The Honda Prelude name is back after a two-decade absence, but anyone expecting a two-door Civic Type R alternative may need to reset their expectations. The new Prelude isn’t a hardcore sports coupe. Instead, it reprises its traditional role as a stylish, relatively attainable grand tourer – this time powered exclusively by a hybrid drivetrain.

Built on the same platform as the current Civic, the Prelude uses Honda’s 2.0-litre petrol-electric hybrid system, producing 135kW combined. Drive is sent to the front wheels via an eCVT automatic. Honda claims a 0–100km/h time of around 8.2 seconds, putting it in warm-hatch territory rather than true sports car company.

On the road, the hybrid system delivers smooth, near-instant electric torque at low speeds, making the Prelude feel responsive around town. At highway pace, however, it can feel like it would benefit from more power, particularly during overtaking.

3

Underneath, there’s more promise. The Prelude borrows suspension, steering and brake hardware from the previous Civic Type R, although the adaptive dampers have been retuned for comfort. The result is a coupe that rides with impressive composure over rough Australian roads. Even in its sportier setting, the Prelude remains supple rather than sharp-edged.

Steering is accurate but light, favouring ease of use over feedback. Grip levels are solid, yet the front-wheel-drive layout and relaxed chassis tuning mean it never feels especially playful. Keen drivers may find rear-drive rivals such as the BMW 2 Series more engaging.

Honda has attempted to inject some character through its “S+ Shift” system, which simulates stepped gear changes despite the single-speed hybrid transmission. In Sport mode, it adds artificial shift sensations and engine sound enhancement. It’s most convincing under hard acceleration, but the Prelude still feels more at home covering distance than attacking corners.

2

Where it excels is efficiency. Expect real-world fuel consumption around 4.8–5.5L/100km in mixed driving, making it notably economical for a two-door coupe.

Inside, the Prelude closely mirrors the Civic, with a 12.3-inch digital instrument display and nine-inch touchscreen. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are standard, along with a Bose sound system and heated front seats. Material quality is solid up front, although rear-seat trim feels less premium. Rear accommodation is best suited to children, but folding the seats expands boot space from 269 litres to 760 litres.

In Australia, the Prelude is expected to offered in a single, well-equipped grade priced in the low-$70,000 range. It’s not a replacement for a hot hatch icon, but as a refined, efficient and distinctive daily driver, the revived Prelude makes a convincing case.

9

This year shapes as one of the most competitive in history for those manufacturers looking to make further inroads into the Australian new-car market. Legacy brands face confrontation like never before in the face of relentless launches and new model releases from challenger brands, largely those based in China. There’s a speed of launch to market never seen before, and manufacturers like Hyundai – now a mainstay in the Australian new car market – have a bumpy road ahead of them.

That’s why the new Elexio – built in Hyundai’s production facility in China – is so important to a brand looking to maximise its position under the new NVES guidelines. There’s certainly a sense that if you can’t beat them, you join them, but the automaker is also keen to emphasise that this is a Hyundai in every sense of the term.

More than three quarters of Hyundai’s portfolio is available with electrification of some sort now, and with even hydrogen on their development table, it has a broader platform than most. Elexio, which sits between Kona and Ioniq 5 in the Hyundai model totem pole, is aimed squarely at city-dwelling EV buyers, with a tech-heavy focus and a modern take on design and functionality inside the cabin. It’s the first Hyundai Wheels has tested without a focused driver display or gauge set, too, something we’ve criticised in the Tesla Model Y. A head-up display promises to ease some of that concern – more on that in a minute.

3

Elexio comes in just the one trim grade at launch, the Elite, priced at $59,990 driveaway. Arriving towards the middle of 2026, a base model Elexio will also join the range, sitting beneath the Elite with a starting price of $58,990 before on-road costs. It’s fair to assume, at that point, the initial driveaway offer for the Elite will revert to regular pricing, likely to be a few thousand dollars more than the current tag. Given Elite trim level usually sits in the middle of a Hyundai model range, the Elexio Elite is definitely more equipped and feels more premium than the naming might suggest.

Some local input has been fed to this new Elexio, too, with consultation between Hyundai Australia not just on ride and handling, as has been happening for a while, but also in regard to the calibration of the suite of electronic safety controls, with a strong program of local evaluation, feedback and consultation back to the factory in China. Hyundai says, springs, dampers and anti-roll bars have all been tested to find the best system for our local road network.

