Latest news with #Falcons


USA Today
18 hours ago
- Sport
- USA Today
2025 Arizona Cardinals training camp roster preview: LB Mykal Walker
We will preview every player on the Cardinals roster leading up to training camp. This is about LB Mykal Walker. The Arizona Cardinals report to training camp on July 22 and begin the process of preparing for the regular season, forming the roster and determining starting jobs and roles on the team. Leading up to the start of camp, we will take a look at every player on the offseason roster, their background, their contract, their play in 2024, questions they face and their roster outlook. Next up is inside linebacker Mykal Walker. Mykal Walker background, 2024 season A fourth-round pick by the Falcons in 2020, Walker played four seasons in Atlanta before signing a one-year contract as an unrestricted free agent with the Commanders in 2024. A UFA again this year, he was signed by the Cardinals on March 14. He has started 20 of the 74 games he has played in his career, with 12 of the starts coming for the Falcons in 2022. Last season in 17 games (no starts), he played 77 snaps on defense (seven percent) and had 10 tackles (seven solo). He also had two tackles in the postseason. On special teams, he played 344 snaps (74 percent) and had 11 tackles (five solo) plus two fumble recoveries. He had two solo tackles on special teams. Mykal Walker 2025 contract details, cap hit Walker signed a one-year contract with the Cardinals worth $1.79 million with $500,000 guaranteed and included a $200,000 signing bonus. His base salary is $1.28 million, of which $300,000 is guaranteed. His salary-cap charge is $1.79 million. 2025 questions, roster outlook A reliable backup on defense, the 28-year-old (on Aug. 28) Walker is expected to continue his core special-teams role with the Cardinals this season. Get more Cardinals and NFL coverage from Cards Wire's Jess Root and others by listening to the latest on the Rise Up, See Red podcast. Subscribe on Spotify, YouTube or Apple podcasts.


The Advertiser
a day ago
- Automotive
- The Advertiser
Expert Insights: Q&A with Premcar CEO Bernie Quinn
He may not be your typical automotive industry executive, but Bernie Quinn has assembled some formidable feathers in his cap during a near 30-year engineering career that has produced some of this country's most iconic vehicles. These days he's the CEO of Premcar, which most people recognise as the engineering company that helped transform the Nissan Navara ute and Patrol SUV into hardcore Warrior-branded off-roaders, more than 10,000 of which have now been produced. First established in 2019, Nissan's Warrior sub-brand has been so successful it's being replicated in other markets starting with South Africa, where Premcar has formed a joint venture to produce Navara Warriors in Nissan's Rosslyn factory. A Melbourne engineering firm born out of the death of Ford Performance Vehicles (FPV), Premcar can trace its roots back to the 1996 launch of the Tickford Vehicle Engineering-enhanced Ford EL Falcon GT, followed by the 1998 TS50, TE50 and TL50, and the 2001 Mustang converted locally to right-hand drive by Tickford. Hundreds of new car deals are available through CarExpert right now. Get the experts on your side and score a great deal. Browse now. FPV was then formed in a joint venture between Ford and Prodrive, which bought out Tickford, and the first fruit was the 2003 BA Falcon-based FPV GT. But Prodrive also helped develop Mazda Australia's MX-5 SP and Toyota Australia's TRD-badged HiLux and Aurion. After it developed the supercharged 5.0-litre 'Miami' V8 for FPV's Falcon-based range, Prodrive became Premcar in 2012 and it immediately produced the 335kW FG Falcon-based FPV GT, followed by the 351kW FPV GT-F in 2014, and then the 325kW FG-X Falcon XR6 Sprint and XR8 Sprint sports sedans based on the final and finest Falcons in 2016. A year earlier, Premcar also began its extensive defence industry work, and even co-developed its first helicopter for a major corporation, before teaming up with Nissan to become one of Australia's two largest automotive engineering companies alongside Walkinshaw Automotive. We sat down with Bernie to ask him about what's next for Premcar, the Warrior brand, and the Australian auto industry as it undergoes rapid change amid an influx of new brands and products. There are a couple of reasons why. First of all, many new-car buyers in Australia are very particular. I've said this a few times over the years. A lot of Australian car buyers grew up when we had local car manufacturing. You had Falcons and Commodores, for example, and you could effectively customise them to the spec you wanted when new. You could have almost any colour. There were utes, sedans and wagons; sports, executive and luxury; long-wheelbase and short-wheelbase; various engines such as V8, V6, I6, turbo, supercharged; pretty much every permutation and combination you could have. Australians became very used to customising their cars to their own specifications. But when Ford and Holden and others, including Toyota, Nissan and Mitsubishi, left the local new-car manufacturing scene in Australia, the options became far more limited because we got generic global vehicles. But local customer tastes didn't go away. That money they were spending personalising their new cars started to be spent on accessories and in the aftermarket, and so companies like ARB and others thrived in that car-customising environment. So that's the first thing. Secondly, the Australian new-car market is relatively small at around 1.1 to 1.2 million [annually], but the number of brands on sale here is around 70. So in order to create a unique point of difference, carmakers have the ability to customise their vehicles using a local enhancement program. Offering new-car models that are better suited to Australia's driving conditions can give them a strong competitive advantage. They're the two big reasons. Well, some conditions we're exposed to in Australia can be quite different but they're not always vastly different to anywhere else in the world. But it's the variety of conditions which a driver might encounter in a single day that can be so vast. And we sometimes expect our vehicles to do too much. You can see this in the fact that the two best-selling cars in Australia are quite often the Ford Ranger and Toyota HiLux. Dual-cab utes are very popular here, partly because the bandwidth these vehicles have to cope with in terms of usage profile is huge. So you have to try and create a suspension tune that works well on a massive variety of surfaces with a very wide range of driving conditions, and this needs very special consideration. And this, to me, is a unique customer usage profile that you won't find in many other markets. The proof's in the pudding. When you drive a car with poor ADAS tuning, or a car that hasn't been tuned to specific Australian conditions, and it's a very frustrating experience. There's a temptation for a lot of carmakers to conclude, "oh, Australia's just a relatively small market. Let's just use this ADAS tune from the US or Japan or China or wherever". It's a mistake. It simply doesn't work because Australia's driving environment is unique. Cars parked on the side of the road, bike lanes, different architecture for traffic lights, speed-limit signs, warning