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Alastair Sloane

2021 Toyota Yaris hits high point with safety firsts

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Toyota NZ has equipped its 2021 Yaris with significant safety firsts in a bid to inject renewed interest in the small car. Yaris, like the rest of its five-door, town-and-around hatchback rivals, has been pushed aside in the last decade by the growth of compact SUVs. In 2013, for example, small cars (21,511) accounted for 26 per cent of an overall 82,355 NZ Transport … [Read more...] about 2021 Toyota Yaris hits high point with safety firsts

Exhaust gases: combustion engine looks for answers

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One hundred to one – that’s the ratio of petrol- and diesel-powered to hybrid or all-electric SUVs registered with the NZ Transport Agency since the beginning of 2017. It’s actually closer to 100/0.5. In theory, a single hybrid/electric SUV would still be in bits and pieces on the assembly line by the time the 100th conventional SUV was logged with the NZTA. Of the … [Read more...] about Exhaust gases: combustion engine looks for answers

Counting down to time when fossil-fuelled cars will be limited

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New Zealanders will sooner rather than later find the range of new mainstream petrol and diesel passenger cars is shrinking as carmakers ramp up production of plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) and battery-electric vehicles (EVs). It won’t necessarily be because global demand for such EVs has overnight gone through the roof, but environmental lawmakers in the European Union will have … [Read more...] about Counting down to time when fossil-fuelled cars will be limited

A hybrid Hilux? As the man said, it’s all about solutions

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Toyota introduced its petrol-electric Prius hybrid in the late 1990s, around the time Silicon Valley visionary Jaron Lanier was talking about solving things. “If you aren’t part of the solution, there will be no solution,” Lanier told the tech world. But Toyota was already part of the solution. Its problem? How to cut real-world exhaust emissions in the vehicles it makes. … [Read more...] about A hybrid Hilux? As the man said, it’s all about solutions