Toyota’s ute again finished behind the stablemate Corolla in the top 10 – 3554 v 3311 units – but it leads the hatch overall for the year by a narrowed margin of just 93 units.

The Hyundai i30 has slipped from top spot to third overall after finishing just eighth in August sales with a figure of 1864. It is the second consecutive month the model’s volume has dropped since attractive driveaway deals ended.

1

A big update for the Mazda 3 in August helped the Japanese hatch-sedan return to the top 10 after a surprising omission in July’s results. It was fourth with 2818 sales, not far behind the ever-impressive Ford Ranger (2964).

That knocked the company’s CX-3 out of the top 10, though the bigger CX-5 SUV remains a big-selling regular (7th, 1902 units).

The Toyota Camry had a strong month with nearly 2500 sales to place fifth, well ahead of the Holden Commodore in sixth with 1952.

1

The biggest surprise of August, though, has to be the Mitsubishi ASX, which jumped into the mix with a fantastic figure of 1781 sales.

A fourth Toyota, the RAV4, rounded off the top 10.

August’s total market of 94,909 is an increase of nearly five per cent over the corresponding month last year – boosting the year-to-date percentage increase to 3.0.

Top 10 selling vehicles in August 2016

Race for 2016’s No.1 Sales Spot (at end of August 2016)

Source: Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries

Renault Australia is busy crunching the numbers on a business case for the Grand Scenic MPV, as the French brand’s local arm contemplates adding the seven-seat people mover to its local range.

Speaking with Wheels at the Australian launch of the new Renault Koleos midsize SUV, Renault Australia boss Justin Hocevar confirmed that a seven-seat version of the Koleos is not planned – despite the Nissan X-Trail that provides the platform for the Koleos being available as a 5+2 variant.

And with the stylish Renault Espace people mover being confined to Europe as a LHD-only model, the Grand Scenic is the only seven-seat candidate currently available to Renault Australia’s product planners.

1

Though sales in the people mover segment are comparatively low when measured against large SUVs, Hocevar says the Grand Scenic – like the Europe-only Espace – straddles the divide between the two categories.

“I personally think Espace is a segment-breaker because they’ve really moved away from the conventions of an MPV design to bring some of the characteristics that people are looking for in an SUV: increased ride height, that lovely big glasshouse, the seating position and command over the road,” he said.

“I think that some of the attributes and design cues that I mentioned about Espace are apparent also within Grand Scenic.”

“We met with the program engineers on Grand Scenic early this year, and we quite like what they’ve done with the next-generation vehicle. So we’re having a look at it, but we’ve got a number of stakeholders to get across the line to consider the business case.”

1

However, Hocevar pointed to the Master Bus as an example of Renault’s ability to be competitive even in slow-selling segments, with the $59,990 12-seat van-based light bus undercutting its similarly-sized Mercedes-Benz Sprinter rival by $20,000 while offering more space than the Toyota HiAce Commuter Bus

“We were able to offer a small bus with the size and quality of the German offering, for the price of the Japanese option,” Hocevar said.

A similar strategy could be applied to the Grand Scenic to enable it to steal market share from smaller people movers like the Citroen Grand C4 Picasso, Kia Rondo and Volkswagen Caddy Maxi.

Revealed in May, the Grand Scenic rides on a 2804mm wheelbase and occupies a footprint that’s 4634mm long and 1865mm wide.

1

Four diesel and two petrol engines will be offered in Europe, with the diesel-electric dCi 100 Hybrid Assist variant adding an electric motor to improve fuel consumption. However, as a manual-only powertrain the dCi 100 Hybrid Assist is unlikely to be offered in Australia.

Other features include an electronic instrument panel and portrait-format infotainment display similar to that featured in the new Koleos, along with a colour head-up display and Bose audio system in high-grade models. There are plenty of pragmatic features too, with fold-down tray tables for the second row, integrated sunblinds, power-folding second and third-row seats, a plethora of USB charging points and a sliding centre console.

If you’re considering putting it on your family van shortlist, though, you may want to reconsider. Assuming it gets given a green light by Renault Australia, it’s “highly unlikely” we’ll see the Grand Scenic back on our shores before 2018 at the earliest.

Toyota, Ford, Nissan and Kia were the big winners in a booming new car market that saw sales grow 4.6 percent in August, putting the industry on track to top 1.2 million sales for 2016.