signs, and other street furniture. ADAS systems that have been developed and tuned somewhere else too often don't work correctly here. So it's extremely important to have locally tuned – and correctly tuned – ADAS systems, especially if you don't want to end up with a dissatisfied customer or a customer that just turns the system off. And keep in mind that locally tuning a car's ADAS systems isn't just a matter of plugging in a laptop and fiddling with some digital settings. There's quite a bit involved to achieve correct tuning, especially considering almost all of these systems are proprietary to the carmaker, even if the related hardware and some of the software is supplied by major technology brands. Lots of hard work. I've said a few times that when my partner Jim Jovanovski and I took over the business in 2012 it was a bit like jumping off a building while building the parachute on the way down. We had a strategic plan but, more importantly, we had great capabilities, lots of flexibility and a huge amount of resilience in our group. That's really the key to our success. We searched for a unique position in the market and we eventually found it, and that's the reason why we've thrived. It didn't come to us easily. It was a lot of hard work and we always put the customer first, which has been critical. I'm talking in terms of working out exactly what the customer needs and wants, and then working really hard to meet them and ensuring it helps to build their business. It's because we've got a market here in Australia that is desperate for products that are very well suited to buyers' needs, and these customers are often willing to spend a little more compared to buyers in other countries. Companies like Premcar and Walkinshaw prove that if you offer products that are developed in Australia for Australians, local customers will buy them, even if these products have a premium price. It's important to cater to these customers. We're doing it through secondary manufacturing at the moment, but this could be expanded to build cars in Australia for Australians. You have to remember that the decisions made about closing the local new-car manufacturing industry in Australia were made at a time when our currency was, let's say, artificially and temporarily high. Those decisions had their gestation in 2009. That was the time when key decisions about the possible next Commodore, next Falcon and next Territory were being cemented. The Australian currency didn't support the industry at the time because it was about A$1.05 to A$1.10 to the US dollar due to the global financial crisis, which happened mostly in other countries, and not to the same extent in Australia. And that was really the beginning of the end. Now, when these big car companies closed their doors on local manufacturing, the currency was back around 70 cents US, and at the moment it's around 65 US cents. We would be very competitive if we had maintained all the capital equipment and knowledge and systems and processes. We had been able to capture that and leverage it in 2009 through to 2015. We'd have a thriving industry now, so it was really an aberration which led to its closing. That's the really frustrating and disappointing thing about it. Now, to get back into local car manufacturing, we'd have to invest a lot of money. We'd have to build all that capital equipment again and all that infrastructure again. It wouldn't be easy. But is it possible? A hundred per cent, yes. Would it be successful? 110 per cent. With the right attitude and the right amount of commitment it could be very, very successful. And keep in mind that many of the countries that dominate new-car manufacturing and assembly today didn't know how to make cars or their components 40 years ago. But with the right attitude, commitment and investment they've achieved remarkable results. Yes. One of the successes to come from our secondary manufacturing programs in Australia has been how various OEMs [automakers] around the world have responded. And as everyone knows – because it's in the news every day – the established OEM carmakers are very, very keen to look for extra revenue from their existing model lines. We're trying to assist them to achieve this with secondary manufacturing programs, not just in Australia but in other markets as well. And then there are the new brands entering the market; they're keen to create a unique product offering as well. What we do with our new-vehicle enhancement programs and secondary manufacturing programs appeals to both the traditional legacy OEMs and the new OEM brands. So I think we're in a really good position to grow and expand in Australia, as well as globally. It's very competitive and it's very, very tough to be successful. I think the new brands to emerge from China are being very aggressive. It's widely reported China has an oversupply of new-car stock in their domestic market so Australia is clearly a very attractive market for revenue. Many of the long-standing OEMs are trying to adjust and transform their companies in what is now an extremely competitive new-car market that's been changed mainly by new Chinese brands coming in at lower prices. It's important for them to create product-based differences or advantages and helping them achieve these is where we focus our business development energies. I touched on this in my last answer. I think the best way to achieve a point of difference is to create a product-based advantage, which means that you create a new car that your target customers can really enjoy because it accurately meets the needs of their lifestyle, and they can drive away in that car from the showroom. And it's not just offering the right new cars that's critical. Another big point of difference is offering the right aftersales backup. You can see a number of long-standing OEMs are actively marketing that they have authorised dealerships across the country, which implies lots of easy-to-access parts and service support, and very long new-car warranties. All of this is clearly about trust, and that can take time. Yes, it does, because we can help them behind the scenes with the technical refinements that consumers rarely ever see but can experience when they drive their new car. Making new cars more suitable for local consumers is a great way to reach more new-car buyers. But it's not just the new brands that are offering great opportunities for Premcar. Many of the long-standing car brands are taking the same approach because this new level of market competition is driving brands to look for specific product-based advantages. Yes, we've done them in the past. We've done them from both an engineering design point of view and a manufacturing point of view. So yes, we can do them on a drive-in, drive-out basis. There's nothing I can talk about right now, but the simple answer is yes, we can do them, and it's quite likely at some stage you'll see something about this from Premcar. One hundred per cent. Absolutely. The majority of my career was spent doing high-performance sports sedans and a lot of the Premcar team have the same career history. All of those capabilities still remain and they can easily be applied to make some awesome new vehicles. We've spoken. What can I tell you about it? Well, not much at the moment. However, I think that vehicle is ideally suited to