STEVEN Spielberg’s Back to the Future II may’ve missed out on a few predictions for 2015, but in the year of the trilogy’s second instalment, the autonomous Mercedes F015 has shown the car maker’s vision of the road ahead.

Unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas and set for the Mercedes Mantelpiece at the Detroit Motor Show, this is not your usual autonomous car, but a fully developed, working concept that explores some of the possibilities opened up by not needing a driver to be permanently fixed behind the steering wheel.

That sleek, silver cockroach-shaped body is made of lightweight but tough carbonfibre-reinforced plastic (CFRP) and aluminium stretched over a sprawling 3610mm wheelbase – a whopping 445mm more than the long-wheelbase S-Class’. You could almost live in this thing. And that’s the point.

This car represents the paradigm shift from drive-centric interiors to more flexible cabins as the potential for autonomous cars is explored. That means the F015’s inside is its most intriguing element as Mercedes attempts to define what luxury will mean for a driverless car.

The interior is hinged around the idea that perceptions of luxury are not fixed. “The luxury values of the future are changing. [In the future] Most people will have enough money to live well,” says the head of Mercedes’ Advanced Design Studio, Michele Jauch Paganetti. “[So it’s not solely about] money, money money, but ‘I want to have time’”. Therefore, the F015 is all about the quality of its occupant’s life as the ‘third place’ after the home and workplace.

“Gaining time is the concept of this interior, of this car,” Paganetti says. With soft shapes, from the seat to the way the walls meld into the floor and roof, he describes the double-cell cabin as like an, “Egg within an egg”.

It boasts four separate seats, and while the driver has the choice of driving the car in the current sense, he/she can switch to autonomous mode and turn their chair 180-degrees away from the front windscreen when the F015 is driving itself. “If you’re spending a lot of time in the car, you don’t want to stay just behind the steering wheel where you can only listen to the radio and make some telephone calls,” says Paganetti.

From the swivel chairs, the cabin becomes a digital playground that’s customisable and connected, more like a room than a car interior. Swipe and gesture controls allow ooccupants to interact with the multiple digital displays (think Minority Report meets Mercedes)while the dash itself is entirely digital. There are customisable hues, touchscreen tablet console tops and of course the obligatory Internet connection. “Surrounding you is the digital world. Everything is a communication between then outside and the inside,” adds Paganetti, “but you can also close this information flow.”

The philosophy behind the F015’s development is backed from the top down, with Mercedes boss Dr Dieter Zetsche saying, “Anyone who focuses solely on the technology has not yet grasped how autonomous driving will change society.” This is merely the start of conceptualising the motor car for the 21st century and doesn’t seem so whacky. Say goodbye to boring road trips.

FORGET the new year hangovers and stratospheric Christmas credit card bills because 2015 is shaping up to be the best yet for buying a new car.

New cars look set to be cheaper than ever in 2015 thanks to the introduction of free trade agreements with Japan and South Korea. Each eliminates the 5 percent import tariff applied to the price the car maker pay to import a car (as opposed to the retail price).

The Japanese FTA doesn’t come into force until January 15 while the Korean one came quietly into effect in December 2014, albeit with no price changes from Hyundai and Kia.

But already Japanese carmakers are reacting with revised pricing that could instigate movements by brands importing vehicles from other countries.

Hot on the bumper of Subaru last year – which reduced prices of its new Liberty and Outback by up to $14,000 – Toyota and Mazda have slashed prices to account for the eliminated or reduced import tariffs.

Mazda prices have been reduced by 2.5 percent on most petrol-powered models imported from Japan – the 3, CX-5 and 6 – while diesel models and the V6-powered CX-9 have enjoyed price cuts of between 0.8 and 0.9 percent, with more savings expected as the stepped tariff lowering on some models is finalised in April.

Toyota’s pricing changes are more convoluted and represent a substantial repositioning of some models.

The popular 86 sports car, for example, is unchanged, still priced from $29,990. The soon-to-be-repositioned Prius C is another that has not been adjusted for the revised tariff.

Like Mazda, Toyota has models unaffected by the tariff reduction; the Hilux and Kluger are imported from Thailand and the US, for example, while the Camry and Aurion are built in Australia.

But the more expensive four-wheel-drive models, such as Prado and LandCruiser, have enjoyed significant price reductions of up to $7630, or 8.3 percent – well in excess of an anticipated 3.0 percent retail price reduction.

While Corolla sedans are unaffected (they’re imported from Thailand), the Corolla hatch has enjoyed price reductions of between 1.8 and 3.8 percent. The recently upgraded Yaris is also now between 3.7 and 5.3 percent more affordable.