First up, style, and there’s no doubt the Elexio looks more ‘Hyundai’ and less ‘Ioniq’. Whether that is deliberate or not doesn’t matter, but where Ioniq models appeal to those buyers looking to stand out from the crowd, the Elexio will catch the eye of those of you who prefer to be a bit more demure, and more inclined to waft in and out of the SUV crowd without attracting too much attention. That’s to say, Elexio looks a lot more like you’d expect a Hyundai SUV to look in 2026. The one departure is the four headlights that sit either side of the bonnet, giving the Elexio a focused frontal view. Matter of opinion, sure, but we think it’s a good looking vehicle.

Interior and drivetrain

The cabin is the area where Elexio departs from what we’ve come to expect of Chinese-built vehicles. It feels familiar if you’ve driven a Hyundai in the last few years, with the caveat that the massive 27-inch, 4K infotainment screen that fills the dash fascia removes the need for buttons of any kind. The jury is still out on that one, and we’d prefer some physical controls for key inputs. Traditional steering wheel controls take care of some of that functionality, but we’d like controls for key things like the AC for example, to be accessed in the traditional way.

2

Elexio Elite gets 20-inch wheels, LED head- and tail-lights, an electric tailgate, acoustic glass, roof rails, and 506 litres of storage space in the boot. The front seats – heated and ventilated – have more than enough adjustability to get comfortable behind the wheel, and there’s room in the second row for adults if you don’t have really long-legged occupants up front. We found the infotainment system worked snappily on test – both Apple CarPlay and the proprietary satellite navigation systems, with clear call clarity as well.

There’s a lot to take in across the gigantic screen, some of it too far away from the driver, but it works well. The head-up display is one of the best we’ve ever tested because it isn’t projected onto the windscreen in the traditional way. Rather, it’s projected onto a blacked out section of the screen, meaning it’s crisp and clear in any light.

Elexio gets an 88kWh battery pack with FWD via an electric motor at the front axle, and 160kW/310Nm outputs. WLTP testing claims a driving range of 546km. The E-GMP platform beneath features 400-volt capability, and charging can run from 10 to 80 per cent in as little as 38 minutes.

What’s it like to drive?

On the road, the Elexio is snappy without being too fast and delivers the kind of effortless forward urge that only an EV can produce. The ride is excellent, even on choppy country roads, and one of the highlights is the cabin insulation. At 100km/h on a coarse chip country road, there’s almost no noise entering the cabin, such is the quality of the insulation, meaning you get a much more relaxed cruise than you do in some EVs.

4

The steering and braking are also excellent, but we needed to turn the lane-keep assist system off on country roads, such was its tendency to want to direct where we sat in the lane.

If you’re trying to avoid a pothole, roadkill or debris on the road, that gets annoying very quickly. The safety systems were otherwise unobtrusive though.

There’s no doubt the styling will appeal to more buyers than Kia’s edgy EV5, and while they share the same platform, the Elexio feels different to drive. Whether it can cut through into more Australian new car buyers, most of whom are still cynical about the merits of a full EV remains to be seen.

Does the Elexio feel like a Chinese-built EV? No, and in effect it feels every bit the Hyundai that its badge implies. That’s important for potential buyers, too, to extrapolate on the reasoning of why someone would opt for an electric vehicle from an established brand. Whether it becomes Hyundai’s most successful EV remains to be seen.

It’s still a hefty investment, and EVs still make up less than 10 per cent of all new vehicle sales in Australia.
So, it’s fair to say Australians aren’t yet ready for the electric transition in big numbers.

The Elexio is, though, an impressive example of the form that’s definitely worthy of consideration.

Specs

A couple of weeks before Christmas I went on a drive with some mates, a loose group with modern classic cars. Air-cooled Porsches predominate, but among those are interesting 911 RSs, a 912, an outlaw 356 and a 914.

The non-Porsche members are probably even more interesting, and include a split-window VW Kombi, a Ferrari 328, an Alfa Romeo 105 Berlina, a hard-driven BMW 2002, a super-rare Giocattolo and an unending curiosity of mine, an Audi Quattro (Typ 85).

The boxy, ’80s Audi is probably the most normal-looking vehicle of this lot. Yet it’s usually the one – well, if the Giocattolo’s not around – that gets the most attention when we pull up anywhere for coffee and doughnuts.

I’m glad it’s not just me that has such reverence for this car. Mine even pre-dates the beginning of the Quattro’s Group B rally dominance, having heard all kinds of rumours of this new coupe with supernatural powers. In the early-1980s I once spotted a German-registered BMW M1 in Sydney; only a Quattro could have topped it.

1

Quattros were back on my mind again just after Christmas, when something came on the TV news about Kerry Packer. I realised it was the 20th anniversary of the Big Fella’s passing.

Packer dominated both our television and magazine landscapes. I can’t think of an equivalent in today’s fractured media and business environment. Yet he was a billionaire with whom the public could relate, not least through his passion for sport, a flutter – and cars.