the Warrior treatment and I can't wait to get my hands on one. I think the biggest opportunity that has taken my time of late is the expansion of the Warrior brand and the expansion of Premcar into other markets outside Australia. I'm expecting big growth in the Australian part of our business, but also the same growth, if not bigger, on some international projects. It's a thrill to take our Aussie-owned and Aussie-based company out into the wide world. This is where my job gets really exciting. MORE: Australian automotive powerhouse expands overseas Content originally sourced from: He may not be your typical automotive industry executive, but Bernie Quinn has assembled some formidable feathers in his cap during a near 30-year engineering career that has produced some of this country's most iconic vehicles. These days he's the CEO of Premcar, which most people recognise as the engineering company that helped transform the Nissan Navara ute and Patrol SUV into hardcore Warrior-branded off-roaders, more than 10,000 of which have now been produced. First established in 2019, Nissan's Warrior sub-brand has been so successful it's being replicated in other markets starting with South Africa, where Premcar has formed a joint venture to produce Navara Warriors in Nissan's Rosslyn factory. A Melbourne engineering firm born out of the death of Ford Performance Vehicles (FPV), Premcar can trace its roots back to the 1996 launch of the Tickford Vehicle Engineering-enhanced Ford EL Falcon GT, followed by the 1998 TS50, TE50 and TL50, and the 2001 Mustang converted locally to right-hand drive by Tickford. Hundreds of new car deals are available through CarExpert right now. Get the experts on your side and score a great deal. Browse now. FPV was then formed in a joint venture between Ford and Prodrive, which bought out Tickford, and the first fruit was the 2003 BA Falcon-based FPV GT. But Prodrive also helped develop Mazda Australia's MX-5 SP and Toyota Australia's TRD-badged HiLux and Aurion. After it developed the supercharged 5.0-litre 'Miami' V8 for FPV's Falcon-based range, Prodrive became Premcar in 2012 and it immediately produced the 335kW FG Falcon-based FPV GT, followed by the 351kW FPV GT-F in 2014, and then the 325kW FG-X Falcon XR6 Sprint and XR8 Sprint sports sedans based on the final and finest Falcons in 2016. A year earlier, Premcar also began its extensive defence industry work, and even co-developed its first helicopter for a major corporation, before teaming up with Nissan to become one of Australia's two largest automotive engineering companies alongside Walkinshaw Automotive. We sat down with Bernie to ask him about what's next for Premcar, the Warrior brand, and the Australian auto industry as it undergoes rapid change amid an influx of new brands and products. There are a couple of reasons why. First of all, many new-car buyers in Australia are very particular. I've said this a few times over the years. A lot of Australian car buyers grew up when we had local car manufacturing. You had Falcons and Commodores, for example, and you could effectively customise them to the spec you wanted when new. You could have almost any colour. There were utes, sedans and wagons; sports, executive and luxury; long-wheelbase and short-wheelbase; various engines such as V8, V6, I6, turbo, supercharged; pretty much every permutation and combination you could have. Australians became very used to customising their cars to their own specifications. But when Ford and Holden and others, including Toyota, Nissan and Mitsubishi, left the local new-car manufacturing scene in Australia, the options became far more limited because we got generic global vehicles. But local customer tastes didn't go away. That money they were spending personalising their new cars started to be spent on accessories and in the aftermarket, and so companies like ARB and others thrived in that car-customising environment. So that's the first thing. Secondly, the Australian new-car market is relatively small at around 1.1 to 1.2 million [annually], but the number of brands on sale here is around 70. So in order to create a unique point of difference, carmakers have the ability to customise their vehicles using a local enhancement program. Offering new-car models that are better suited to Australia's driving conditions can give them a strong competitive advantage. They're the two big reasons. Well, some conditions we're exposed to in Australia can be quite different but they're not always vastly different to anywhere else in the world. But it's the variety of conditions which a driver might encounter in a single day that can be so vast. And we sometimes expect our vehicles to do too much. You can see this in the fact that the two best-selling cars in Australia are quite often the Ford Ranger and Toyota HiLux. Dual-cab utes are very popular here, partly because the bandwidth these vehicles have to cope with in terms of usage profile is huge. So you have to try and create a suspension tune that works well on a massive variety of surfaces with a very wide range of driving conditions, and this needs very special consideration. And this, to me, is a unique customer usage profile that you won't find in many other markets. The proof's in the pudding. When you drive a car with poor ADAS tuning, or a car that hasn't been tuned to specific Australian conditions, and it's a very frustrating experience. There's a temptation for a lot of carmakers to conclude, "oh, Australia's just a relatively small market. Let's just use this ADAS tune from the US or Japan or China or wherever". It's a mistake. It simply doesn't work because Australia's driving environment is unique. Cars parked on the side of the road, bike lanes, different architecture for traffic lights, speed-limit signs, warning signs, and other street furniture. ADAS systems that have been developed and tuned somewhere else too often don't work correctly here. So it's extremely important to have locally tuned – and correctly tuned – ADAS systems, especially if you don't want to end up with a dissatisfied customer or a customer that just turns the system off. And keep in mind that locally tuning a car's ADAS systems isn't just a matter of plugging in a laptop and fiddling with some digital settings. There's quite a bit involved to achieve correct tuning, especially considering almost all of these systems are proprietary to the carmaker, even if the related hardware and some of the software is supplied by major technology brands. Lots of hard work. I've said a few times that when my partner Jim Jovanovski and I took over the business in 2012 it was a bit like jumping off a building while building the parachute on the way down. We had a strategic plan but, more importantly, we had great capabilities, lots of flexibility and a huge amount of resilience in our group. That's really the key to our success. We searched for a unique position in the market and we eventually found it, and that's the reason why we've thrived. It didn't come to us easily. It was a lot of hard work and we always put the customer first, which has been critical. I'm talking in terms of working out exactly what the customer needs and wants, and then working really hard to meet them and ensuring it helps to build their business. It's because we've got a market here in Australia that is