Enters Limited Production, But Only for Australia and With Less Oomph

Truth to be said, last year's S60 Polestar Performance Concept was a big success in terms of publicity for Volvo, with the one-off, 508-horsepower-strong sports sedan turning many heads towards the Swedish carmaker. To refresh your memory, said saloon was sold to an unnamed American collector for $300,000 or about €228,500 at today's exchange rates.

At the time, both Volvo and its official racing and performance partner Polestar had said that they were considering a limited production run of the car. To some extent, the two companies have made that happen.

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This Google Maps Picture is Definitely Not What it Looks Like…

They say, "A picture is worth a thousand words", but we also know that looks can be deceiving, which is certainly the case with this Google Maps image from Dukes Highway in Keith, South Australia, that was discovered by Reddit forum member Corncorn01. Read more »

GM Restructures Holden’s Manufacturing Operations, Lays Off 400 Employees

Holden announced it will restructure its South Australian manufacturing and product development operations in Melbourne, because of lower demand for the locally-built Cruze compact model.

As a consequence of the restructuring, the Holden Vehicle Operations facility in South Australia will cut its output by 16 percent, from 400 cars per day to 335 by August 1, 2013. This means that approximately 400 employees from the Elizabeth production facility will be sent home. Holden has around 2,200 employees in Australia.

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Is this Aussie Cop Stoned or is the Driver Being an Asshat?

Usually, it's easy to tell from a surveillance or regular camera footage when police officers are joking around, doing their job right, or when they're at fault. Naturally, there are instances where the line is blurred – like the case of this cop chasing a motorcyclist in Prague, which brings us to this video shot in Mildura, Australia.

An Australian cop pulled over the driver of a small people-carrier for what we assume to be a routine traffic stop. Once he approaches the van, the driver, who goes under the YouTube nickname "jnicolaci", asks the officer if he's "stoned" and says "look at your eyes", all while filming the incident.

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Electrical Fire Risk Sparks 15,000-Strong Mazda6 Recall Worldwide

The all-new Mazda6 has been on the market for a few months now, and so far, it has received praise for its style, driving dynamics and efficiency. However, since it is an all-new car, problems were bound to pop up, and the 6 is not without its fair share. According to a press release from Mazda Australia, the problem is of an electrical nature, and it can lead to a fire, in the worst-case scenario. Read more »