A concerning new trend is emerging as a growing number of safety recalls come with ‘park outside’ instructions to reduce the risk of potential fires spreading to properties or other cars. 

Based on US recall data, more than 3.2 million vehicles have been the subject of notices telling owners to keep them outside even if they’re not running, due to the elevated chance of a blaze spreading.

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The recalls affect more than one brand and highlight the increased complexities of today’s added technologies, high-voltage systems and the high heat generated by modern engines. The added risk isn’t the result of a single cause, however.

In the US, more than one million Jeep Wranglers and Gladiators (pictured above) have been recalled due to a faulty electrical connection in the power steering pump that could lead to a fire, with 51 cases tied to the issue so far. Australia got the same recall, with the owners of 9199 vehicles built between 2020 and 2024 told to park outside.

A further 375,000 Jeep Wrangler and Jeep Grand Cherokee plug-in hybrids have been affected by a separate global recall, with owners urged to park outside and not charge until repairs have been undertaken. No such recall has been officially announced for Australian-delivered vehicles at this stage.

While not sold in Australia, Kia issued a recall to more than 460,000 owners of its Telluride SUV because of an overheating issue with a motor in the front electric seats.

BMW has a recall open for almost 30,000 plug-in hybrid sedans in the US. The culprit is a chain reaction that can result in a water leak into an electrical relay, setting off a short circuit capable of starting a fire. In Australia, BMW has a recall open for 292 units of its 330e, 530e, and 740e plug-in hybrids for the same issue.

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The Independent reports that 10 cases of fire-risk recalls were reported in the US in 2024; that number increased to 19 recall actions in 2025, with 17 more similar recalls issued by the end of July this year.

In July alone, the Australian Government’s Vehicle Recalls portal issued recalls for the Jeep and BMW vehicles mentioned above, as well as 197 Peugeot 2008 SUVs. Recalls also hit a further 10,559 BMW non-PHEV vehicles (across 2, 3, 4 and 5 Series, X3, X4 and Z4 models) for a separate starter motor fire risk, and 333 Volvo XC40 plug-in hybrids which may have faulty high-voltage battery cells. 

So far in 2026, 20 automobile recalls related to fire risks have been issued from brands like Cupra, Hyundai, Jaguar, Lexus, and Toyota, among others, although not all include ‘park outside’ instructions.

A lack of faith in driver assist technologies could be pushing Australia’s road toll higher, according to a new study. Research undertaken by the Insurance Australia Group (IAG) and Queensland University of Technology (QUT) reports that one in five road casualties could be avoided with more widespread use of safety features like lane-keep assist and blind-spot monitoring.

QUT analysed data from 100,000 vehicle collisions and combined it with an IAG survey of 2000 Australian drivers and field studies involving 50 drivers using Advanced Driver Assist Systems (ADAS) to investigate the impact in real-world scenarios.

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QUT’s accident analysis looked at the impact of systems like front and rear autonomous emergency braking, lane-keep assist, blind-spot monitoring and rear cross-traffic alert. Each system effectively reduced the number of incidents it was designed to prevent, with a 40 per cent reduction in side-swipe collisions from lane-keep assist, a 21 per cent reduction in crashes from AEB systems, and a 15 per cent reduction in lane-change incidents via blind-spot monitoring.

But according to QUT’s findings, a lack of awareness of how systems operate and what they are capable of is leading Australians to deactivate them.

“Our Australian-first driver field research found that a single ADAS test drive, guided by an instructor, significantly increased drivers’ trust, confidence and intention to use each of the crash-avoidance systems tested,” said Sebastien Glaser, Professor in Intelligent Transportation System at QUT.

By QUT’s estimates, around 40 per cent of cars on Australian roads will be ADAS-enabled by 2031, potentially expanding the effectiveness of the technology. Lane-keep assist is set to become mandatory on all new passenger vehicles sold from 2029, but IAG revealed that current systems caused the most frustration for users in its field tests.

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“Lane Keeping Assist (LKA) has the potential to deliver significant safety benefits, potentially preventing 40 per cent of sideswipe collisions, but we found it also generated the most negative feedback from our field-study participants who consistently found it frustrating, annoying, and the most likely to be actively switched off,” IAG Automotive Research Centre head Shawn Ticehurst said.