The 94,909 cars sold in August – for a year-to-date total of 784,380 – puts the market on track to break its previous record of 1,155,408 sales set in 2015.

The Camry was one of Toyota’s standouts with 2458 sales, making it the top selling Australian-made car for the month, easily beating the Holden Commodore (1952) and Ford Falcon (441).

Toyota also sold more SUVs than any other manufacturer off the back of a strong month for LandCruiser (1350) and Prado (1328), each of which led their segments.

Yet despite its dominance in SUVs, Toyota’s share of high riding wagons was only 32 percent – well down on the 37 percent share for the overall market on the back of a 10.6 percent gain for the month.

And the tussle for the top spot has again shaken the overall fight for the top selling car for the year.

The Hilux is again the top selling car for the year, with 27,618, just ahead of the Corolla (27,525) and Hyundai i30 (26,937)

Mazda reasserted its stranglehold on second position in the sales race with 9258 sales for August, well ahead of Holden (7667) and Hyundai (6536).

Helping Mazda’s cause were its trio of SUVs, the popular CX-3 (1323), top selling CX-5 (1902) and all-new Mazda CX-9 (738); between them it meant 43 percent of Mazda’s volume was for SUVs.

Ford, too, had a rare month, buoyed by the Ranger (2964) and Mustang (717). Once again the Mustang was the top selling passenger car in the Ford line-up, trouncing the Focus, Kuga, Territory, Falcon and Fiesta.

Kia also came home as the ninth-best-selling brand with 3710 sales, a 26 percent improvement on the previous August.

Luxury brands, too, posted some impressive figures in August.

Audi was up 5.5 percent with 2006 sales, BMW up 5.4 percent with 2321 sales and Mercedes-Benz up 11.5 percent to 3295 sales.

Lexus, too, jumped 11.4 percent with 789 sales, while Volvo had a strong month posting 671 sales for a 50 percent increase.

In terms of a percentage increase Jaguar stormed away with the prize with a 202-percent jump courtesy of the arrival of the Jaguar F-Pace, the brand’s first SUV.

Hyundai dropped 31 percent, a product of the disappearance of its i20 hatchback and slower sales of the Elantra and i30.

Volkswagen fell 19 percent for the month, due predominantly to the changeover to its crucial new Tiguan SUVs. Stock of the previous model has dried up while dealers await the imminent arrival of the all-new model.

Holden also slipped 2.6 percent to 7667 sales, although with five new models due in the next five months – the Trailblazer (replacement for the Colorado 7), revised Trax, new Astra, new Equinox (replacement for the Captiva) and revised Barina.

Top 10 selling vehicles in August 2016

Top 10 selling brands in August 2016

Source: Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries

Australian buyers now have the option of a high performance version of Porsche’s Macan Turbo with a newly announced range-topping variant of the compact SUV now available to order.

Starting at $143,500 (plus on-road costs), the Porsche Macan Turbo with Performance Package, as it’s called, receives a power and torque boost to its twin-turbo 3.6-litre V6 engine which results in both quicker acceleration and a higher top speed. Power has been upped to 325kW from 294kW and torque is up 50Nm to 600Nm which, in real terms, means the the car’s claimed top speed goes from 266km/h up to 272km/h, while the zero to 100km/h figure has been reduced by 0.4 seconds to 4.4 seconds. By our calculation, the latter now means the 1925kg compact SUV can accelerate faster than the firm’s base-model 1505kg 911 Carrera.

1

The uprated engine is complemented by a new sports exhaust and the now-red brake calipers grip 30mm larger brake discs up the front while the rear remains as is. The performance variant gains revised suspension geometry to include a lowered ride height via Porsche’s air-actuated active suspension system, the Sport Chrono package is now standard fitment which means an added sports-mode button for an even more responsive tune.

The car’s fuel consumption is now quoted as being between 9.4L and 9.7L/100km, up from a combined figure of 9.2L/100km.

The new flagship SUV is also being offered with a couple of optional equipment packages: one for the exterior and one for interior. The Turbo Exterior Package includes gloss-black 21-inch wheels which employ the lateral-spoke design of the Porsche 911 Turbo, LED main headlights and various other blacked-out bits. The Turbo Interior Package includes black leather interior with suede-like touches as well as various coloured appliqué and carbon fibre highlights.

