MERCEDES-Benz’s move to a digital showroom for its city-savvy Smart range could be about to shift back into the real world.

However, instead of calling the digital experiment for the quirky two-seater a failure, Mercedes-Benz Australia PR manager Jerry Stamoulis says the move from clicks to bricks and mortar sales is because showroom staff miss the unique selling point the rear-engined range adds to the three star-badged line-up.

“Our dealers actually like it and want it,” Mr Stamoulis said. “They’ve asked for it back because there is a need for it in their dealerships. It’s a differentiator; it’s a point of difference no-one else has.

“When you have something that’s a little bit different, you may attract someone to your dealership who you may have never have attracted otherwise,” he said. “Things like that mean there are a lot of positives to retaining Smart.”

Mercedes has struggled with the slow-selling brand here. The two-car two-seater range, featuring a $18,990 coupe and a $20,990 cabriolet, shifted online in July last year, with Benz saying it would even deliver cars to customers’ doors if requested.

In Europe, Smart starting prices are the equivalent of about $10,000, while high fuel prices and limited parking make the diminutive model even more attractive in buyers’ eyes.

Since its shift online, Mercedes-Benz has sold almost 100 Smart cars here.

A new version of the Smart, sharing underpinnings with the Renault Twingo and potentially reintroducing the four-seat Smart ForFour, is at least 18 months away, with Mr Stamoulis saying Mercedes-Benz was waiting to see the new model before building its case to sell the updated Smart in Australia.

“[The new Smart] is not an automatic yes like the C-Class,” he said. “It’s got to fit into a strategy, it’s got to fit a business case. It’s obvious the market hasn’t accepted it the way that it has in Europe, and we need to assess that.

“It’s not a no, and it’s not a yes, but it is leaning more towards a yes at the moment. It’s a bit like G-Wagen, S65 and SL65 coupe; of course the business cases [for bringing the cars to Australia] don’t stack up, but it’s the type of thing we want to do, and to a degree should be doing in our market.”

Iceland has all the hallmarks of a driving paradise. The 13,000km of roads that criss-cross the country are predominantly wide, well-surfaced and sparsely populated, while its aggressive topography means you’re rarely too far from a twist, turn or crest. There’s just one problem: the national speed limit is 90km/h and if you’re caught breaking it by any significant margin, you can forget demerit points, they kick you off the island like some strange automotive version of Survivor. There isn’t even a racetrack.

Therefore, Icelandic driving enthusiasts tend to head off the beaten track in search of driving thrills, climbing every mountain and fjording every stream. As the most volcanic region on earth, this presents its own challenges, with everything from rock-strewn lava fields to ice-covered glaciers to tackle. Such an extreme environment requires an equally extreme vehicle to tackle it, which is where Arctic Trucks comes in.

These steroid-fed off-roaders grew rapidly in popularity once it was discovered that the fitment of enormous tyres, run at extremely low pressures, allowed vehicles to effectively ‘float’ over snow. This suddenly meant locals could travel all over the island during the freezing winters yet still drive on regular roads, something not achievable with a snowmobile.

The modifications were initially offered through Toyota Iceland, but as the only way to fit these enormous tyres (up to 44 inches in diameter) was to raise the ride height dramatically, Toyota got cold feet when it was discovered that this had alarming effects on vehicle dynamics. Despite Toyota actively discouraging customers from having the modifications done and refusing to honour warranties, demand continued to increase to the point where one-time Toyota employee and now chairman of Arctic Trucks, Emil Grimsson, decided there must be a better way.

Emil and his team began to modify Hiluxes and Prados (what Icelanders call ‘Landcruiser 120s’) to accept these enormous tyres without unduly compromising the handling. After years of development, Arctic Trucks (the company split from Toyota in 2005) now has it down to a fine art, exporting vehicles for military and scientific use in environments as diverse as Afghanistan and Antarctica.

The vehicles are essentially offered in three levels of modification to accept either 35-, 38- or 44-inch tyres, though as the six-wheel drive Hiluxes custom-built for Antarctic exploration show (yours for around €150,000), the sky’s the limit. Unsurprisingly, the smallest tyre option is the most common, but it’s at the 38-inch mark where the re-engineering starts getting serious.

As most of Arctic Trucks’ customers are new-car buyers, usually the vehicle is delivered straight from the dealership to the workshop. Then it is stripped to its component parts – including separating the body from the frame – and work begins. The wheelarches are cut away, the front body mounts are relocated and inner arches cut away and re-welded to provide enough clearance for the enormous rubber.