Thanks to owning Wheels, Packer had the scoop on the latest must-have machinery. Or “can’t-have” machinery: in the 1970s and ’80s, Australian motoring was isolated by huge import tariffs and prohibitive regulations.

Abetted by his mate Kevin Bartlett, Packer would work the connections to get his hands on a succession of cool cars.

I wrote 10 years ago about the fabled Jaguar XJ-S twin-turbo, reputed to make 850kW, between self-immolations. It’s an even better story, told to me by Bartlett, of the covert operation that kidnapped a Quattro for KP.

In 1981, a silver left-hand drive Quattro, build number 421, was being shipped from Germany to a dealer in Madagascar. It was detoured via Sydney for evaluation by Audi’s Australian importer, LNC Industries.

LNC’s PR man was Phil Scott, later editor of Wheels and a mate of Bartlett, for whom he arranged a sneaky drive. Shortly after, Packer happened to ask about a suitable car for the five-hour blasts from Sydney to Ellerston, his vast country estate.

“I said, well, I just had a drive of an Audi Quattro last week,” KB recounted. “He said, ‘What the f’*&%‘s that?’ I told him and he said, ‘Uh, well we’d better have one of them …’” Bartlett had to explain that the car was already allocated, it was left-hand drive an it couldn’t be registered. Said Packer: “Forget about the cost. If it’s that f*^#in’ good, we’ll have it.”

Bartlett had an inkling that he could pass rego in the ACT if he could convert the Quattro, using related Audi 5+5 parts. But even if not, “we would have just taken it up to Ellerston and left it there. A bush-basher.”

1

A flurry of phone calls between Australia and Ingolstadt led to Bartlett’s flying to Germany to meet engineer Roland Gumpert, the boss of Audi Sport. The factory hadn’t planned to build the Quattro in right-hook, but a parts list was drawn up and the bits followed Bartlett back to Sydney.

As with Packer’s Jag, sightings of the Quattro were rare and exciting. Meanwhile, the factory’s 1982 decision to build in RHD prompted Packer to buy another to keep in the UK. That black car was later imported to Australia, where it was joined by a third, silver one.

“Yeah, he did like them,” KB remembered.

Did he enjoy driving them? “Took him a while,” KB said. “Took me a while, too. You had to pitch it into corners really aggressively, or you’d just understeer straight off the road. He got to do it quite well, actually.

“Nearly all the way from the highway to Ellerston was dirt then and he had a ball through there. He enjoyed his motoring.”

This article first appeared in the February 2026 issue of Wheels. Subscribe here and gain access to 12 issues for $109 plus online access to every Wheels issue since 1953.

Chinese automaker Chery has taken the wraps off its latest electric vehicle, the Toyota Corolla-sized QQ3 hatchback.

Launched in China this week, the Chery QQ3 will go up against similarly-sized offerings from rivals like the BYD Dolphin, MG MG4 and the GWM Ora. All are priced around the $30,000-$38,000 bracket.

Chery Australia confirmed it had ‘strong interest’ in QQ3, a spokesperson telling Whichcar by Wheels that “whilst there is strong interest for the QQ, there are no confirmed plans for Australia at this stage.”

1

However, with Chery one of the fastest growing brands in Australia (sales were up 176.8 per cent in 2025 compared with the previous year) and an onslaught of new models hitting the market, it wouldn’t be out of the question to suggest the QQ3 could well make its way to our shores.

In China the QQ3 is priced from around CNY150,000 (approximately A$30,000) with Chery reportedly booking over 27,000 pre-orders within three hours of opening the books for the compact EV.

Measuring in at 4195mm long, 1811mm wide, 1573mm tall and sitting on a wheelbase of 2700mm, the QQ3 is marginally shorter in length than the Toyota Corolla (4375mm) but 21mm wider and 113mm taller. It also sits on a wheelbase longer by 60mm. Boot capacity is quoted at 375 litres, expanding to 1450 litres. A further 70 litres of storage can be found up front under the bonnet.

4

There are two power train choices, one a modest 58kW motor driving the rear wheels, the other a meatier 90kW. Chery hasn’t revealed the size of the battery yet, but quotes driving ranges of between 280 to 401km, based on very lenient China Light Vehicle Testing (CLTC) protocols, figures that are usually around 25 per cent better than the more stringent and closer to real-world WLTP cycle.

The all-new QQ3 draws on the brand’s heritage, the original QQ a compact and affordable city-sized hatchback in production from 2003 to 2016. Originally priced at around CNY50,000 (A$10,000), the QQ became one of China’s most popular new cars, Chery producing over 1.4 million QQs over its life. 