IAG called for a collaborative effort from motorists, manufacturers, governments and driver educators to ensure the ongoing and effective use of ADAS systems, with 72 per cent of survey respondents indicating that they would benefit from more information and instruction around the technology.

Denza is preparing to take its fight to established European luxury brands with the Z9GT, a five-metre-long electric grand tourer packing enormous power, a huge battery and stellar charging technology – but it can’t quite match rivals like Porsche for refinement and elegance.

Owned by Chinese giant BYD, Denza is positioning the Z9GT against premium performance models such as the Porsche Taycan Sport Turismo and Audi RS e-tron GT. An all-electric model leads the charge, while a plug-in hybrid version broadens the line-up.

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The electric Z9GT uses three motors – one at the front and two at the rear – producing around 850kW and 1210Nm. That gives the near-three-tonne machine startling straight-line performance despite its size. A plug-in hybrid combines three electric motors with a 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine, producing approximately 578kW and 1035Nm. The petrol engine primarily acts as a generator at lower speeds, only driving the front wheels directly above roughly 97km/h.

While the numbers suggest supercar performance, the Z9GT has been tuned more as a comfortable long-distance cruiser than a corner-carving sports car. Its standard dual-chamber air suspension offers adjustable ride height and stiffness, while electronic chassis systems work to control body movements. Even so, its considerable mass becomes apparent when pushed hard, with noticeable pitching under acceleration and a brake pedal requiring substantial pressure during enthusiastic driving.

The Z9GT is more convincing when driven smoothly. Ride comfort is generally impressive and large bumps are handled well, although some road noise can make its way into the cabin at higher speeds.

Its size is disguised around town by rear-wheel steering of up to 8.5 degrees, giving it a surprisingly tight turning circle for a vehicle that’s 5.2 metres long. It can also perform a pivot-style turn and move diagonally using a crab-walk function.

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The headline technology, however, is its electrical architecture. The EV uses a 122.4kWh second-generation BYD Blade Battery and has a claimed range of about 599km.

Denza’s Flash Charging technology is designed to deal with exceptionally high charging rates, with compatible chargers capable of delivering up to 1500kW. The company claims the battery can be replenished from 10 to 70 per cent in just five minutes, or from 20 to 97 per cent in nine minutes. A less powerful single-motor version is also planned, potentially offering greater range and a lower entry price.

Inside, the Z9GT makes a determined push into luxury territory. Electric doors, massaging and heated seats, a refrigerator, electrically folding rear seats and a passenger display are all available. A 17.3-inch central touchscreen dominates the dashboard, but packing so many vehicle functions into the display can make it fiddly to operate while driving.

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Rear legroom is generous thanks to the 3.1-metre wheelbase, but headroom and overall luggage-carrying practicality don’t quite match more conventional luxury wagons. Safety equipment includes autonomous emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, lane centring and technology designed to maintain stability following a high-speed tyre failure.

The Z9GT has yet to receive an ANCAP safety rating, and Australian pricing and launch timing remain unconfirmed. Overseas pricing suggests Denza is targeting the premium end of the market, making the Z9GT as much a technological showcase for BYD as it is a new luxury grand tourer.

Review by Alastair Crooks for AutoExpress.

Toyota is banking on a switch to next-generation lithium-ion batteries to fend off its Chinese rivals by reducing costs for customers and increasing performance, the company has revealed in an earnings call.

The new strategy will see Toyota turn away from nickel-metal hydride batteries as it converts production lines in Japan with enough capacity to fit the new packs to 600,000 vehicles. It has been reported that the next-gen batteries could reduce costs by 20 per cent compared with the units in the current bZ4X electric SUV (pictured below), while delivering a claimed range in excess of 800km.

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“We are expanding battery production capacity during 2027 and 2028, and we will continue our efforts to fully capture customer demand,” chief accounting officer Takanori Azuma told investors. The switch away from NiMH batteries – which was revealed in the company’s first-quarter results for the fiscal year – will also rope in suppliers like China’s CATL. 

Toyota has been relying on NiMH batteries for its hybrids for years, but the shift to Li-ion has already begun in newer vehicles like the sixth-generation RAV4 with its high-capacity 22.7kWh unit. 