In order to keep the vehicle as low as possible and retain as much of the standard vehicle’s dynamic capability as possible, the front suspension pick-up points are then all relocated down and forward, stretching the wheelbase to increase stability. If 44-inch tyres are specified, the rear suspension cops a similar treatment, extending the wheelbase by a further 16 centimetres. The steering geometry is then modified and a piggyback ECU installed to recalibrate functions like the speedometer. It’s an incredible amount of work, so it’s little wonder speccing an ‘Arctic Trucks 38’ adds roughly 50 per cent to the price of a new Hilux and takes four weeks to complete.

On the road the result feels like, well, a regular Hilux. Unsurprisingly, handling isn’t its strong point, but there’s none of the ‘up on stilts’ feeling that you’d think would come from jacking up a four-wheel drive ute. Performance doesn’t seem to suffer and those massive, balloon-like tyres offer a lovely cushy ride. As we turn off the highway onto rocky, muddy trails, it soaks up everything we ask of it. Granted, none of the off-roading we attempted was particularly challenging, but it seems to be the ideal way to see the astounding scenery this unusual country offers.

The collapse of Iceland’s economy following the 2008 Global Financial Crisis almost forced the closure of Arctic Trucks; from delivering 474 vehicles in 2007, orders dropped to just nine in 2009. Thankfully, an expansion of business activities and increased exports allowed it scrape through, and the future looks bright, with contracts with the Swedish and Norwegian military and growing business in Antarctic exploration. But its core business remains modifying road-going Toyotas and, best of all, offering them for hire, allowing regular tourists to experience Iceland’s picturesque landscape up close and personal from the driver’s seat.

FORD has revealed a first look at the car that will carry the Falcon name to the end of more than half a century of Australian manufacturing history.

The car maker has released a single teaser image of a headlight on social media, as the last-ever Australian-made Falcon counts down to a launch expected late this year alongside a heavily made-over Territory SUV.

The single image, posted on Facebook earlier today, reveals the new Falcon will carry a heavily redesigned front end, featuring a stylised honeycomb grille flowing back to narrower slit-like headlights set with projector lights and LED daytime-running lights.

The image also hints at a clamshell-like bonnet and trapezoid grille reminiscent of the Ford Fusion, the US-market mid-sizer based on the European-designed Mondeo that is most likely to replace the Falcon once production ends in late 2016.

The new Falcon will also revive the XR8 badge for the last time in the brand’s history, with the sedan and ute range expected to use a version of the supercharged 5.0-litre V8 developed for Ford’s go-fast arm, FPV, believed to produce about 335kW.

Few other details are known about the new Falcon, although Ford is also expected to keep the turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder and 4.0-litre in-line six dedicated LPG models alongside the longstanding 4.0-litre in-line six petrol versions.

Ford’s slow exit from Australian manufacturing falls a year before those of fellow local producers Holden and Toyota, which plan to quit the production landscape in late 2017.

Ford has already flagged that its shift to full importer status will pave the way for an expansion of its Australian showroom, including the Mustang two-door muscle car and potentially the Ford Edge as a Territory replacement.

AFTER watching sister brand Hyundai soar up Australian sales charts in recent years, bypassing once-invincible Ford along the way, Kia has admitted it wants more of what the others are having. A lot more.

Kia Australia chief operating officer Damien Meredith said that Kia expects to “hopefully get to five percent market share in three to four years time”. Last year it snared 2.6 percent of the Australian market.

But he also admitted Kia needs to make a “step change” by turning around the perception lag in buyer’s minds.

Despite a major improvement in its product line-up – both visually and dynamically – many punters still think of Kia as one of Korea’s battlers, and past horrors such as the Mentor, Credos, Pregio, Spectra and original Sportage don’t help Kia’s cause.

With 2014 market share bubbling along at an unspectacular 2.7 percent (compared to Hyundai’s 8.9 percent), Kia’s share of the Korean giant’s footprint in Australia is split disproportionately, says Meredith.

In most other markets, the Hyundai/Kia sales split is 60/40, whereas in Australia it’s worse than 75/25.

The solution isn’t cheaper cars. “We won’t try and get [a five percent share] by selling Cerato at $17,990,” he said, though Kia won’t rule out considering a 1.6-litre Cerato price starter to sit below the $19,990 1.8-litre S.