Hyundai has expanded its Palisade large SUV line-up with the introduction of a new Elite variant, positioned below the existing Calligraphy grade and priced from $76,500 plus on-road costs.

Due in Australian showrooms from March 2026, the Palisade Elite is offered exclusively with Hyundai’s 2.5-litre turbocharged petrol-electric hybrid powertrain and all-wheel drive. It serves as a lower-priced alternative to the $89,900 Palisade Calligraphy, reducing the entry point to the Palisade range by $13,400.

Like the flagship, the Elite is powered by a 2.5-litre turbocharged four-cylinder hybrid system producing a combined 245kW and 460Nm, paired with a six-speed automatic transmission. Hyundai claims combined fuel consumption of 6.8L/100km and a braked towing capacity of 2000kg.

The Elite retains much of the mechanical specification of the Calligraphy, including Australian-specific suspension and steering calibration. Local engineers worked with Hyundai’s global development team to tailor the passive dampers and steering tune to suit domestic road conditions. The SUV uses a strut front suspension and multi-link rear setup with self-levelling dampers.

1

Externally, the Elite is differentiated by its own grille design, black wheel-arch cladding and 20-inch alloy wheels, compared with the 21-inch rims fitted to the Calligraphy. Black and silver lower bumper elements and side skirts distinguish it further. Six exterior paint colours are available.

Inside, the Elite is configured as an eight-seater and features leather-appointed upholstery rather than the Nappa leather used in the Calligraphy. It retains twin 12.3-inch displays for the digital instrument cluster and multimedia system, along with a 14-speaker Bose audio system, tri-zone climate control and Hyundai’s Digital Key 2 functionality. Heated front and second-row outboard seats are standard.

Advanced driver assistance systems include Highway Driving Assist 2, adaptive cruise control with stop-and-go, blind-spot monitoring with intervention and a surround-view camera.

1

The Calligraphy continues as the more luxurious option, adding features such as a head-up display, dual-panel sunroof, 21-inch wheels and suede interior trim.

Hyundai backs the Palisade range with a five-year warranty, extendable to seven years if serviced within the dealer network, and an eight-year/160,000km warranty for the high-voltage battery.

Pricing

Key features

Exterior

• 20-inch Alloy Wheels
• Rear Spoiler with HMSL
• Rear Fog Lamp
• Repeater Lamp (Side Mirrors)
• Rear Combination Lamp
• Electrically Adjustable + Heated Outside Mirror
• Solar Glass (Windshield + FR)
• Privacy + Privacy with Heated (RR + Backlite)Roof Rack (Silver Paint)

Safety

• Blind-spot Collision Avoidance; Rear
• In Cabin Camera
• Parking Distance Warning
• Parking Collision Avoidance: Reverse
• Highway Driving Assist 2
• Forward Collision Avoidance 2.0
• Intelligent Speed Limit Assist
• Lane Following Assist 2
• Lane Keeping Assist; Line/Road-edge
• Manual Speed Limit Assist
• Rear Occupant Alert (logic type)
• Surround View Monitor
• Smart Cruise Control 2; w/ Stop & Go
• Tyre Pressure Monitoring System
• Electronic Child Locks
• Active Hood System

Interior

• Electronic Chromic Mirror (ECM)
• Laminated Glass (FR)
• Acoustic Windshield
• Leather Appointed Seat Covering
• 10-way power adjustable driver seat (inc. lumbar)
• 8-way power adjustable passenger seat
• Heated 1st and 2nd Row (outboard) Seats
• Seat Back Pocket
• Auto Up/Down & Safety (All windows)
• Leather Appointed Steering Wheel
• Heated Steering Wheel
• Cloth Roof & Pillar Trim

Convenience

• Column Mounted SBW
• Manual Tilt and Telescopic Steering Column
• EPB with Autohold
• Full-size Spare Wheel
• Smart Key and Push Button Start
• Digital Key 2.0
• Blindspot View Monitor
• 12V power outlet (Front + Cargo
• Interior V2L
• USB-C Charging Ports (Front + Seatback + Cargo)
• Front Automatic Dual-Zone Climate Control
• Rear Automatic Single Zone Climate

Multimedia & Display

• 12.3″ Digital Cluster
• 12.3″ Digital Multimedia Display
• 14 Speakers – BOSE
• Bluelink® w/ OTA updates
• Satellite Navigation

Performance

• 2.5 T-GDi HEV AWD
• Front Brakes Disc; 18 inch
• Rear Brake Disc; 17 inch
• High Performance Damper; Front
• Self Leveliser; Rear

1

Specs

The judges at Wheels COTY are a tough bunch – there’s no side stepping that fact. This year was my first as Editor, but the names Robinson, Gover and Morley carry the weight of combined decades of testing. As such, impressing them isn’t the easiest thing to do, no matter how good a vehicle is.

