The week that was | This is the end

The end is nigh… no, not Game of Thrones, but the end of the seemingly interminable federal election campaign is finally within sight.

The rhetoric on both sides has ratcheted up considerably, and interestingly, the car industry still continues to feature prominently. Of course, we’re all waiting for the hubbub to die down – elections don’t help when it comes to the consumer space, right?

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Thanks Bill

The WhichCar team has spent a lot of time covering off the various stories that have gurgled up around the claims and counterclaims made by both sides, with the claim that Labor will fund EV production in Australia garnering a lot of traction across our social media spaces.

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A production line, not yesterday

It dovetails nicely with other pieces we’ve worked on through the month, as well – it seems that, if nothing else, the 2019 federal election has helped to kick the debate about electric cars into a new gear.

Not only is it election time, but we’re rapidly approaching the end of another financial year. Already?! Our teams have been scouring the sites and pinging their company contacts to give our readers the best shot at picking up a bargain come June.

If you’re looking for a break from spreadsheets, claims and dividend compounding interest, WhichCar TV back on your tellies this Sunday at 3.30pm. You can watch all 15 episodes we’ve already done over at Tenplay Catch-up TV.

On telly this weekend

Our Melbourne team also brings you the week's biggest stories direct to your ears, with WhichCar’s own Daniel Gardner anchoring a panel of commentators from Wheels, Motor and 4X4.

Just when you thought you couldn’t get any more news out of the dual-cab ute sector, along comes another massive week of fresh juice on the burgeoning sector.

To wit, LDV has teamed up with HSV to retune its Trailrider dual-cab, and Mercedes-Benz has lifted the covers on the most expensive version of its X350d to date.

One that really set the wires buzzing this week, though, was the news that RAM’s parent company FCA is considering a move into the medium pick-up space, following in the footsteps of companies like Ford who have taken the Ranger to the US.

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It’s interesting; the story didn’t confirm a RAM mid-size ute would be made, just that the company was thinking about it… yet it was one of the most read stories of the week.

At the diametrically opposite end of the technology scale in many ways, Google’s annual conference saw a number of key announcements from one of the world’s leading tech giants about the future of Android Auto.

It followed up with a deep dive into a range of forthcoming tech that, if even only a bit of it comes to pass, will fundamentally change the way we engage with our cars. As long as it doesn’t lose all my podcast presets (yep, that happened to me this week), I’m all for it!

Tesla found itself in the news again this week, this time for slashing up to $60,000 from the retail price of some of its cars. It’s certainly a time of change at a company that helped to reset the bar when it came to the EV space… but for how much longer?

We’re used to seeing leaks and spy shots from across the industry, but it’s not often the source is the company itself. This own goal came from Mercedes-Benz, who accidentally revealed details of the A45 sedan, which will pack the most powerful four-cylinder engine it’s ever built under the bonnet. 330-plus kilowatts?! Where will it stop?

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A wee monster

Speaking of powerful little sports cars, kudos to the team at Honda, who managed to smuggle a former F1 world champion into Australia sight unseen to cut a few mad laps of Bathurst. And it worked for them, too, with great traffic and interest on the site.

The monthly sales figures dropped for the industry, and as usual our teams were right across the various machinations of the game. Interesting to note that the market for exotic sports cars always seems to be immune to the real world, isn’t it?

Lots of cars in and out of the garage this week, too, including the venerable Nissan Patrol, Subaru’s evergreen BRZ and the electrifying (groan) Hyundai Ioniq, while we also added a host of Wheels Car of the Year content to the site.

We also previewed one of the year’s biggest reveals, the Toyota RAV4 – we’ll have much more on our site next week, as well.