1

The before on-road costs price of $143,500 represents an approximate $13,500 premium over the firm’s previous range-topping Turbo S, and orders placed now are expected to be delivered at the beginning of next year.

Porsche Australia’s Paul Ellis said the newly announced model is extremely important to the firm’s 2017 sales strategy, saying that performance is high on the list of priorities of would-be Aussie Porsche owners.

“Porsche is performance and people buy our cars for the performance even if there are limited opportunities to sample that performance in our nanny-state society,” Ellis said. “There is a market for unique, exclusive, high-end performance cars”.

This week marks a decade since the passing of Peter Brock.

To celebrate and remember one of Australia’s greatest ever racing drivers, we’ll be trawling both the internet and our archives to bring you plenty of Brock-related content, including videos, road tests, features and more.

First cab off the rank is an event you simply couldn’t imagine today, Australian Touring Car Championship regulars engaged in some friendly off-street drag racing in their actual ATCC machines!

Peter Brock in the famous 05 VH Commodore takes on Bob Morris in his XE Falcon and…well, we won’t spoil the result. Keep an eye out for the legendary Bathurst-winning Torana A9X in the back of shot, too.

Mercedes-Benz has released images and details of its performance AMG GLC Coupé ahead of its debut at the Paris Motor Show next month.

The Mercedes-AMG GLC 43 4MATIC Coupé is the brand’s answer to those wanting a mid-size SUV with power.

Featuring the same 3.0-litre twin-turbocharged V6 petrol engine and nine-speed auto gearbox as other Mercedes-AMG 43-badged variants, the GLC 43 produces similar figures to the Mercedes-AMG C 43 Coupe and Cabriolet (270kW and 520Nm) and pushes the SUV to 100km/h in just 4.9seconds from a standstill, on its way to a top speed of 250km/h.

1

The nine-speed transmission has a sportier tune with faster shift times and can also be driven in manual mode at the push of a button, with shift paddles mounted behind the steering wheel.

It also features a 4MATIC all-wheel drive system that runs a default torque split of 31:69, which means sends 69 per cent of its power to the rear wheels in most conditions, improving traction and providing a more rear-driven feel for the driver.

A retuned Air Body Control air suspension allows adjustments to ride height and helps cancel out body roll, and can also be raised up when off-roading capability is called for.

The GLC 43 Coupé is fitted with AMG’s Dynamic Select System, so drivers will be able to select from Eco, Comfort, Sport, Sport Plus and Individual driving modes.

1

The Coupé’s looks are based on the regular GLC 43, riding on 19-inch twin-spoke alloys as standard or 21-inch alloys as an added-cost option. Other optional extras include performance seats and carbon-fibre trim.

The GLC 43 Coupe’s interior is upholstered in black leather with red accents and aluminium trim. A standard 7-inch screen with race-timer functions is also included. There’s 491 litres of boot space in the rear, or 1400-litres with the rear seats folded down.

A local market launch will happen in December 2016, and we expect to receive exact timings and pricing closer as the event draws near.

Two M6 GT3s to tackle the other great race, as well as a pair of non-factory Nissan GT-Rs.

What a big week it was for sportscar race fans with two local teams each announcing two-car attacks on the Liqui-Moly 2017 Bathurst 12 Hour race, set for the first weekend in February.

Steve Richards’ local GT team has confirmed it will double its firepower for the popular enduro, expanding to include a second BMW M6 GT3.

And the Sydney-based Hobson Motorsport has confirmed it has purchased two Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 cars from the US to campaign in the 12 Hour.

The Brett Hobson team Nissans will be run and prepared by Wall Racing, which will have a major operation at Mount Panorama, running the two GT-Rs and same pair of Class B Porches it fielded this year.

Hobson and Wall are set to get their hands on the two GT-Rs in December. Most recently the machines have been part of a Nissan-backed effort at the Pirelli World Challenge – one that includes Aussie driver James Davison.

The 2017 Bathurst 12 Hour coincides with the 20th anniversary of BMW’s greatest triumph at Mount Panorama, Geoff and David Brabham winning the 1997 Bathurst 1000 in a BMW Motorsport Australia 320i super tourer.

Shut out of local touring car due to the restrictive rules of V8 Supercar racing, BMW has been forced to bide its time for a return.

Driver line-ups across the two M6 GT3s will be finalised and announced closer to the event.

Chaz Mostert and Nathan Morcom won the 2016 Bathurst 6 Hour in a BMW 335i E92.