The answer, apparently, is “smarter test drives” – inviting former and current customers to drive the latest range – showing off its product in high-volume areas such as shopping malls and airports, continuing its sponsorship of the Australian Open and possibly a seven-year warranty, like that offered in Europe.

With a goal of having each of its model lines among the top five sellers in their respective classes, it’s the mediocre Cerato that is causing consternation at Kia’s Aussie HQ.

Despite a unique local suspension tune, the Cerato is neither distinctive enough nor visible enough to rate high on small-car buyer shopping lists. Currently, it sits at number 11in its class.

As for the Cerato’s European relation, the Ceed, Meredith said “it’s probably worth looking at [as a replacement]” given the Euro car’s multi-link IRS, sexier styling and its close ties to Kia’s Proceed GT three-door hot hatch.

What Kia needs is time. And patience.

Given the classy styling and likeable nature of its Sportage medium SUV, an imminent facelift (due November) for its funky Rio small car, and a forthcoming all-new Carnival MPV (due December), there’s every chance Kia has a shot at convincing Aussies its cars are no longer throwaway appliances.

FORD’S most powerful FPV-badged sedan has bogged down in controversy after a Wheels test to benchmark the car maker’s claims fell short of official expectations.

Ford today called on Wheels to hold back on publishing the results of its independent dynamometer test, which was conducted under controlled conditions late last week that confirmed the rival HSV GTS as the kilowatt king of Australia.

However, it is the results of the test – which show the 5.0-litre FPV GT-F fitted with the six-speed auto down on where Ford expects it to be – that has now sparked a separate, ultimate showdown between it and the 6.2-litre HSV GTS.

For the record, the HSV GTS – also fitted with a six-speed auto – recorded 330kW at the rear wheels. The FPV GT-F topped out at 311kW.

HSV claims 430kW of peak power for the GTS. Ford officially states the GT-F’s peak power is 351kW, yet its engineers freely admit that the engine can produce “about 15 percent” more in favourable conditions via what it calls “transient overboost”, suggesting a true engine output of about 404kW.

Wheels has been asked to pitch the two cars against each other in a repeat showdown early next week on the same dyno used to confirm the production GT-F’s 351 kilowatts of power at the engine.

Under the rules of the re-test, both Ford and Holden will be allowed to have an engineer on hand to ensure each of the supercharged V8s records its best possible result.

Ford Australia communications and public affairs director Wes Sherwood said Ford does not agree with the result, with internal tests showing the GT-F producing “pretty close” to 351kW at the rear wheels.

“We prefer not to go on the record with this (dyno result),” Mr Sherwood said.

“We were hoping to manage this as just a discussion about our request to consider what we thought was a pretty significant discrepancy and just provide an agreement on whether you would consider retesting or not,” he said.

“That you get something like that on the record is not something that we want to do.”

The original Wheels test was carried out at VCM Automotive in Melbourne’s north, which uses the same type of dyno bench as the one used to establish Ford’s official performance figure for the GT-F.

Wheels‘ exclusive results show that the cars are much closer than the two manufacturers’ official claims suggest – just 19kW separates the two, not 79kW – with VCM owner Mario Pancione adamant that the results are an accurate reading of each car’s true performance, despite Ford’s concerns.

Mr Pancione said his company has dyno-tested 30 HSV GTS models since the car’s launch last year, as well as “at least” 20 FPV GT models.

“The results (of the Wheels test) were right on the money,” he said.

“Good luck to them (Ford) if that’s what they think, but I can only deal with the facts and I’m confident the test we completed was correct.

“I’d love to have Ford come back out and we’ll test the car right in front of them.”

A Ford engineer told Wheels that results can also vary widely depending on test conditions such as whether the vehicle is strapped down on the bench appropriately, with losses from the driveline – resulting in the different figures at the flyweel and at the rear wheels – falling by as much as 15 percent.

A teaser video of the dyno test posted late last week drew criticism from viewers that the GTS was not tied down properly, and could potentially alter the outcome. However, the video was of the HSV’s initial calibration run on the unit, and the straps were tightened for the run that produced the result.

“It (driveline power loss) is not a fixed number that you can quote and say ‘this is what the number is, this is what it will do at the rear wheels’,” the engineer said.

He said it is possible to see variations in the loss at the rear wheels, “but not at the level that we’ve seen under your conditions”.

“I would expect a 335kW car that is heat-soaked … or a GT-F that is heat-soaked and has fuel issues to do your number.”

