Events
Gallery 1
THE 2018 New York Motor Show kicks off this week with a number of important global reveals, including a new version of Australia’s best-selling passenger car, the Toyota Corolla.
Its downtown Manhattan venue may not have the same scale and grandeur as the big Euro events such as Frankfurt or Geneva, nor the quirkiness of Japan, but it is still a significant staging ground for some of the most important new-car launches we will see this year.
Those launches will have relevance in Australia, too, with the Corolla joining all-new versions of some of our strongest-selling SUVs, Nissan’s next-generation passenger car, and as always, a surprise or two from the car makers that have design studios deeply embedded Stateside – here’s looking at you, Hyundai.
The 2018 New York Motor Show starts this week.
ACURA RDX
BMW X4 M40i M PERFORMANCE
CADILLAC CT6 V-SPORT
The Cadillac CT6 adds a V-Sport badge that denotes a small-block V8 underneath its bonnet. Not just a V8, but a twin-turbo 4.2-litre unit that will likely also power the mid-engined Chevrolet Corvette that’s in line for an Australian arrival around 2020. The 410kW/850Nm engine fires up the CT6’s rear wheels via a a mechanical limited-slip differential, with dynamic nous assisted by adaptive dampers and a 19-inch Brembo brake system. Watch for this powerplant to turn up in Holden’s upcoming V8-engined, rear-drive hero.
CADILLAC XT4
This is Holden owner GM’s luxo brand, and with the Aussie offshoot keen to kick its brand image more upmarket, the stuff happening inside the Caddy shack may one day have relevance to us. The XT4 is an all-new SUV that’s a distant cousin to the German-built Opel Insignia that’s rebadged and fettled to Australian tastes before it is rebadged as the Holden Commodore. It’s unlikely to come to Australia as we’ve already given a big tick to the cheaper Chevrolet Equinox, but some of the XT4’s underlying technology could one day make its way Down Under.
GENESIS CONCEPT
It wouldn’t be a motor show with at least one surprise. Hyundai, the company that spawned Genesis as a now-standalone luxury brand, surprised the world at Geneva with a Hyundai-badged concept car that could have easily worn the Genesis one. That hints at something special to blend in with all the town cars of downtown Manhattan. Watch this space.
LEXUS RC F SPORT BLACK LINE
LINCOLN AVIATOR
Ford’s luxury brand will launch an all-new midsize luxury SUV that revives the shelved Aviator badge. The Aviator will join the Navigator, a luxury-laden block of flats that last year reintroduced the Lincoln brand to the US, and potentially beyond.
MERCEDES-BENZ
MINI
The British brand that once lured three quarters of ageing mega shock rock act Kiss out of semi-retirement to belt out a few tunes and headline the reveal of the Countryman – the most unMini-like Mini to ever wear a Mini badge – always seems to want to do something special at New York. The only model missing from the mix is a JCW-badged five-door. Wonder what Styx is doing that week …
NISSAN ALTIMA
SUBARU FORESTER
TOYOTA RAV4