And yet, all of us, individually and collectively, drove the IM5 and were impressed – not just by the pace and performance on offer – but also the quality of the suspension system and the ease with which it dealt with Lang Lang’s notoriously difficult ride and handling test loop.

If you recall, the judging team had asked MG Motor, who backs the IM brand in Australia, for the entry-grade IM5 Premium, but unfortunately, that model wasn’t available and the much more hardcore IM5 Performance was provided. While it ultimately prevented the IM5 from going deeper into the COTY field, it did illustrate the quality of the chassis underneath, which is featured across the range of IM models and that’s why we’re taking a closer look this month at just what makes the system tick.

1

What makes up the IM Digital Chassis?

The crunching power beneath the skin is as deeply complex as you probably suspected. There’s 800-volt electrical architecture in keeping with the best of the pure EV world. But it doesn’t just power the IM in the traditional sense, as other systems do. That same 800-volt system delivers lightning-fast, real-time interaction between the powertrain, the suspension, the steering system, and braking at speeds that make the reaction times of even the fastest F1 drivers on the grid seem positively pedestrian.

At each corner of the IM, the hardware comes into play – four-wheel independent suspension, which is nothing new – but you also get adaptive damping, and bi-directional rear-wheel steering which can move up to 12 degrees, making a significant difference to steering performance around town and combined with the VMC, provided the IM with enough high-speed swerve stability to beat a 25-year record in Europe’s famous ‘moose test’. Added to that, the IM features brake-by-wire, which has the processing power to modulate pressure to each wheel individually in what IM claims is milliseconds.

As you can see, then, what MG is working on is the concept of changing the relationship between the software and the hardware, and unleashing the capability that comes with such a clever computing brain. Within the software genius, the algorithms can intake and then process data from dozens of sensors around the chassis and use that data to predict what the vehicle is likely to do in super-fast time. It means, in theory, that the IM can turn that data into a response at the mechanical component with a speed that wasn’t previously possible.

IM’s engineers tell us the easiest way to think of the speed of the system is by considering traditional traction control – or stability control systems for that matter. Even the best can only react once you’ve either lost traction or started to slide, and then make the corrections via input from the brain that mitigate the slide. IM says that its digital chassis can read and identify the scenario that might otherwise have led to the slide and prevent it from happening in the first place. Clever.

How it works…

Despite the significant engineering advances in the world of automotive over the past decade or two, it’s still the modus operandi of four-wheeled transport to base itself upon a mechanical connection – that is, components connected to each other in the traditional sense. Remember the furore when electric power steering was first used? Or fly-by-wire throttle systems? You can understand why manufacturers are reluctant to change, cost aside.

And, while Wheels has seen and tested systems that can read and predict road surfaces, and make adjustments accordingly, what IM has delivered here, in the form of the IM5 and IM6, might just be the evolutionary step some of you have been waiting for. There’s complexity beneath the skin, no doubt, and some of you might question its durability, but there’s also the theory that reconfiguring the way the electronic or computer-controlled part of the vehicle communicates with the mechanical part is absolutely the way forward.

Beneath the skins of the IM5 and IM6 hide more than 3000 semi-conductors, which control everything from brake pressure and application to suspension behaviour. These two cars might be the first example of road cars anyone can buy that think significantly faster than even the best of us behind the wheel.

1

According to MG, the concept of the traditional chassis and the way it works is a tried and tested one. Mechanical components like the front wheels, for example, react to an input from the driver at the steering wheel and respond accordingly. That response is put into action via hydraulic actuation, pneumatic actuation, or an electronic system that does what it does in isolation of other control elements of the car.

You could even break that theory down further into the spring and shock absorber taking care of different things at one corner of the car. Extrapolate that out to the brakes working in isolation, the steering doing the same, and so on. In reality, you’ve got a lot of things happening independently beneath you. When you’re driving a car or SUV, IM has summed up these otherwise complex relationships as its ‘digital chassis’ ‘Vehicle Motion Control’ system – or VMC – enhancing both safety and performance.

What IM is bringing to production with the VMC is the concept of a central control brain, that – by way of computers, of course – operates every dynamic component in concert with all the others. It takes the concept of managing the chassis from an individual sport to a team sport, in other words.

There’s genuine complexity to a system that could change the way manufacturers think about controlling what a vehicle does with speed and precision that hasn’t been the domain of regular road cars. In the same way that our brain does things without us even realising it, so too could a digital chassis be working away beneath you, without you knowing what’s going on.