KIA Australia’s new boss has struck out at Holden’s claim that new cars are too cheap in Australia.

Speaking to the media for the first time as COO of the Korean car maker’s Australian operation, Damien Meredith said the remarks made by Holden CEO Gerry Dorizas smack of someone “who doesn’t understand the nuances of what Australians are about”.

In April this year, Holden’s then new managing director Gerry Dorizas said new cars are too cheap, and that he expected prices to rise in the near future.

“It is incredible to see the prices of cars here in Australia are less than the prices in Europe, with the cost of living being more expensive, if not double, that of Germany,” Dorizas had said.

“That is not sustainable … I believe [prices] will go up at some particular time … how profitable are the dealers today with these sales? At some particular point this competition of prices will create a problem in the network… I’m talking about the total market. The whole situation will change.”

When asked whether he agreed with Dorizas’ remarks, Kia’s new boss was clear.

“Well, I don’t think cars are too cheap in Australia,” said Mr Meredith. “23 million people and we sell 1.1-1.2 million cars a year. I think we’re pretty high up in the ratio of population to cars. [So] I don’t think that at all.

“We are an open economy, and with that comes competition. In America there are 53 [brands] and in Australia there are 64. So competition is the main driver in regards to prices, not the cost per unit. That to me is arbitrary.

“I think it’s an argument by someone who hasn’t grown up in [this] country, and who doesn’t understand the nuances of what Australians are about.

“So, to answer your question: No. Cars aren’t too cheap.”

Meredith believes that Kia, Australia’s 11th most popular brand, has the potential to almost double its sales in the next three years and move up the leaderboard.

“Certainly I think 51,000 sales is achievable,” he told Wheels.

In 2013 Kia sold 29,778 new vehicles, 980 down on the year before. Kia’s best seller is the Rio light car, followed by the Sportage SUV and then the Cerato small car.

Meredith believes there is considerable upside in the current portfolio, primarily by pursuing a marketing strategy around tuning imported Kia models for Australian conditions.

“It’s important, the Australian set-up of our cars. I don’t think we’ve actually told that story to the Australian consumer yet. I don’t think the consumer understands that at this time. We’ve got to take that to another level to communicate that to potential buyers.”

Kia is not the first import brand to employ independent Australian engineers to tune the ride and handling of its vehicles for Australian roads.

Meredith strongly believes that localisation, as it’s called, will result in sales success.

“My research tells me that, yes. It’s my view that that aspect will translate into growth for Kia going forward.”

Earlier this year, Kia launched the Proceed GT, which was tuned for local conditions.

Next up later this year is the updated Rio, which will also be localised.

THIS is what you get when one of the world’s biggest car companies is caught with its pants down. In the shadows of the BMW i3, the Audi A3 Sportback e-tron is a petrol-electric version of the brand’s Mercedes A-class and BMW 1-series basher, and is Ingolstadt’s first production plug-in hybrid vehicle.

So what’s e-tron? A little confusing, that’s what. It doesn’t mean pure electric, even though the name was given to the electric R8 concept; in the A3’s case, it spells ‘hybrid’ and, says Audi, also that this is a performance model.

Under the bonnet is the familiar Audi 1395cc turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine, boosted by 7kW to 110kW.

Powering the front wheels, it’s teamed with a 75kW electric motor nestled into the 6-speed S-tronic transmission and connected to an 8.8kWh lithium-ion battery pack that sits under the back seat.

Total output: a Golf GTI-rivalling 150kW to make this the most powerful A3, outgunned only by the S3.

While this is Audi’s first crack at a production PHEV, the BMW i3 is light years ahead in terms of sheer propaganda.

On the outside, it looks like any other A3 from 10 paces, but that’s also a strong point. At a glance, you’d have no idea you’re looking at a car with a 940km range – with 50km of that under electric power, twice as far as the best zero-emission effort for the plug-in Prius.

It takes a lethargic three hours and 45 minutes to charge for the full range, after which regenerative braking tips in to give the A3 a staggering fuel figure of 1.5L/100km compared to the 1.6-litre diesel A3’s 4.7L/100km.

At the wheel, the transition between the A3’s default electric mode – push start, and you’ll hear nothing as the dash lights dazzle you – and the petrol engine is super-smooth. It’s impressively refined.

So is the cabin: it’s the same class-leading fit, finish and design as the regular A3, and isn’t spoiled by overt green garnish.