desperate for products that are very well suited to buyers' needs, and these customers are often willing to spend a little more compared to buyers in other countries. Companies like Premcar and Walkinshaw prove that if you offer products that are developed in Australia for Australians, local customers will buy them, even if these products have a premium price. It's important to cater to these customers. We're doing it through secondary manufacturing at the moment, but this could be expanded to build cars in Australia for Australians. You have to remember that the decisions made about closing the local new-car manufacturing industry in Australia were made at a time when our currency was, let's say, artificially and temporarily high. Those decisions had their gestation in 2009. That was the time when key decisions about the possible next Commodore, next Falcon and next Territory were being cemented. The Australian currency didn't support the industry at the time because it was about A$1.05 to A$1.10 to the US dollar due to the global financial crisis, which happened mostly in other countries, and not to the same extent in Australia. And that was really the beginning of the end. Now, when these big car companies closed their doors on local manufacturing, the currency was back around 70 cents US, and at the moment it's around 65 US cents. We would be very competitive if we had maintained all the capital equipment and knowledge and systems and processes. We had been able to capture that and leverage it in 2009 through to 2015. We'd have a thriving industry now, so it was really an aberration which led to its closing. That's the really frustrating and disappointing thing about it. Now, to get back into local car manufacturing, we'd have to invest a lot of money. We'd have to build all that capital equipment again and all that infrastructure again. It wouldn't be easy. But is it possible? A hundred per cent, yes. Would it be successful? 110 per cent. With the right attitude and the right amount of commitment it could be very, very successful. And keep in mind that many of the countries that dominate new-car manufacturing and assembly today didn't know how to make cars or their components 40 years ago. But with the right attitude, commitment and investment they've achieved remarkable results. Yes. One of the successes to come from our secondary manufacturing programs in Australia has been how various OEMs [automakers] around the world have responded. And as everyone knows – because it's in the news every day – the established OEM carmakers are very, very keen to look for extra revenue from their existing model lines. We're trying to assist them to achieve this with secondary manufacturing programs, not just in Australia but in other markets as well. And then there are the new brands entering the market; they're keen to create a unique product offering as well. What we do with our new-vehicle enhancement programs and secondary manufacturing programs appeals to both the traditional legacy OEMs and the new OEM brands. So I think we're in a really good position to grow and expand in Australia, as well as globally. It's very competitive and it's very, very tough to be successful. I think the new brands to emerge from China are being very aggressive. It's widely reported China has an oversupply of new-car stock in their domestic market so Australia is clearly a very attractive market for revenue. Many of the long-standing OEMs are trying to adjust and transform their companies in what is now an extremely competitive new-car market that's been changed mainly by new Chinese brands coming in at lower prices. It's important for them to create product-based differences or advantages and helping them achieve these is where we focus our business development energies. I touched on this in my last answer. I think the best way to achieve a point of difference is to create a product-based advantage, which means that you create a new car that your target customers can really enjoy because it accurately meets the needs of their lifestyle, and they can drive away in that car from the showroom. And it's not just offering the right new cars that's critical. Another big point of difference is offering the right aftersales backup. You can see a number of long-standing OEMs are actively marketing that they have authorised dealerships across the country, which implies lots of easy-to-access parts and service support, and very long new-car warranties. All of this is clearly about trust, and that can take time. Yes, it does, because we can help them behind the scenes with the technical refinements that consumers rarely ever see but can experience when they drive their new car. Making new cars more suitable for local consumers is a great way to reach more new-car buyers. But it's not just the new brands that are offering great opportunities for Premcar. Many of the long-standing car brands are taking the same approach because this new level of market competition is driving brands to look for specific product-based advantages. Yes, we've done them in the past. We've done them from both an engineering design point of view and a manufacturing point of view. So yes, we can do them on a drive-in, drive-out basis. There's nothing I can talk about right now, but the simple answer is yes, we can do them, and it's quite likely at some stage you'll see something about this from Premcar. One hundred per cent. Absolutely. The majority of my career was spent doing high-performance sports sedans and a lot of the Premcar team have the same career history. All of those capabilities still remain and they can easily be applied to make some awesome new vehicles. We've spoken. What can I tell you about it? Well, not much at the moment. However, I think that vehicle is ideally suited to the Warrior treatment and I can't wait to get my hands on one. I think the biggest opportunity that has taken my time of late is the expansion of the Warrior brand and the expansion of Premcar into other markets outside Australia. I'm expecting big growth in the Australian part of our business, but also the same growth, if not bigger, on some international projects. It's a thrill to take our Aussie-owned and Aussie-based company out into the wide world. This is where my job gets really exciting. MORE: Australian automotive powerhouse expands overseas Content originally sourced from: He may not be your typical automotive industry executive, but Bernie Quinn has assembled some formidable feathers in his cap during a near 30-year engineering career that has produced some of this country's most iconic vehicles. These days he's the CEO of Premcar, which most people recognise as the engineering company that helped transform the Nissan Navara ute and Patrol SUV into hardcore Warrior-branded off-roaders, more than 10,000 of which have now been produced. First established in 2019, Nissan's Warrior sub-brand has been so successful it's being replicated in other markets starting with South Africa, where Premcar has formed a joint venture to produce Navara Warriors in Nissan's Rosslyn factory. A Melbourne engineering firm born out of the death of Ford Performance Vehicles (FPV), Premcar can trace its roots back to the 1996 launch of the Tickford Vehicle Engineering-enhanced Ford EL Falcon GT, followed by the 1998 TS50, TE50 and TL50, and the 2001 