Bushfire road closures: everything you need to know

Thousands of homes have been destroyed, 24 lives lost (at time of publishing) and millions of wildlife killed amid Australia's worst-ever bushfires, which have also seen holidaymakers and home owners stranded as a result of extensive road closures. Over six-million hectares of land have been destroyed by blazes across New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Queensland, Western Australia, Tasmania and the ACT, many of them affecting popular tourist areas and rural hubs.

VFACTS: 2019 new car sales results

Australia’s 2019 new car sales tally finished up almost 8 per cent down on the previous year, making it the worst since 2011. Self-reported Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries data counted 1,062,867 new vehicles sold. That is more more than 90,000 fewer than 2018’s tally.

Renewed calls to stamp out “fake” new-car sales results

Australian car sales statistics are being overhauled after rubbery figures inflated true customer demand for the past decade. Contrary to widespread belief, new-car sales data has historically not been counted based on actual registrations – instead the Australian Bureau of Statistics, CommSec and others have relied on “self-reported” figures supplied by car companies and dealers.

Kia the only brand inside the Top 10 to post a sales increase in 2019

Hyundai’s sister brand Kia was the only brand inside the Top 10 to report sales growth in 2019 – the slowest new-car market since 2011 – after posting its fifth record result in a row and tripling its sales in 10 years. Kia wasn’t even in the Top 10 until 2004 and 2005 – when it scraped into 10th place – when the Korean cars were imported by an independent distributor.

Holden posts lowest sales since 1954, Ford drops to 1968 levels

Holden has posted its lowest annual sales since 1954 – after a year that produced six of the slowest months since the brand was established in 1948 – while Ford wound the clock back to 1968. Both brands have struggled since shutting their local factories in 2016 (Ford) and 2017 (Holden), but vow to turn around their fortunes.

Ford Mustang posts lowest sales since it arrived in Australia

The reins have been pulled on the Ford Mustang after an initial sprint in the sales charts. Sales of the Ford Mustang muscle car have halved in three years and dropped by a third last year, proving that even icons can lose some of their lustre.

Toyota HiLux and Ford Ranger top Australian car sales as utes dominate for fourth year in a row

Utes have cemented themselves as Australia’s favourite cars, with the Toyota HiLux becoming the nation’s top-selling vehicle outright for the fourth year in a row – as pick-ups filled the top two positions for the third year in succession. According to official new-car sales results for 2019 released today by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI), the Toyota HiLux (47,649) cruised to a comfortable win ahead of the second-placed Ford Ranger (40,960).