The biggest news headlines of 2018

There is never a dull moment in the automotive world and we strive to bring you the most important, interesting, useful and sometimes amusing news events as they happen throughout the year. But we are always surprised to see which subjects draw the most attention from you, our loyal readers. Here are the ten most popular news stories from 2018.

It mightn’t come as a surprise that the most popular news story of the year was about a Holden. Unfortunately it wasn’t good news in this case and our story from October revealed a worryingly low demand for two of The Lion’s key models.

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Toyota is Australia’s favourite car brand by a considerable margin and its RAV4 battles in the top three for the most popular mid-sized SUV, so is it any wonder that our second most read news story of 2018 was an image-heavy yarn detailing the fifth-generation model?

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And, no surprises to see a story about a high-performance Ford in third place. Although this particular one most likely drew extra attention for its inclusion of a Falcon and Mustang in the same car! Confused? Have a read to find out what was going on.

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When we ran a speculative piece about the overseas models we believe Holden should cherry pick from its global portfolio, we never expected it to gain quite so much interest. But evergreen relevance seems to be resonating well with you and let’s just hope someone at Holden was also paying attention.

Perhaps, once again, it’s the popularity of the big-T here in Australia, but this July story, which identified an engine problem in three off-road focused Toyotas pulled quite a crowd. Not a great look for the Japanese brand but a feather in 4X4 Australia’s cap for discovering the fault during its hardcore wilderness testing.

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The one that every HSV diehard wants to own: just four GTSR W1 utes were produced and for very special, longstanding customers, and it’s a story you couldn’t wait to read all about it. Interest was enough to rank this mega HSV Maloo tale in sixth place.

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Catering for the demand and enthusiasm for larger-than-life American trucks, this November article showcased some of the massive Yank tanks you can get for not much cash in the US, but we think would also go okay Down Under. And you clearly thought so too with significant interest placing this yarn in seventh place over the year.

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What’s not to love about the Suzuki Jimny? It’s cute, affordable and destroys many large four-by-fours with its unbelievable off-road ability. And when the new Suzuki Jimny was revealed, it seems you couldn’t get enough of the cheeky go-anywhere box. It ranked eighth.

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A glimmer of hope that we may one day have a rear-wheel drive, V8-powered Holden available in local showrooms was enough to elevate this October story to the ninth most popular news story this year. There’s no chance of a bent-eight for the current ZB Commodore, so what could the mysterious model be?

And finally, in tenth place, another V8-powered, rear-drive Holden had you lot clamouring for a look when this one-off V8 Supercar went up for sale. How much would you pay for the ultimate wagon?