Mustang converted locally to right-hand drive by Tickford. Hundreds of new car deals are available through CarExpert right now. Get the experts on your side and score a great deal. Browse now. FPV was then formed in a joint venture between Ford and Prodrive, which bought out Tickford, and the first fruit was the 2003 BA Falcon-based FPV GT. But Prodrive also helped develop Mazda Australia's MX-5 SP and Toyota Australia's TRD-badged HiLux and Aurion. After it developed the supercharged 5.0-litre 'Miami' V8 for FPV's Falcon-based range, Prodrive became Premcar in 2012 and it immediately produced the 335kW FG Falcon-based FPV GT, followed by the 351kW FPV GT-F in 2014, and then the 325kW FG-X Falcon XR6 Sprint and XR8 Sprint sports sedans based on the final and finest Falcons in 2016. A year earlier, Premcar also began its extensive defence industry work, and even co-developed its first helicopter for a major corporation, before teaming up with Nissan to become one of Australia's two largest automotive engineering companies alongside Walkinshaw Automotive. We sat down with Bernie to ask him about what's next for Premcar, the Warrior brand, and the Australian auto industry as it undergoes rapid change amid an influx of new brands and products. There are a couple of reasons why. First of all, many new-car buyers in Australia are very particular. I've said this a few times over the years. A lot of Australian car buyers grew up when we had local car manufacturing. You had Falcons and Commodores, for example, and you could effectively customise them to the spec you wanted when new. You could have almost any colour. There were utes, sedans and wagons; sports, executive and luxury; long-wheelbase and short-wheelbase; various engines such as V8, V6, I6, turbo, supercharged; pretty much every permutation and combination you could have. Australians became very used to customising their cars to their own specifications. But when Ford and Holden and others, including Toyota, Nissan and Mitsubishi, left the local new-car manufacturing scene in Australia, the options became far more limited because we got generic global vehicles. But local customer tastes didn't go away. That money they were spending personalising their new cars started to be spent on accessories and in the aftermarket, and so companies like ARB and others thrived in that car-customising environment. So that's the first thing. Secondly, the Australian new-car market is relatively small at around 1.1 to 1.2 million [annually], but the number of brands on sale here is around 70. So in order to create a unique point of difference, carmakers have the ability to customise their vehicles using a local enhancement program. Offering new-car models that are better suited to Australia's driving conditions can give them a strong competitive advantage. They're the two big reasons. Well, some conditions we're exposed to in Australia can be quite different but they're not always vastly different to anywhere else in the world. But it's the variety of conditions which a driver might encounter in a single day that can be so vast. And we sometimes expect our vehicles to do too much. You can see this in the fact that the two best-selling cars in Australia are quite often the Ford Ranger and Toyota HiLux. Dual-cab utes are very popular here, partly because the bandwidth these vehicles have to cope with in terms of usage profile is huge. So you have to try and create a suspension tune that works well on a massive variety of surfaces with a very wide range of driving conditions, and this needs very special consideration. And this, to me, is a unique customer usage profile that you won't find in many other markets. The proof's in the pudding. When you drive a car with poor ADAS tuning, or a car that hasn't been tuned to specific Australian conditions, and it's a very frustrating experience. There's a temptation for a lot of carmakers to conclude, "oh, Australia's just a relatively small market. Let's just use this ADAS tune from the US or Japan or China or wherever". It's a mistake. It simply doesn't work because Australia's driving environment is unique. Cars parked on the side of the road, bike lanes, different architecture for traffic lights, speed-limit signs, warning signs, and other street furniture. ADAS systems that have been developed and tuned somewhere else too often don't work correctly here. So it's extremely important to have locally tuned – and correctly tuned – ADAS systems, especially if you don't want to end up with a dissatisfied customer or a customer that just turns the system off. And keep in mind that locally tuning a car's ADAS systems isn't just a matter of plugging in a laptop and fiddling with some digital settings. There's quite a bit involved to achieve correct tuning, especially considering almost all of these systems are proprietary to the carmaker, even if the related hardware and some of the software is supplied by major technology brands. Lots of hard work. I've said a few times that when my partner Jim Jovanovski and I took over the business in 2012 it was a bit like jumping off a building while building the parachute on the way down. We had a strategic plan but, more importantly, we had great capabilities, lots of flexibility and a huge amount of resilience in our group. That's really the key to our success. We searched for a unique position in the market and we eventually found it, and that's the reason why we've thrived. It didn't come to us easily. It was a lot of hard work and we always put the customer first, which has been critical. I'm talking in terms of working out exactly what the customer needs and wants, and then working really hard to meet them and ensuring it helps to build their business. It's because we've got a market here in Australia that is desperate for products that are very well suited to buyers' needs, and these customers are often willing to spend a little more compared to buyers in other countries. Companies like Premcar and Walkinshaw prove that if you offer products that are developed in Australia for Australians, local customers will buy them, even if these products have a premium price. It's important to cater to these customers. We're doing it through secondary manufacturing at the moment, but this could be expanded to build cars in Australia for Australians. You have to remember that the decisions made about closing the local new-car manufacturing industry in Australia were made at a time when our currency was, let's say, artificially and temporarily high. Those decisions had their gestation in 2009. That was the time when key decisions about the possible next Commodore, next Falcon and next Territory were being cemented. The Australian currency didn't support the industry at the time because it was about A$1.05 to A$1.10 to the US dollar due to the global financial crisis, which happened mostly in other countries, and not to the same extent in Australia. And that was really the beginning of the end. Now, when these big car companies closed their doors on local manufacturing, the currency was back around 70 cents US, and at the moment it's around 65 US cents. We would be very competitive if we had maintained all the capital equipment and knowledge and systems and processes. We had been able to capture that and leverage it in 2009 through to 2015. We'd have a thriving industry now, so it was really an aberration which led to its closing. That's the really frustrating and disappointing thing about it. Now, to get back into local car manufacturing, we'd have to invest a lot of money. We'd have to build all that capital equipment again and all that infrastructure again. It wouldn't be easy. But is it possible? A hundred per cent, yes. Would it be successful? 