Richards himself has been very successful at Mount Panorama too, winning the Bathurst 1000 four times, the most recent victory coming alongside Craig Lowndes last year. Richards is also a Bathurst 24 Hour winner, winning the short-lived endurance race with Garth Tander, Nathan Pretty, and Cameron McConville in 2002.

Both the BMW Team SRM and Hobson Nissan driver line-ups are yet to be announced.

Rosberg cruises to victory after Hamilton’s messy start

Defending champ Hamilton’s lead reduced to two points

Like too many races in the modern era of Formula One, the Italian Grand Prix was decided within moments of the lights going out, when pole man Lewis Hamilton duffed the start, gifting his Mercedes-Benz team-mate and rival Nico Rosberg a relatively easy run to his first win at Monza.

But the positive news emerging from 53 laps bereft of much in the way of excitement is that with the European season of F1 over, Hamilton and Rosberg are now just two points apart after 12 races.

Hamilton’s sluggish start left him slipping backwards to sixth, as Rosberg, and the Ferraris of Vettel and Raikkonen all got away well and safely, followed by Williams’ Valtteri Bottas and Ricciardo.

Max Verstappen also went backwards, from seventh to 12th, ruining his race. At least he didn’t hit anyone.

Hamilton immediately set out after the fast-disappearing Rosberg, flying past Ricciardo on lap two, and some laps later, Bottas, to move to fourth. Already, though, the Brit was 11 seconds back from his team-mate.

Also on a two-stop plan, Ricciardo spent much of the race chasing but not quite threatening Bottas. But this changed on lap 47 of 53, when the Aussie finally got within DRS range and then pulled off what commentator Martin Brundle described as the “overtake of the year” in the first chicane. Ricciardo was clinically efficient, coming from a long way back and braking hard and late without a hint of tyre smoke. Job done. Fifth place. His fellow Red Bull driver Verstappen was seventh.

“You hope for a podium every race but realistically, coming here, we thought Ferrari would have an edge on us,” Ricciardo said afterwards. “We also thought Williams and Force India would be strong and we targeted fifth place. For us to finish in fifth and seventh represents championship damage limitation here at Monza. I was pretty close to Bottas in the middle of the race and knew I could race hard from that position. It was a really enjoyable overtake.”

But at the home race for Ferrari, Mercedes left the Scuderia and the others fighting for modest returns, the Rosberg-Hamilton double act posting its fourth one-two finish of the season.

A day earlier, the writing was on the wall. Though expected to perform at a high level in its home grand prix, Ferrari was blitzed by the Mercs and forced to occupy the second row. The only consolation was the lack of pace from constructors’ championship rivals, Red Bull. Both were outsped by the Williams of Valtteri Bottas, with Ricciardo back in sixth and Verstappen seventh.

Monza’s low-downforce straights don’t do the modestly powered cars any favours.

Since the previous week’s controversial Belgian Grand Prix, so much has centred on teenager Verstappen and whether or not he need to be officially censured for his part in the first-corner fracas and a couple of other questionable defensive moves.

It doesn’t help either that television commentators, desperate for a new wonderkid and certainly hopeful of a ratings boost, talk up the kid at every opportunity.

Verstappen is a rare talent, but at this stage of his development as a F1 driver, it might be useful if he understood that a little more race experience and a better understanding that impetuous actions can invite disastrous consequences.

Some of the older drivers would not be thrilled to be beaten by a youngster, even one of the maturity shown in many (though not all) ways by the Dutchman. But that’s not to say he shouldn’t heed the advice heading in his direction.

Let’s hope Verstappen’s private talk with F1 race director Charlie Whiting hit the spot.

WEC: Webber and his mates win Mexican thriller

The six-hour race went right down to the wire with the weather the wild card

Audi should have, could have, but didn’t, take the win. And despite a couple of glaring mistakes from the normally reliable Timo Bernhard, the #1 Porsche 919 Hybrid emerged with the victory at the WEC’s first visit to the Autódromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City.

Bernhard and his two buddies in the #1, Brendon Hartley and Mark Webber, have now won the last two WEC races, but still lag in the drivers’ championship.

Two periods of rain forced the teams to adjust their strategy to cope with the changing conditions.

This left the pole-winning #8 Audi R18 e-tron quattro of Lucas di Grassi, Loic Duval and Oliver Jarvis in the lead. But Jarvis slid off at high speed when a front wheel-bearing failed.