The chief executive of the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, Tony Weber, expects the price reductions on Japanese models to flow through to other brands forced to reduce their margins to compete with the repositioned models imported from Japan.

“The FTA is obviously going to reduce the car the price the car is landed in Australia and I think will most likely affect prices in Australia is the competition in the market,” said Weber. “There are 67 brands here and they’re all after the buyers’ dollars so therefore they’re pushing down prices.”

However, industry experts warn currency fluctuations could send some prices the wrong way. Already Korean car makers have dealt with slimming margins as the Australian dollar weakens, but importers from Japan have been cushioned by a week Japanese yen.

Despite the introduction of the Korean FTA neither Hyundai nor Kia has reduced prices, with each likely to add more equipment and/or increase margins.

“We’re going to add some value for the cars in terms of specification and equipment,” said Hyundai Australia public relations general manager Bill Thomas. “There are constant fluctuations in the exchange rate, but we don’t necessarily adjust our prices to match that.”

Despite the significant repositioning and price reductions, Toyota Australia executive director of sales and marketing Tony Cramb doesn’t expect it to boost sales.

“Given how competitive the market is, we don’t actually expect that our pricing changes will give us a competitive advantage – it will just become the new position in the marketplace.”

Cramb effectively confirmed that the 86 and Prius C would pick up more equipment in coming weeks by stating that all cars from Japan would benefit from improved value.

The FTA price adjustments are more bad news for Australian car makers, which in 2014 experienced record low sales, accounting for just 9 per cent of the 1.1 million vehicles sold.

Toyota and Mazda new car price changes: a snapshot

* Prices are manufacture list prices and exclude on-road and dealer costs

Ariel Motors, the UK outfit that creates the wild Atom sports car, has diversified.

Its new offering, called the Nomad, takes the Atom concept and throws it into the scenery. Thanks to their insane speed and occasionally spiky handling, early Atoms often ended up there anyway, but the Nomad will feel right at home with its chunky off-road tyres and long-travel suspension.

The Atom-based tubular spaceframe has been strengthened to cope with the demands of off-road use, and extra bars overhead create some rollover protection and provide somewhere to mount those oh-so-cool driving lights.

Despite the extra chassis, forgoing such luxuries as doors, a windscreen or any interior means the Nomad still weighs just 670kg.

This allows it to fly from 0-100km/h in just 3.5sec, with power provided by a 2.4-litre four-cylinder sourced from the Honda Accord Euro, which develops 175kW/298Nm thanks to some Ariel tweakery. Top speed is 200km/h.

While acknowledging that most will be used as on- and off-road recreational vehicles, Ariel hopes the car’s speed motivates some buyers to use the car in competition.

The UK’s more liberal registration laws mean the Nomad is fully road-legal in its homeland, but it’s unlikely that Australia’s more stringent design rules would allow the car to be registered here.

However, that’s really beside the point, because as you can see in the video above, as a weekend competition car, the Nomad looks to have few equals in the fun-factor stakes. We want a go in one badly.

HEY BMW M5, over here! Meet the Lexus GS F that’s set to wrestle the mighty BMW and its arch-rival Mercedes-AMG E63 in what’s set to be a serious dust up.

The super-Lex uses the same snarling 5.0-litre 90-degree V8 as the smaller Lexus RC F Coupe to deliver 348kW – well shy of the M5’s 423kW and E63’s 430kW, yet Lexus claims the GS F will be the featherweight of the class, but while its 1830kg provisional claim for the US-spec model is still some 40kg lighter than the M5, it’s still porkier than the 1975kg E63. Regardless, it’s game on for the super sedans.

The letter ‘F’ is Lexus lingo for fire breathing, its high-performance butt-kicking flagships, so the GS F follows suit with a bolder exterior clad in a sculpted body kit and riding on 19-inch alloy wheels and wider tyres. Of course, there’s a set of quad exhaust pipes at the rear like the rest of the F models.

That 4969cc V8 makes the GS F the only car in its class to use a naturally-aspirated engine, for better throttle response and using the Atkinson cycle in order to meet the increasing stringent emissions laws without resorting to turbocharging. A torque figure of 527Nm is a clear 149Nm more than the GS 350’s, but three 3Nm less than the same engine makes in the RC F.

THE GS F will be offered with an eight-speed automatic transmission to send power to the rear wheels – there’s been no talk of a direct competitor of the all-wheel drive E63 AMG offered in other markets or the Audi RS6 quattro – where its forged-aluminium multi-link suspension’s specific tune, passive rear-wheel steering and torque vectoring differential will help it deliver its punch to the road or track. Three driving modes will be offered – Standard, Slalom and Track – for that rear diff.