No details about the composition of the new batteries, energy density, charging times or service life have been released, but the move comes after Toyota’s 2023 announcement that it will use bipolar Li-ion technology providing a fast recharging time of 20 minutes or less. The new tech was intended to be introduced for BEVs this year.

The move to Li-ion revealed in the earnings call is targeted at hybrids, which are playing a huge role in bolstering the company’s sales. In June, Toyota said hybrid or electric vehicles would make up half of its expected 230,000 sales in Australia for 2026.

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Toyota will also be hoping the new battery strategy helps bring down waiting times for vehicles in Australia, which the company says have hovered around three to six months for most models.

The earnings call also revealed that Toyota has upped its production forecasts for the 2027 financial year from 9.6 million to 9.7 million units, with Azuma announcing that expansions of HEV battery capacity are also being examined.

GAC has expanded its Australian line-up with a new entry-level version of the EMZOOM small SUV, priced from $22,990 drive-away as the Chinese brand looks to compete at the affordable end of the new-car market.

Called the EMZOOM Premium, the new variant sits below the existing Luxury grade and is available to order now, with the first vehicles expected to reach Australian dealerships in early September.

The $22,990 nationwide drive-away price is being offered until September 30, 2026. GAC has not announced what the Premium will cost once the introductory offer ends.

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Like the EMZOOM Luxury, the Premium is powered by a conventional 1.5-litre turbocharged petrol engine. GAC has not included power, torque, transmission or fuel-consumption figures for the new variant in its announcement.

Despite its position as the entry model, the Premium retains a relatively lengthy standard-equipment list.

Inside, there’s a 14.6-inch central touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity, along with artificial leather upholstery and automatic climate control.

Other equipment includes rain-sensing windscreen wipers, a reversing camera and rear parking sensors, while adaptive cruise control is also standard.

The safety package includes autonomous emergency braking, lane-keeping assistance and lane-departure warning. Full safety specifications and an ANCAP rating were not detailed as part of the announcement.

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The new Premium variant also receives GAC’s seven-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty, which applies to the brand’s Australian vehicles.

Its $22,990 drive-away introductory price puts the EMZOOM Premium into competition with some of Australia’s least expensive new cars while providing the higher seating position and body style increasingly preferred by buyers.

It also gives GAC a lower-priced entry point as the company works to establish itself in the Australian market amid a growing number of Chinese manufacturers competing heavily on price and standard equipment.

The GAC EMZOOM Premium is available to order immediately, with customer deliveries expected to begin after vehicles arrive at dealerships from early September.

Further details, including its ongoing price after September 30 and complete technical specifications, are yet to be confirmed.

GAC EMZOOM Premium – Specifications

Geely founder Li Shufu – better known internationally as Eric Li – is stepping down as chairman of the Chinese company’s flagship automotive business as part of a significant leadership change at the rapidly expanding carmaker.

Li, 63, will relinquish the chairmanship of Hong Kong-listed Geely Automobile, with the change taking effect this week. He is not, however, leaving the Geely empire he has spent four decades building.

Li will remain chairman of parent company Zhejiang Geely Holding Group and retains control of Geely Automobile as its controlling shareholder.

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He will be replaced as Geely Automobile chairman by long-serving executive An Conghui, also known as Andy An. An has been with Geely since 1996 and has held numerous senior engineering and management positions across the group. He was appointed an executive director of Geely Automobile in June this year.

The change comes as Geely continues to simplify a sprawling corporate structure that has expanded dramatically through acquisitions, investments and the creation of new brands.

Geely Holding acquired Volvo Cars from Ford in 2010 and has interests in Lotus and Malaysia’s Proton. Li also owns a 9.69 per cent stake in Mercedes-Benz through an investment company.

More recently, Geely has been consolidating its electric-car operations under a “One Geely” strategy. Luxury EV brand Zeekr was taken private and became a wholly owned subsidiary of Geely Automobile in December 2025, while the group has also moved to integrate operations including Lynk & Co.

The leadership change comes during a period of rapid international expansion.

Geely is now China’s second-largest electric-vehicle manufacturer behind BYD, while overseas deliveries more than doubled to 474,228 vehicles during the first half of 2026. Monthly exports passed 100,000 vehicles for the first time in June. Overall first-half sales increased one per cent to 1.42 million vehicles despite weaker domestic demand.