Bernhard gave his team-mates and supporters a scare with just six minutes remaining when he was caught out by rain and slid off.

But his margin was big enough to allow him to recover and take the flag with just over a minute in hand over the Audi R18 of Andre Lotterer and Marcel Fassler.

Lotterer had charged back at the Porsche when, in the fifth hour, he locked up and clouted the wall, throwing away a likely win with the consequent pit stop.

Championship leaders Neel Jani, Marc Lieb and Romain Dumas were fourth in the second Porsche on when they clearly struggled with the varying conditions.

Porsche now leads the manufacturers’ standings with 201 points ahead of Audi (158) and Toyota (112).

The 4.4-kilometre track is noted for its combination of long high-speed straights and slower corners, and because the circuit sits at an altitude of 2285 metres, breathing is sometimes hard for the drivers and their cars alike.

Those watching the ever-changing fortunes of the drivers and cars on track were equally short of oxygen.

MotoGP at Silverstone springs another first-time winner

The year of history-making continues as Viñales takes brilliant maiden victory

It was Suzuki’s first victory since returning to the championship.

The 2013 Moto3 world champion was untouchable at the British Grand Prix, becoming the seventh winner so far in 2016.

Viñales, who scored his first podium in Le Mans in the French GP, pulled away from an almighty battle behind, eventually winning by 3.4 seconds once away in the lead/

The race took two attempts to get underway after a frightening crash on the opening lap when an incident between Loris Baz (Avintia Racing) and Pol Espargaro (Monster Yamaha tech 3) brought out the red flag and the two riders went to the medical centre.

On the restart, the front row of the grid of Crutchlow, Rossi and Viñales fought for the lead, with Crutchlow taking the position early before Viñales got through to pull away.

Australia’s Jack Miller, returned to action of sitting out two races due to injury, qualified 12th on his Honda and finished 16th.

With Marc Marquez – fourth at Silverstone – now leading the standings by 50 points ahead of Rossi, MotoGP heads tor Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli next weekend.

You won’t want to lose any of these – and not just because of the car.

1. VEYRON SPEED KEY

2. JDM-ONLY WRX STI

3. MCLAREN KEYS

4. KOENIGSEGG CCXR

5. FERRARI 488 GTB

6. MCLAREN F1

7. PORSCHE 917

8. BMW 7-SERIES

9. LFA NURBURGRING

IT seems like such a simple equation. A $400,000 V10-powered Italian supercar, and a four-door Australian family car in a head-to-head drag race on the quarter mile – who wins?

We have become accustomed to electric cars, like the Tesla Model S, surprising high-horsepower monsters at the strip, but this is perhaps the most shocking pair up on Australian soil we have seen.

No one would have expected the four-door family-car Ford Falcon to get ahead of Lamborghini’s Huracan, but it didn’t just beat it, it utterly embarrassed it by more than a second.

Watch a Lamborghini Aventador SV Nurburgring hot lap

However, anyone familiar with the 4.0-litre six-cylinder turbo ‘Barra’ engine from Ford should have warned the owner of the Lamborghini not to have been so comfortable.

The mods on the Ford FPV F6 aren’t listed in the description of the video, but from the outside it doesn’t appear to be too significant.

Stickier tyres on the rear do hint that this family car isn’t completely stock but knowing the tuning potential of the Barra engine, we wouldn’t be surprised if there was an upsized turbo and intercooler under the bonnet, with boost wound up significantly.

Still, you would expect a $400,000 supercar like the Lamborghini Huracan to put up a significant fight.

With 449kW and all-paw traction, it is a formidable opponent, and capable of some impressive straight-line numbers.

In the end, the Lambo is hosed by over a second, with the Falcon crossing the line in 9.919sec at 140.12mph (225.50km/h). The Huracan recorded an 11.098sec pass at 131.04mph (210.88km/h).

For the Falcon to win by over a second is an incredible feat. Yes, it is almost guaranteed to be modified, but it is still mighty impressive for a four-door, six-cylinder, family car to take down an Italian supercar.

It needs to also be noted that a Huracan is capable of recording a 10.5sec pass from the factory with the right launch, but a 9.9 is too fast to trump.

Thanks to the good blokes at Fullboost for filming the showdown and sharing it for us all to enjoy!