1

Road surfaces – whether in urban areas or on our notoriously patchy regional roads – are a bugbear of every tester who contributes to Wheels. On one hand, we like a testing route that delivers some shoddy surfaces so we can assess the chops of whatever car we’re testing, but on the other, the fact we have to test on such surfaces is required only because they exist. There’s no point in us recommending an SUV that rides like a sports car if your daily commute includes tens of sharp speed humps and countless potholes, or if you’re regularly heading off on road trips further from town on patchwork B-roads to visit your favourite winery or coastal holiday spot.

The issue with road surfaces, for example, is that in the cut and thrust of the daily commute, you spend much more time worrying about the cars in front, beside, and next to you, and what they’re doing.

Pedestrian crossings, traffic lights, your attention is on many more important things than the road surface beneath you. Imagine then, that your chassis is taking care of that, in a much more sophisticated way than even the most comprehensive traditional suspension systems can?

Across the range globally, IM has specified NVIDIA Orin-N or Orin-X chips, which to you and me is the automotive computing world’s equivalent of stage three hot rodding modification, which ‘integrates real-time machine learning’. If you think this is the stuff of science fiction, it certainly sounds like it. However, IM assures us it’s much more realistic and presents an opportunity to change the expectation of what our vehicles can do beneath us.

The process of learning takes place in milliseconds, as sensors keep an electronic eye on just about anything you could think of. They can watch the pressure that’s being put into the suspension for example, wheel speed, brake force, even the tyre pressure itself, which is highly influenced by road temperature, speed and air temperature, not to mention the force you’re putting into them under braking or turn-in. Those readings are then sent to processing units in lightning fast time, and turned into thousands of calculations each second.

3

Crucially, and this is perhaps the most important part, the digital chassis doesn’t wait for the driver to respond behind the wheel. Rather, if it detects any instance that requires mitigation – a loss of grip, understeer, oversteer, whatever that might be – it will then work rapidly to deliver a multi-layered response across as many systems as it deems necessary to call into action.

That could even be something as subtle as leaning into or out of a corner, or front-to-rear balance under braking.

We’re accustomed to electronics working to intercept traction, stability or braking issues. At Wheels COTY testing for example, our intention is to find the limits of the stability control systems, or entice a full ABS stop. Imagine though, that responses are being measured beneath the skin without you having any idea they are happening. Most of the time you won’t even be aware they are happening, according to IM.

MG tells us that one example of this is the way the rear-wheel steering works. We’re accustomed to the way these systems work at both low- and high-speed. One is to shorten the wheelbase, the other to improve high-speed stability. IM’s digital chassis can use rear-wheel steering to deliver enhanced stability, working to deliver better dynamics on any road, at any speed or steering input. It’s fascinating stuff – particularly considering that we’re at the inception. How smart can it get?

Safety guru Karl Reindler noted that the IM5 behaved impeccably through the swerve-and-avoid test during COTY. Where some vehicles fought their electronic safety systems, watching on, the judges could see how well balanced the IM5 remained, even as speeds increased.

1

According to IM that’s because emergency manoeuvres like that – most of them unexpected of course – are exactly the kind of real-world scenario where the digital chassis comes into its own. MG says that its IM systems can process and respond faster than the reflexes of even the best driver. Reindler, please don’t take that personally…

Even the least tech savvy of us can discern the safety benefits, but comfort is a big one in the real world, too, especially when the balance between ride comfort and handling prowess is such a fine line.

And it’s a line few cars nail perfectly. In theory though, a system that can read thousands or even millions of inputs and data points to deliver the most comfortable ride possible, makes for a much more serene experience around town at city speed.

That’s where the – sometimes daunting – reality of artificial intelligence comes in. IM says its iSMART app smarts and computing intelligence can adapt to different driving conditions, without the need to work your way through selectable driving modes.

Surely it can’t read my mind a split second before I decide to hook into a corner with gusto? Not yet, but maybe that isn’t too far away either.

What’s fascinating about this technology, from the outside looking in, is the ability for it to be updated as more smarts are perfected. Like a smartphone or computer that can be enhanced by updates and tweaks to the operating system, the digital chassis could – up to a point – be enhanced with flash updates as it comes online. In many ways, the sky really is the limit with what it can do.

It wasn’t so long ago that satellite navigation with live traffic updates, and the ability to steer you around that traffic to get to your destination faster, was the stuff of fantasy. Now, we accept it as commonplace every time we connect our smartphone to the car.

We’ve said for some time that the ‘car as computer device’ era is very much upon us. The modern buyer expects electronics – in regard to safety, connectivity and smarts – to be standard in even the most value-focused new cars. IM’s digital chassis steps the expectations up a notch with features most of us haven’t even thought too deeply about, if at all.