New-energy vehicles – encompassing battery-electric and plug-in hybrid models – accounted for more than half of Geely’s deliveries over the period.

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The company is also pushing further into Europe, including a recently announced manufacturing partnership with Ford that will see two Geely electric SUVs produced at Ford’s Spanish factory and the companies collaborate on another model.

Geely’s international expansion has also accelerated in Australia, where the company recently launched the EX2 electric hatchback (above) as its new entry-level model. Priced from $26,490 before on-road costs for the Complete and $30,990 for the Inspire, the EX2 significantly broadens Geely’s local reach at the affordable end of the EV market.

The small hatch joins the EX5 electric SUV and Starray EM-i plug-in hybrid as Geely builds its Australian range, with further models expected as part of the brand’s rapid global expansion.

University students who were challenged by BMW to build an energy-positive vehicle have claimed they’ve answered the call with a solar-powered coupe that recovers more power than it uses during a typical urban commute.

The Deep Orange 17 was revealed earlier this month by a crew from Clemson University who have been working on the project since the German marque threw down the gauntlet in late 2024. Yes, it’s ugly enough to make an EA Ford Falcon look like a Lamborghini Miura, but its ultra-boxy appearance is a big part of its scientific success.

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Deep Orange was designed with real-world EV use in mind. The team from the university’s automotive engineering department reasoned that the long periods that cars spend parked present a perfect opportunity for harvesting solar energy. To that end, they loaded the bodywork with more than 1700 photovoltaic cells that can generate power even when parts of the body panels are shaded.

The 16 graduate students modelled conditions in South Carolina, Germany, Spain and India to evaluate the car’s performance. They found that a daily commute of 20km resulted in the vehicle generating enough surplus solar energy to provide an average of 50km in additional range in all four locations.

The vehicle weighs just 550kg thanks to the heavy emphasis on lightweight construction using structural steel for passenger safety, aluminium components, carbon fibre structural members and 3D-printed metal joints.

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You’d never guess it from looking at the almost complete lack of curves, but the Deep Orange 17 was also designed with aerodynamics in mind. According to the Clemson team, it draws inspiration from the characteristics of the boxfish, which has a body that reduces drag while maintaining interior volume. They also say the look was inspired by “BMW’s design heritage”, although heaven knows what the bigwigs at the marque’s Munich headquarters think of that.

The solar set-up gets help from regenerative braking, intelligent torque distribution and optimised drivetrain controls to meet the energy target. In keeping with its aim to meet real-world drivers’ needs, the experimental coupe also gets Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

BMW and Clemson’s partnership is more than two decades old. The manufacturer was a founding partner of the university’s International Center for Automotive Research in 2007, and has been the primary sponsor for five projects, including a next-generation SUV design. The Deep Orange 17 is due to appear at next year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

CUPRA is making two exclusive additions to its range with the Terramar VZ Tribe Edition in Black and Green. The update to the plug-in hybrid SUV brings eye-catching changes to the exterior and interior with a big nod to sustainability.

Just 35 of the Black editions will be made available in Australia, featuring a Midnight Black exterior, exclusive 20-inch alloy wheels in – you guessed it – black, dark chrome exterior badging, and a panoramic sunroof only available as an option on the existing Terramar.

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The Green gets an exclusive Manganese Matte exterior finish, 20-inch rims with sulfur green highlights, the panoramic sunroof and the dark chrome badging. Only 10 units will go on sale down under. 

Both versions get enhanced standard equipment. On top of the sunroof, there are exclusive wheel finishes and “bespoke design accents” that set them apart from the standard Terramar VZ. The nationwide drive-away prices are $75,490 for the Black and $78,390 for the Green, compared with $73,490 for the existing VZ.

The two “carefully curated design themes” make extensive use of repurposed materials. Computerised 3D knitting has been used to produce the unique seat upholstery, 30 per cent of the plastics in the interior incorporate recycled material, and the Sulfur Green paint is bio-based. That theme even extends to the new alloy wheels, which incorporate up to 20 per cent recycled material.

