Wheels

THE THING with a new broom is that it tends to look for something to sweep. This is my first issue in charge of Wheels but, for the time being at least, I’m trying to resist that particular temptation; the impulse to be seen to be doing something. Far better to take stock, establish what readers want and assess how best to deliver on that. The instant feedback of Wheels’ online audience can offer a steer but the overlap in the Venn diagram of online and print readers is smaller than you might imagine. Print readers love to be surprised, opening the magazine and reading something they never expected to encounter. Online readers tend to know what they’re looking for and search accordingly. Therefore, there are some stories that work beautifully…

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HYUNDAI’S Ioniq 6 electric sedan is further proof that the Korean giant is intent on making dramatic styling statements with each new model it releases, rather than rely on one core design language simply scaled up or down to suit the segment. First previewed by the wild-looking Prophecy concept two years ago, Ioniq 6 draws inspiration from the ‘streamliner’ movement of the 1930s. Simon Loasby, Head of Hyundai Styling, points to influences like the Stout Scarab and massive Phantom Corsair one-off from 1938. “It’s all about the proportion of the side view and what we call ‘the single curve’,” says Loasby. In terms of how different Ioniq 6 is to the 5, Hyundai design chief SangYup Lee says the company’s vehicles are like chess pieces: “King, queen, bishop, and knight; they all…

LITTLE RIPPER It looks like something Batman had as a kid and has a name like a Maccas menu spelling mistake but the McMurtry Spéirling can now be yours. Fresh from resetting the outright hillclimb record at the 2022 Goodwood Festival of Speed, the tiny single-seat Spéirling is sort of like an electric Aussie Racing Car (remember those?) except it’s faster than a Le Mans racer. The rear-drive Spéirling packs a 745kW EV punch, weighs under 1000kg and can do 0-100km/h in under 2.0sec – and uses an aero fan to suck itself to the road like the Brabham BT46. McMurtry says the Spéirling, which will wear a sickeningly high pricetag, will be road-legal in Pomgolia. We’d be fitting a tall, fluoro orange flag. LONG-ROOF M3 BMW has landed one in the kisser…

DUE 2024 POLESTAR 5 It’s still a while off, but Polestar’s Taycan-hunting 5 sedan is edging closer to reality. Having made its ‘dynamic debut’ at the 2022 Goodwood Festival of Speed, Polestar – Volvo’s electric offshoot – is heavily touting the 5 as a ‘proper driver’s car’. Think dual motors with 650kW/900Nm; and weight kept to a minimum, by EV standards, thanks to an aluminium-rich new platform. DUE 2023 PORSCHE 992 911 GT3 RS For those who find the standard GT3 somewhat tepid, the mad scientists at Weissach have cooked up a new Rennsport (RS) with more power from the 4.0-litre atmo flat-six (potentially 400kW), wilder aero and more downforce – all in the name of mincing the current GT3’s 6:59.93 Nurburgring laptime. DUE 2022 TOYOTA COROLLA CROSS With SUVs still hotter than a pillow fight at the…

SUMMARY Headwinds continue to buffet the Aussie new car market. Local importers are still fighting internal battles to secure more ‘allocation’ as buyers sit around waiting for their new car to be built in some far-flung factory. And due to countless outside influences (chip shortages, shipping delays, COVID restrictions), manufacturing output of new cars around the world is still nowhere near pre-pandemic levels. What that all means is that for last month, the Australian new car market was down – again – 9.7 percent on June 2021. The entire market is down on 2021, year-to-date, by 5.2 percent, meaning we are on track for fewer than 1m local new car sales. Even if supply improves, cost-of-living pressures such as inflation, rising interest rates and sky-high petrol prices will surely be having…