What’s fascinating for me – someone who loves driving, which is unsurprising given the masthead
I work for – is IM’s insistence that the concept of its digital chassis doesn’t remove the driver from the scenario. Certainly not now anyway. Which is good news for those of us who love driving.

What the digital chassis does, through its ability to think faster than us mere mortals, is enhance the driving experience in multiple different ways, most of them without intruding in a way you’d notice. I reckon that’s a good thing.

What do you think?

So, who exactly is IM presented by MG?

1

MG isn’t quite the MG we once knew – certainly not in terms of engineering might. What was once Morris Garages in England, is now very much a global company headquartered in China. MG still stands for Morris Garages, and IM stands for ‘Intelligent Mobility’. In MG’s own words, ‘IM is about intelligent and forward thinking electric vehicles’.

IM isn’t quite to MG what Lexus is to Toyota, for example, but the concept is similar. That is, offer a higher level, more upmarket and luxurious vehicle than the regular product line-up. The difference in IM’s case, though, is that each model is more than an ‘optioned up’ MG, they are completely different vehicles.

IM cars are built by a different arm of the MG conglomerate, aimed at attracting the kind of buyer who might otherwise look at a luxury European car, with a hint of Tesla’s forward thinking DNA. MG is part of the enormous SAIC Motors group, which purchased the British brand back in 2007. The group states that design is a huge element of its vision, with one design centre in Tokyo, and two UK-based centres – SAIC Advanced London and SAIC Design Advanced Birmingham – spearheading the work on some of the brand’s well-known models over the last few years. Vehicles are then built in the SAIC production facility in Lingang Shanghai.

Hurricane Motor

IM’s Hurricane Motor is the beating heart of the brand’s range of electric vehicles. Utilising 800-volt electrical architecture and spinning at 21,000rpm, it delivers 553kW and 802Nm in its most potent form in the IM5 Performance, good for a 0-100km/h.

1

TAG Heuer has unveiled a Formula 1-themed version of its Connected Calibre E5 smartwatch, combining race-specific digital features with a titanium case and motorsport-inspired detailing.

The TAG Heuer Connected Calibre E5 45mm x Formula 1 edition follows the brand’s return as Official Timekeeper of Formula 1, a role it previously held between 1992 and 2003. The new model builds on TAG Heuer’s broader involvement in the sport, which spans partnerships with teams including Ferrari, McLaren and, more recently, Oracle Red Bull Racing.

Central to the watch is a dedicated “Race Track” face that changes automatically across the 24-race Formula 1 season. Each Grand Prix is represented by its national flag, circuit outline and race name, with a moving indicator marking the passing seconds around the track layout. Additional digital faces have been redesigned to align with the Formula 1 edition.

An integrated Formula 1 app, accessible directly from the watch menu, provides the season calendar, weekend schedules, results and current driver and constructor standings. The system also delivers notifications and widgets tied to each race weekend session, from practice through to the Grand Prix.

3

The 45mm case is made from Grade 2 titanium with a black DLC coating. The touchscreen bezel references the stages of a race weekend, while red accents and Formula 1 branding appear on the caseback. Two straps are included: a leather-and-rubber combination with red stitching, and a stretch textile band intended for sport and sleep tracking.

Powered by the Calibre E5 platform, the smartwatch runs TAG Heuer’s proprietary operating system and includes health and fitness tracking functions such as heart rate monitoring, sleep tracking and dual-band GPS.

The model will be offered via TAG Heuer’s website with a limited early access sales window ahead of its broader release.

5

At the launch of a Supercars season that sees Toyota finally enter the category as a partner with Walkinshaw Automotive Group (WAG) and Brad Jones Racing, the Australian boss said there is scope to deepen that relationship provided current projects are successful.

Toyota has already partnered with WAG to remanufacture the US-built Tundra pickup (main) to RHD for our market, and now aligns with the race team Walkinshaw TWG Racing, to bring the GR Supra into the Supercars category. But with a history of alignment with the local arm of car companies as far back as Holden, could the relationship between Toyota and Walkinshaw strengthen even more?

“We already had a good relationship and partnership with Walkinshaw and now expanding into Supercars with the GR Supra,” Toyota Australia boss, John Pappas said. “We continue to build and our focus right now is on those two things. It’s about selling more Tundras and you know, getting the GR brand expanded as well, as a model line, and trying to learn through the GR V8 Supra. So that’s the focus for now, but you know, as we grow, we could look to other things.”

1

What those ‘other things’ might be are the subject of speculation for the moment, but Walkinshaw has a history in this country of modifying and enhancing factory offerings, with powertrain, tuning and chassis enhancements.

Tundra sales in Australia have been slow – taking into account the significant price jump to established platers RAM, Chevrolet and Ford, but also related to the head start RAM got in this market.