The fastest GS is currently the 450h, with its 5.9sec 0-100km/h claim. For the GS F to be a credible contender, it will have to be at least close to the BMW M5’s 4.4sec effort recorded by Wheels, and the E63’s as-tested 4.3sec sprint with a 12.2sec quarter-mile. When fitted in the RC F Coupe, which at 1780kg weighs 50kg less than the GS F, the V8’s good for a 4.5sec 0-100km/h run, so expect the GS F to be in the ballpark when it comes to the numbers. It should also be in the same league when it comes to price, too, at around $230-250K.

The GS F is set to be revealed at the 2015 Detroit Motor Show but is not yet confirmed for Australian showrooms.

Oh boy, does this look good.

You’d think that if you were in charge of completing final sign off on one of the most anticipated cars of 2015, you wouldn’t leave it lying around unattended where any amateur snapper could show the world.

Thankfully for us, that’s exactly what’s happened, and our gratitude must go to Instagram user johan9ff for sharing these pics of the new 991-series GT3 RS completely undisguised.

The first question it raises is: why bother? As our recent track test confirmed if you want to buy a 911 for the purposes of going around a circuit as quickly as possible, then the new GT3 is almost flawless.

Still, it does seem that Porsche are showing if not all, then at least most of its cards with the new GT3 RS. It has some of the most radical aerodynamic addenda ever seen on a production car, with the front guards akin to cheese graters and a rear wing that could double as a runway for RC aircraft.

Little is currently known about the car’s mechanical specification, but we can speculate with reasonable accuracy. Unsurprisingly, the test mule is fitted with the GT3-specific seven-speed PDK ’box, with the paddles mounted behind the ultra-cool steering wheel lifted from the 918.

Turbocharging has been mooted, but seems unlikely; expect instead a small power increase to around 370kW from the direct-injected, naturally-aspirated flat-six.

Elsewhere, there are now two bubbles in the roof to better accommodate those with helmets, while a half-cage appears standard.

A release date is yet to be announced, but will have to be soon. Fixing the standard GT3’s engine troubles has left Porsche with less than a year until the release of the facelifted 991.2 range later this year, so we’d put our money on a Geneva Motor Show debut.

Lexus has unveiled the V8-powered GS F ahead of its debut at the Detroit Motor Show next week.

The fourth car in the Japanese firm’s high-performance ‘F’ range, following the now discontinued IS F and LFA and the new RC F coupe, it takes Lexus into territory currently occupied by the BMW M5 and Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG.

With all the usual suspects having now switched to turbocharging, the GS F’s key point of different will be its 5.0-litre naturally-aspirated V8, lifted from the RC F.

While the atmo eight will improve the driving experience, it does mean the GS F has an uphill battle on its hands, as it produces just 351kW/530Nm, numbers well down on its German opposition.

However, if Lexus’s recent approach with the RC F is anything to go by, the GS F is likely to significantly undercut its rivals on price – we’d expect it to land at around the $180,000 mark, which will land it smack-bang in Maserati Ghibli territory.

The power is fed to the rear wheels through an eight-speed automatic gearbox and torque vectoring limited-slip differential. Performance figures are yet to be released, but given the GS F only weighs about 35kg more than the RC F, 0-100km/h should take around 4.5sec – or at least that will be the claim.

The usual body trinketry create a more aggressive appearance, while wheels measure 19 x 9.0 inches with 255/35 rubber up front and 19 x 10 inches at the rear with 275/35 hoops.

Unlikely to land locally until late-2015 at the earliest, the GS F will nonetheless be a welcome addition to the performance sedan stable.

If Infiniti’s model portfolio were a pantry, the bottle containing the Q60 model – formerly known as the G37 – would be well past its use-by date.

Revealed today at the Detroit Auto Show, the Q60 Concept car introduces not only a sexy new design but a new family of engines.

While photos of the Q60 Concept were released a week ago, details on its powertrain were kept quiet until today. The Q60 Concept features the all-aluminium direct injected 3.0-litre twin-turbo V6 that first broke cover in the Paris Motor Show’s Q80 Concept car. The engine is the first of many downsized engines Infiniti says it will introduce to its road vehicles within the next two years.

More details on performance also reveal the Q60 Concept features Infiniti’s drive-by-wire steering system.

Infiniti is calling the Q60 Concept a “no-compromise fusion of looks and speed,” and we’re not going to argue with the first part – it looks fantastic. It clearly uses the same design language as the Q80 Concept and updates the current ageing two-door coupe’s look significantly.