110 per cent. With the right attitude and the right amount of commitment it could be very, very successful. And keep in mind that many of the countries that dominate new-car manufacturing and assembly today didn't know how to make cars or their components 40 years ago. But with the right attitude, commitment and investment they've achieved remarkable results. Yes. One of the successes to come from our secondary manufacturing programs in Australia has been how various OEMs [automakers] around the world have responded. And as everyone knows – because it's in the news every day – the established OEM carmakers are very, very keen to look for extra revenue from their existing model lines. We're trying to assist them to achieve this with secondary manufacturing programs, not just in Australia but in other markets as well. And then there are the new brands entering the market; they're keen to create a unique product offering as well. What we do with our new-vehicle enhancement programs and secondary manufacturing programs appeals to both the traditional legacy OEMs and the new OEM brands. So I think we're in a really good position to grow and expand in Australia, as well as globally. It's very competitive and it's very, very tough to be successful. I think the new brands to emerge from China are being very aggressive. It's widely reported China has an oversupply of new-car stock in their domestic market so Australia is clearly a very attractive market for revenue. Many of the long-standing OEMs are trying to adjust and transform their companies in what is now an extremely competitive new-car market that's been changed mainly by new Chinese brands coming in at lower prices. It's important for them to create product-based differences or advantages and helping them achieve these is where we focus our business development energies. I touched on this in my last answer. I think the best way to achieve a point of difference is to create a product-based advantage, which means that you create a new car that your target customers can really enjoy because it accurately meets the needs of their lifestyle, and they can drive away in that car from the showroom. And it's not just offering the right new cars that's critical. Another big point of difference is offering the right aftersales backup. You can see a number of long-standing OEMs are actively marketing that they have authorised dealerships across the country, which implies lots of easy-to-access parts and service support, and very long new-car warranties. All of this is clearly about trust, and that can take time. Yes, it does, because we can help them behind the scenes with the technical refinements that consumers rarely ever see but can experience when they drive their new car. Making new cars more suitable for local consumers is a great way to reach more new-car buyers. But it's not just the new brands that are offering great opportunities for Premcar. Many of the long-standing car brands are taking the same approach because this new level of market competition is driving brands to look for specific product-based advantages. Yes, we've done them in the past. We've done them from both an engineering design point of view and a manufacturing point of view. So yes, we can do them on a drive-in, drive-out basis. There's nothing I can talk about right now, but the simple answer is yes, we can do them, and it's quite likely at some stage you'll see something about this from Premcar. One hundred per cent. Absolutely. The majority of my career was spent doing high-performance sports sedans and a lot of the Premcar team have the same career history. All of those capabilities still remain and they can easily be applied to make some awesome new vehicles. We've spoken. What can I tell you about it? Well, not much at the moment. However, I think that vehicle is ideally suited to the Warrior treatment and I can't wait to get my hands on one. I think the biggest opportunity that has taken my time of late is the expansion of the Warrior brand and the expansion of Premcar into other markets outside Australia. I'm expecting big growth in the Australian part of our business, but also the same growth, if not bigger, on some international projects. It's a thrill to take our Aussie-owned and Aussie-based company out into the wide world. This is where my job gets really exciting. MORE: Australian automotive powerhouse expands overseas Content originally sourced from: He may not be your typical automotive industry executive, but Bernie Quinn has assembled some formidable feathers in his cap during a near 30-year engineering career that has produced some of this country's most iconic vehicles. These days he's the CEO of Premcar, which most people recognise as the engineering company that helped transform the Nissan Navara ute and Patrol SUV into hardcore Warrior-branded off-roaders, more than 10,000 of which have now been produced. First established in 2019, Nissan's Warrior sub-brand has been so successful it's being replicated in other markets starting with South Africa, where Premcar has formed a joint venture to produce Navara Warriors in Nissan's Rosslyn factory. A Melbourne engineering firm born out of the death of Ford Performance Vehicles (FPV), Premcar can trace its roots back to the 1996 launch of the Tickford Vehicle Engineering-enhanced Ford EL Falcon GT, followed by the 1998 TS50, TE50 and TL50, and the 2001 Mustang converted locally to right-hand drive by Tickford. Hundreds of new car deals are available through CarExpert right now. Get the experts on your side and score a great deal. Browse now. FPV was then formed in a joint venture between Ford and Prodrive, which bought out Tickford, and the first fruit was the 2003 BA Falcon-based FPV GT. But Prodrive also helped develop Mazda Australia's MX-5 SP and Toyota Australia's TRD-badged HiLux and Aurion. After it developed the supercharged 5.0-litre 'Miami' V8 for FPV's Falcon-based range, Prodrive became Premcar in 2012 and it immediately produced the 335kW FG Falcon-based FPV GT, followed by the 351kW FPV GT-F in 2014, and then the 325kW FG-X Falcon XR6 Sprint and XR8 Sprint sports sedans based on the final and finest Falcons in 2016. A year earlier, Premcar also began its extensive defence industry work, and even co-developed its first helicopter for a major corporation, before teaming up with Nissan to become one of Australia's two largest automotive engineering companies alongside Walkinshaw Automotive. We sat down with Bernie to ask him about what's next for Premcar, the Warrior brand, and the Australian auto industry as it undergoes rapid change amid an influx of new brands and products. There are a couple of reasons why. First of all, many new-car buyers in Australia are very particular. I've said this a few times over the years. A lot of Australian car buyers grew up when we had local car manufacturing. You had Falcons and Commodores, for example, and you could effectively