Ryan Walkinshaw sees the opportunity, but was also keen to emphasise the success of the existing arrangement. “Toyota is a major partner of Walkinshaw Automotive Group,” he said. “Obviously we’ve got a successful program going on with Tundra. They’re obviously always talking with all of our manufacturing partners about other opportunities, and we’d be slit not to. We propose different ideas (to them) and they propose different ideas to us.”

With a strong GR stable now including nameplates like Yaris, Corolla, Supra and HiLux previously, and 300 Series LandCruiser, opportunities for further enhancement are appealing, and it would appear the appetite for performance-focused Toyotas is well and truly alive.

“We’re always exploring those kinds of things,” Walkinshaw said. “But at the moment, our focus is ensuring that our Tundra program is a huge success here in Australia. And, after that, is there are other exciting products that may or may not exist in the future as a partnership with our two brands, then we’ll let you guys know.”

Motorists in New South Wales will face expanded roadside camera enforcement from March 1, as the state’s transport authority activates full bi-directional monitoring on single-lane roads.

The change means mobile phone and seatbelt detection cameras will be able to monitor traffic travelling in both directions, effectively doubling enforcement coverage at selected sites. Previously, the transportable cameras were limited to monitoring up to two lanes moving in the same direction.

In a Yahoo Australia news report, Transport for NSW (TfNSW) says the state’s 10 transportable mobile phone and seatbelt detection camera units will not increase in number, but their upgraded capability is intended to maintain enforcement coverage amid a growing vehicle fleet. Registered vehicles in NSW have risen by almost 12 per cent over the past seven years, from 6.7 million to 7.5 million.

1

According to TfNSW Secretary Josh Murray, the original goal when the mobile phone detection program began was to scan each registered vehicle an average of at least 20 times per year. The expanded bi-directional functionality is designed to help meet that benchmark as traffic volumes grow.

Data released by TfNSW shows a decline in offence rates since the program’s introduction. When enforcement first began, as many as one in every 400 drivers was detected using a mobile phone illegally. In 2025, that figure has fallen to around one in every 1200 vehicles checked. Seatbelt offences, added to the camera program in 2024, were detected in roughly one in every 1300 vehicles screened this year.

The rollout of the expanded capability will begin in March and is expected to take up to six months to complete. Fixed mobile phone and seatbelt cameras will not be affected by the changes.

Penalties in NSW for illegal mobile phone use while driving include a $423 fine and five demerit points, increasing to $562 and additional demerits in school zones and during double demerit periods. Failing to wear a seatbelt correctly attracts a $423 fine and three demerit points.

Revenue raised from infringements issued by the cameras will continue to be directed toward road safety initiatives, according to the state government.

MINI will release a 1965 Victory Edition in Australia next year, marking 60 years since the brand’s Mini Cooper S won the 1965 Monte Carlo Rally.

Limited to 30 cars locally, the edition will comprise 20 petrol-powered MINI John Cooper Works hatchbacks and 10 all-electric MINI John Cooper Works models. The vehicles are scheduled to arrive in Australian showrooms in the second quarter of 2026, with pricing to be announced closer to launch.

The special edition references the 1965 Monte Carlo Rally victory by Timo Mäkinen and co-driver Paul Easter in a Mini Cooper S. That win helped cement the original Mini’s reputation in international rallying during the 1960s.

1

Both modern variants are based on current John Cooper Works models. The petrol version is powered by a 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine producing 170kW and 380Nm, with a claimed 0–100km/h time of 6.1 seconds. The electric John Cooper Works delivers up to 190kW and is claimed to accelerate from 0–100km/h in 5.9 seconds.

All Australian-delivered 1965 Victory Edition cars will be finished in Chili Red, with a white bonnet stripe extending over the roof and rear. A white “52” graphic on the sides references the race number carried by the 1965 rally winner, while a “1965” badge appears on the C-pillar.

Further exterior details include 18-inch alloy wheels unique to the edition. The petrol John Cooper Works rides on JCW Lap Spoke two-tone wheels, while the electric variant receives black JCW Mastery Spoke wheels. Floating wheel hub caps and edition-specific valve caps are also fitted. Buyers can opt for a panoramic glass roof.

3

Inside, the cabin follows the usual John Cooper Works colour scheme of black and red. The door sills feature illuminated “1965” lettering, and each car carries a plaque referencing the Monte Carlo victory. Additional details include “1965” marking on the lower spoke of the sports steering wheel, commemorative lettering within the centre console and a key cap displaying the historic race number.

The edition arrives after a strong year for the John Cooper Works line in Australia. MINI reports the performance-focused variants accounted for 21 per cent of its local sales in 2025, while electrified models made up 31 per cent of total deliveries.