Highlighting this is the car’s low roofline, short front overhang and sculpting character lines. Meanwhile a muscular bonnet and taut rear-end give the coupe welcome presence.

Other arresting features, like the front bumper’s lower intakes, huge brakes, and squinty mirrors, have little chance of making it to dealerships, but we hope the turbine-style 21-inch wheels and front-quarter aero gills do.

Inside, the Q60 Concept offers a 2+2 seating arrangement. Carbonfibre and a “variety of leather” have been used, while “genuine sport seats” are said to provide rear passengers with more legroom.

It’s reported we will get to see the production version of the Q60 Concept in a matter of months before it launches in 2016.

PETROL prices are at a five-year low and are set to fall further, dropping below 99c/litre that’s currently being offered in some outlets in New South Wales, the cheapest in Australia.

“What we see in Australian wholesale fuel prices is a reflection of the international market, and we’re seeing prices coming down,” says the Australasian Convenience and Petrol Marketers Association (ACPMA) CEO, Nic Moulis. That’s seen prices plummet below the $1.00/litre mark for the first time since 2009, giving motorists a reprieve in the traditionally fiscally challenging January.

The average metropolitan price average has fallen from as high as $1.57/litre in the last four weeks to its current $1.21/litre.

Globally, OPEC (Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) has increased supply to counter the USA’s increased production and push to self-sufficiency, which has seen OPEC produce a glut of oil and prices plummet. The cost of crude oil has fallen more than fifty percent since June, with yesterday’s closing price of $47.93/barrel the lowest since April 2009.

The savings look set to continue in the short-term at least. “With the time lag that exists between price changes in the global economy and their effect on the Australian market, ​I can see wholesale prices declining in the short term, so hopefully that flows on to the motorist,” says Moulis.

While it’s OPEC’s oversupply stuffing cash back into motorists’ pockets, Moulis says that it’s the USA that could provide a long-term reprieve from high petrol prices if it changes its domestic policy. It currently prohibits the sale of oil outside the USA, but by entering the global market it could put sustained pressure on global petrol prices, and help keep Australian prices in check.

Yet there’s no certainty when it comes to oil prices.

“It is too hard to predict,” warns Moulis. “If you’d asked economists last year if they thought the price of oil would fall by 50 percent, none of them would have said ‘yes’.”

THINK YOU know your cars? Let’s play a game: try and name Australia’s top 10 selling vehicles for 2014.

Odds-on you won’t get all 10, but if you did, your list will be dominated by small cars. Four of Australia’s top 10 new cars in 2014 were small cars, including the top three: Toyota Corolla, Mazda 3 and Hyundai i30.

This is the Corolla’s second successive year on top, with Mazda 3 taking the top honours the two years before that.

In sad news for patriots, the last time a locally made car topped the list was in 2010, when the Holden Commodore pipped the Corolla, with Mazda 3 third.

Last year Aussies bought more 1.1 million new cars, making 2014 the seventh million-plus market in eight years.

So how did your car perform? Check the list of Australia’s Top 100 models below to see, and check how many of the Top 10 you nailed.

THREE utes made it into the top ten sellers in Australia in 2014, with the Toyota HiLux the bestselling ute and third most popular vehicle overall.

Only the Toyota Corolla (43,735) and Mazda 3 (43,313) outsold the HiLux, which posted a total of 38,136 for its 4X2 and 4X4 models combined.

It’s not all good news for utes, with the mining downturn sending overall sales down 4.5 percent after two years of strong growth.

For the first time since 2004, sales of 4X4 models dropped. They had more than doubled over the past decade, coming from behind 4X2s to account for more than three-quarters of all ute sales.

The Australian-engineered Ford Ranger came in at number six overall with 26,619 sales, posting a healthy 22.4 percent growth, closely followed by the Mitsubishi Triton in seventh (24,250), making it a trio of utes in the top ten.

It’s not just the usual suspects benefitting from the general strength of ute sales. The VW Amorak is the German maker’s second-best performer behind the Golf, last year recording a 10.4 percent growth to 8285.

Holden and Ford utes remained solid performers, with the Commodore’s 5596, more than doubling arch-rival Falcon’s 2785, with the Holden ute’s sales down a meagre 5.8 percent compared to the Ford’s 40.5 percent nosedive. Despite this, the Ford ute still made up 43.9 percent of the Falcon’s overall sales.

What will make 2015 interesting is the arrival of a raft of new models, including HiLux, Nissan Navara and Triton, as well as a facelifted Ranger.