The Green and Black both get the VZ’s 195kW, 400Nm 2.0-litre turbo petrol engine, which feeds power to all four wheels via a seven-speed DSG transmission. The claimed fuel efficiency comes in at 8.2L/100km, boot volume is a respectable 508L with the seats up and 1415L with the pews folded, and there’s also a 12-speaker Sennheiser sound system.

A Harvard University study has found that fatal car accidents can increase by as much as 15 per cent on days when big-name music albums are released due to drivers becoming distracted by the work of top-selling artists like Taylor Swift.

The research examined 233,809 traffic fatalities in the USA from 2017 to 2022 and found that the number of deaths was “significantly higher on major music album release days than on the 10 days before and after”. The authors found that the fatalities shot up by 15.1 per cent while daily online music streaming increased by approximately 43 per cent due to the release of smash hits.

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Harvard’s team says the study reveals the potentially deadly effects of drivers becoming too wrapped up in streaming music when they’re behind the wheel. They studied the impact of 10 highly successful albums that were chosen because they had the highest number of Spotify streams in a single day.

“You can’t randomise people into using their phones, and drivers rarely volunteer what they were doing in the seconds before a crash. Album releases give you something closer to an experiment – a day when smartphone use jumps nationally for reasons that have nothing to do with road conditions, weather or who happens to be driving,” said study author Vishal Patel of Harvard’s medical school. 

The albums examined included Swift’s Midnights from October 2022, Drake’s Scorpion, and Harry Styles’s Harry’s House. Researchers took into account the day of the week the music was released on, federal holidays and the time of year, and the rise in fatalities was greater among groups like younger drivers, male drivers, and those driving cars with a built-in infotainment system.

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“What it establishes is that these days are genuinely different in terms of national engagement with music, which is the premise the whole study rests on,” Patel said. “This is equivalent to approximately 182 fatalities in the US attributable to the release days of the 10 included albums.”

Patel also pointed out that the set-up of many modern, digitised cars contributes to driver distraction because they have to search for the music instead of playing it with the push of a button. “You unlock the phone, open the app, find the release, read down a tracklist, tap the right song. That’s several seconds of looking at a screen,” he said, adding that the increase was seen “almost entirely among drivers who were alone” and couldn’t get a passenger to take over the process.

A driver has posted a detailed look at how he paid just $713.47 in charging costs while travelling 40,000km in his Tesla Model Y over the last three years. Mahmudur Rahman said the key to the incredible frugality was smart use of solar-generated electricity and home power, with only some fast charging thrown in.

Rahman, who says he has a PhD in environmental modelling and more than a decade of experience in data science, aimed to find out “the actual reality for an average family” when it comes to the cost of running an EV, with his average energy consumption coming in at 15.0kWh/100km despite several long highway journeys.

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“Picture the typical Australian family lifestyle: you use your primary car for daily city commuting work (work runs, school drop-offs, weekend groceries), and you take 1 to 2 family interstate road trips per year during school holidays along major highway corridors,” Rahman wrote for Techwheel.co, a “community-powered data resource” that aims to cut through misinformation about EVs, solar and battery power.

He revealed that he needed to use a DC fast charger 41 times – always at a Tesla Supercharger station – which averaged out at approximately one session per month “heavily clustered around annual family road trips” during school holidays and long weekends. That amounted to 7469km of the total distance covered, with urban trips accounting for 32,351km.

Rahman also broke down the gap in efficiency between highway and city driving, with the former coming in at 17.0kWh/100km, the latter at 14.54kWh/100km. His primary charging source during commuting in the city was a home charger using rooftop solar, which provided 4730kWh of electricity. The DC fast charging chipped in with 1269kWh.

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A table that breaks down the costs contains several vehicle charging scenarios. The $713.47 figure comes under “free solar home” power. Rahman has calculated that using the method saved him $4746.53 compared with filling a petrol SUV at $1.95 a litre, with a fuel efficiency of 7L/100km. Filling up on a 7c/kWh home plan would cost $1044.59, while only using the Tesla Supercharging system at 60c/kWh would have set him back $3600.

Rahman also pointed out that his average time spent at a Supercharging station was 20.6 minutes which “matches restroom and coffee breaks perfectly” on long highway trips. The average cost of those DC refills was $17.40 for 30.97kWh of power, or about 182km of highway range.