Mercedes-Benz has confirmed Australian pricing and specifications for its facelifted M-Class luxury SUV, with both standard features and base prices set to rise. Since its release in April 2005, Mercedes has sold around 300,000 units of the second-generation M-Class, but last year the BMW X5 and the Lexus RX both outnumbered it in sales by significant margins, despite competitive pricing from Mercedes.

Suzuki is launching a new Grand Vitara line-up, set to hit dealerships in September. The compact SUV will compete against the likes of the Honda CR-V and the Toyota RAV4 in its bid to gain a larger share of the Australian market, which was just 4% for the year to date.

Mitsubishi has released more details about its second major debut planned for August's Moscow Auto Salon, the all-new Mitsubishi Challenger seven-seater mid-sized SUV. The Mitsubishi Challenger, as it is known in the Australian market, will carry a different name in other markets: it is known as the Montero Sport in South America, the Nativa in Latin America and the Pajero Sport in other non-Spanish speaking markets.

Demand for diesel-fuelled cars and SUVs is shooting through the roof as fuel prices rise and more models are made available. Despite the added cost of purchase, which sometimes tips the balance of affordability out of diesel models’ favour for the first few years of ownership, there’s no denying their growth in popularity as consumers look for more fuel-efficient means of motoring.

Sport utility vehicles (SUVs) and other large passenger vehicles have long been considered two-edged swords in respect to safety, since their bulky proportions and high stances offer good protection in an accident with another vehicle, but those same attributes make the vehicles prone to rollovers that often result in serious injury or death to the occupants. Small cars likewise have a similar reputation, being fitted with many safety features and nimble enough to avoid many accidents, but offering little in the way of cold steel protection. Now another angle on the dichotomy has been illuminated by Germany’s crash test agency, which recently pitted an Audi Q7 SUV against a Fiat 500 minicar.