Other than the 100 litres the battery takes away from the boot space, the changes are minor: a power gauge replaces the rev-counter and, in the centre stack, an ‘EV Mode’ switch for full electric, auto (which picks the most appropriate power source) as well as a clever ‘Hold’ mode that allows you to use the petrol engine and save your EV range for the city.

The driving experience of the e-tron is positive. It doesn’t feel overly heavy, even if it is a staggering 325kg more than a regular 1.4-litre A3 Sportback, and there’s a solid throttle response thanks to a whopping 350Nm of torque for a claimed 0-100km/h of 7.6sec.

The ride is slightly firm over larger bumps, but the e-tron remains composed here and around swift bends, with steering that’s a little numb and brakes that don’t suffer any slow-speed hybrid woodiness.

Due here in early 2015, buyers will have to pay an estimated $60,000 for the e-tron, which could be hard to swallow, especially as the neighbours won’t notice you’ve paid a premium.

Audi tech boss Ulrich Hackenber has repeatedly said that plug-in hybrids are the way of the future, but the A3 e-tron is still a car – a good one, at that – playing catch-up with its rivals. It’s a step in the right direction, but hardly a game changer.

Model: Audi A3 Sportback e-tron Engine: 1395cc 4cyl, dohc, 16v, turbo/electric motor Max power (total): 150kW @ 5000rpm Max torque (combined): 350Nm @ 1600-3500rpm Transmission: 6-speed dual-clutch Weight: 1543kg 0-100km/h: 7.6sec (claimed) Price: $59,990 (est.) On sale: Q1, 2015

An exterior rear-view mirror that its creator claims eliminates the driver’s ‘blind spot’ has received a U.S. patent. The subtly curved mirror, invented by Drexel University mathematics professor Dr. R. Andrew Hicks, dramatically increases the driver’s field of view with minimal distortion.

Conventional (flat) mirrors on a car’s driver’s side provide an accurate sense of the distance to vehicles behind, but have a narrow field of view, creating the notorious blind spot. A curved mirror will increase the field of vision and eliminate the blind spot, but the consequent distortion makes objects appear smaller and further away than they really are.

Professor Hicks’ driver’s side mirror has a field of view of about 45 degrees, compared to 15 to 17 degrees for a normal mirror, but distortion of shapes and straight lines is barely detectable. This is because Hicks designed his mirror using a mathematical algorithm that precisely controls the angle of light bouncing off it.

“Imagine the mirror’s surface is made of many smaller mirrors turned to different angles, like a disco ball,” Hicks says. “The algorithm is a set of calculations to manipulate the direction of each face of the metaphorical disco ball so that each ray of light bouncing off the mirror shows the driver a wide, but not-too-distorted, picture of the scene behind them.”

Hicks notes that, in reality, the mirror does not look like a disco ball up close, adding there has been expressions of interest from investors and manufacturers keen to license and produce the mirror.

Czech artist David Cerny has brought his vision of the Olympic Games in London to life, for the 30th summer games.

His mechanised sculpture, a six-tonne, 1957 Bristol bus that does push-ups, has been installed outside Czech Olympic House in Islington, north London.

With the opening ceremony only days away, Cerny has married what he believes is the universal exercise of virtually all athletes, with the iconic, red, double-decker.

There are pedal cars, and then there are miniature, mechanical works of art. A series of nine radical, custom pedal cars have been produced by some of America’s coolest hot rod builders to be auctioned by the Peterson Automotive Museum at next week’s RM Auctions event in Monterey, California.

Proceeds will help underprivileged children visit the Peterson Museum, in Los Angeles, that houses one of the world’s most significant automotive collections, covering nearly 30,000 square metres and displaying over 150 rare and classic cars, trucks and motorcycles.

Most of the these extreme toy racers are based on the iconic 1932 Ford Roadster, including the Hollywood Hotrods creation ‘Respect Tradition’, complete with faux V8 engine and stubby, straight-through exhausts.

Possibly the most dramatic is the silver ‘Salt Flat Racer’, beautifully fabricated by Troy Trepanier’s team at Rad Rides in Manteno, Illinois. Complete with Moon disc wheel covers and aero body it’s the stuff of pre-teen dreams.

Steve’s Auto Restorations also went to town on its mini-rod, with full leather trim, a sliding (leather) roof, stainless steel grille and art deco instrument cluster. Other builders include the famous So-Cal Speed Shop and Winfield Rod & Custom.

Although they’re being offered without reserve, price estimates for these unique cars have been set between $8000-$12 000.