customise them to the spec you wanted when new. You could have almost any colour. There were utes, sedans and wagons; sports, executive and luxury; long-wheelbase and short-wheelbase; various engines such as V8, V6, I6, turbo, supercharged; pretty much every permutation and combination you could have. Australians became very used to customising their cars to their own specifications. But when Ford and Holden and others, including Toyota, Nissan and Mitsubishi, left the local new-car manufacturing scene in Australia, the options became far more limited because we got generic global vehicles. But local customer tastes didn't go away. That money they were spending personalising their new cars started to be spent on accessories and in the aftermarket, and so companies like ARB and others thrived in that car-customising environment. So that's the first thing. Secondly, the Australian new-car market is relatively small at around 1.1 to 1.2 million [annually], but the number of brands on sale here is around 70. So in order to create a unique point of difference, carmakers have the ability to customise their vehicles using a local enhancement program. Offering new-car models that are better suited to Australia's driving conditions can give them a strong competitive advantage. They're the two big reasons. Well, some conditions we're exposed to in Australia can be quite different but they're not always vastly different to anywhere else in the world. But it's the variety of conditions which a driver might encounter in a single day that can be so vast. And we sometimes expect our vehicles to do too much. You can see this in the fact that the two best-selling cars in Australia are quite often the Ford Ranger and Toyota HiLux. Dual-cab utes are very popular here, partly because the bandwidth these vehicles have to cope with in terms of usage profile is huge. So you have to try and create a suspension tune that works well on a massive variety of surfaces with a very wide range of driving conditions, and this needs very special consideration. And this, to me, is a unique customer usage profile that you won't find in many other markets. The proof's in the pudding. When you drive a car with poor ADAS tuning, or a car that hasn't been tuned to specific Australian conditions, and it's a very frustrating experience. There's a temptation for a lot of carmakers to conclude, "oh, Australia's just a relatively small market. Let's just use this ADAS tune from the US or Japan or China or wherever". It's a mistake. It simply doesn't work because Australia's driving environment is unique. Cars parked on the side of the road, bike lanes, different architecture for traffic lights, speed-limit signs, warning signs, and other street furniture. ADAS systems that have been developed and tuned somewhere else too often don't work correctly here. So it's extremely important to have locally tuned – and correctly tuned – ADAS systems, especially if you don't want to end up with a dissatisfied customer or a customer that just turns the system off. And keep in mind that locally tuning a car's ADAS systems isn't just a matter of plugging in a laptop and fiddling with some digital settings. There's quite a bit involved to achieve correct tuning, especially considering almost all of these systems are proprietary to the carmaker, even if the related hardware and some of the software is supplied by major technology brands. Lots of hard work. I've said a few times that when my partner Jim Jovanovski and I took over the business in 2012 it was a bit like jumping off a building while building the parachute on the way down. We had a strategic plan but, more importantly, we had great capabilities, lots of flexibility and a huge amount of resilience in our group. That's really the key to our success. We searched for a unique position in the market and we eventually found it, and that's the reason why we've thrived. It didn't come to us easily. It was a lot of hard work and we always put the customer first, which has been critical. I'm talking in terms of working out exactly what the customer needs and wants, and then working really hard to meet them and ensuring it helps to build their business. It's because we've got a market here in Australia that is desperate for products that are very well suited to buyers' needs, and these customers are often willing to spend a little more compared to buyers in other countries. Companies like Premcar and Walkinshaw prove that if you offer products that are developed in Australia for Australians, local customers will buy them, even if these products have a premium price. It's important to cater to these customers. We're doing it through secondary manufacturing at the moment, but this could be expanded to build cars in Australia for Australians. You have to remember that the decisions made about closing the local new-car manufacturing industry in Australia were made at a time when our currency was, let's say, artificially and temporarily high. Those decisions had their gestation in 2009. That was the time when key decisions about the possible next Commodore, next Falcon and next Territory were being cemented. The Australian currency didn't support the industry at the time because it was about A$1.05 to A$1.10 to the US dollar due to the global financial crisis, which happened mostly in other countries, and not to the same extent in Australia. And that was really the beginning of the end. Now, when these big car companies closed their doors on local manufacturing, the currency was back around 70 cents US, and at the moment it's around 65 US cents. We would be very competitive if we had maintained all the capital equipment and knowledge and systems and processes. We had been able to capture that and leverage it in 2009 through to 2015. We'd have a thriving industry now, so it was really an aberration which led to its closing. That's the really frustrating and disappointing thing about it. Now, to get back into local car manufacturing, we'd have to invest a lot of money. We'd have to build all that capital equipment again and all that infrastructure again. It wouldn't be easy. But is it possible? A hundred per cent, yes. Would it be successful? 110 per cent. With the right attitude and the right amount of commitment it could be very, very successful. And keep in mind that many of the countries that dominate new-car manufacturing and assembly today didn't know how to make cars or their components 40 years ago. But with the right attitude, commitment and investment they've achieved remarkable results. Yes. One of the successes to come from our secondary manufacturing programs in Australia has been how various OEMs [automakers] around the world have responded. And as everyone knows – because it's in the news every day – the established OEM carmakers are very, very keen to look for extra revenue from their existing model lines. We're trying to assist them to achieve this with secondary manufacturing programs, not just in Australia but in other markets as well. And then there are the new brands entering the market; they're keen to create a unique product offering as well. What we do with our new-vehicle enhancement programs and secondary manufacturing programs appeals to both the traditional legacy OEMs and the new OEM brands. So I think we're in a really good position to grow and expand in Australia, as well as globally. It's very competitive and it's very, very tough to be successful. I think the new brands to emerge from China are being very aggressive. It's widely reported China has an oversupply of new-car stock in their domestic market so Australia is clearly a very attractive market for revenue. Many of the long-standing OEMs are trying to adjust and transform their companies in what is now an extremely competitive new-car market that's been changed mainly by new Chinese brands coming in at lower prices. It's important for them to create product-based differences or advantages and helping them achieve these is where we focus our business development energies. I touched on this in my last answer. I think the best way to achieve a point of difference is to create a product-based advantage, which means that you create a new car that your target customers can really enjoy because it accurately meets the needs of their lifestyle, and they can drive away in that car from the showroom. And it's not just offering the right new cars that's critical. Another big point of difference is offering the right aftersales backup. You can see a number of long-standing OEMs are actively marketing that they have authorised dealerships across the country, which implies lots of easy-to-access parts and service support, and very long new-car warranties. All of this is clearly about trust, and that can take time. Yes, it does, because we can help them behind the scenes with the technical refinements that consumers rarely ever see but can experience when they drive their new car. Making new cars more suitable for local consumers is a great way to reach more new-car buyers. But it's not just the new brands that are offering great opportunities for Premcar. Many of the long-standing car brands are taking the same approach because this new level of market competition is driving brands to look for specific product-based advantages. Yes, we've done them in the past. We've done them from both an engineering design point of view and a manufacturing point of view. So yes, we can do them on a drive-in, drive-out basis. There's nothing I can talk about right now, but the simple answer is yes, we can do them, and it's quite likely at some stage you'll see something about this from Premcar. One hundred per cent. Absolutely. The majority of my career was spent doing high-performance sports sedans and a lot of the Premcar team have the same career history. All of those capabilities still remain and they can easily be applied to make some awesome new vehicles. We've spoken. What can I tell you about it? Well, not much at the moment. However, I think that vehicle is ideally suited to the Warrior treatment and I can't wait to get my hands on one. I think the biggest opportunity that has taken my time of late is the expansion of the Warrior brand and the expansion of Premcar into other markets outside Australia. I'm expecting big growth in the Australian part of our business, but also the same growth, if not bigger, on some international projects. It's a thrill to take our Aussie-owned and Aussie-based company out into the wide world. This is where my job gets really exciting. MORE: Australian automotive powerhouse expands overseas Content originally sourced from:


Canberra Times
a day ago
- Automotive
- Canberra Times
Expert Insights: Q&A with Premcar CEO Bernie Quinn
He may not be your typical automotive industry executive, but Bernie Quinn has assembled some formidable feathers in his cap during a near 30-year engineering career that has produced some of this country's most iconic vehicles. Subscribe now for unlimited access . Login or signup to continue reading All articles from our website & app The digital version of Today's Paper Crosswords, Sudoku and Trivia All other regional websites in your area Continue These days he's the CEO of Premcar, which most people recognise as the engineering company that helped transform the Nissan Navara ute and Patrol SUV into hardcore Warrior-branded off-roaders, more than 10,000 of which have now been produced. First established in 2019, Nissan's Warrior sub-brand has been so successful it's being replicated in other markets starting with South Africa, where Premcar has formed a joint venture to produce Navara Warriors in Nissan's Rosslyn factory. A Melbourne engineering firm born out of the death of Ford Performance Vehicles (FPV), Premcar can trace its roots back to the 1996 launch of the Tickford Vehicle Engineering-enhanced Ford EL Falcon GT, followed by the 1998 TS50, TE50 and TL50, and the 2001 Mustang converted locally to right-hand drive by Tickford. Hundreds of new car deals are available through CarExpert right now. Get the experts on your side and score a great deal. Browse now. Expert Insights: Q&A with Premcar CEO Bernie Quinn FPV was then formed in a joint venture between Ford and Prodrive, which bought out Tickford, and the first fruit was the 2003 BA Falcon-based FPV GT. But Prodrive also helped develop Mazda Australia's MX-5 SP and Toyota Australia's TRD-badged HiLux and Aurion. After it developed the supercharged 5.0-litre 'Miami' V8 for FPV's Falcon-based range, Prodrive became Premcar in 2012 and it immediately produced the 335kW FG Falcon-based FPV GT, followed by the 351kW FPV GT-F in 2014, and then the 325kW FG-X Falcon XR6 Sprint and XR8 Sprint sports sedans based on the final and finest Falcons in 2016. A year earlier, Premcar also began its extensive defence industry work, and even co-developed its first helicopter for a major corporation, before teaming up with Nissan to become one of Australia's two largest automotive engineering companies alongside Walkinshaw Automotive. We sat down with Bernie to ask him about what's next for Premcar, the Warrior brand, and the Australian auto industry as it undergoes rapid change amid an influx of new brands and products. Why is local new-vehicle enhancement so popular in Australia? There are a couple of reasons why. First of all, many new-car buyers in Australia are very particular. I've said this a few times over the years. A lot of Australian car buyers grew up when we had local car manufacturing. You had Falcons and Commodores, for example, and you could effectively customise them to the spec you wanted when new. You could have almost any colour. There were utes, sedans and wagons; sports, executive and luxury; long-wheelbase and short-wheelbase; various engines such as V8, V6, I6, turbo, supercharged; pretty much every permutation and combination you could have. Australians became very used to customising their cars to their own specifications. Expert Insights: Q&A with Premcar CEO Bernie Quinn But when Ford and Holden and others, including Toyota, Nissan and Mitsubishi, left the local new-car manufacturing scene in Australia, the options became far more limited because we got generic global vehicles. But local customer tastes didn't go away. That money they were spending personalising their new cars started to be spent on accessories and in the aftermarket, and so companies like ARB and others thrived in that car-customising environment. So that's the first thing. Secondly, the Australian new-car market is relatively small at around 1.1 to 1.2 million [annually], but the number of brands on sale here is around 70. So in order to create a unique point of difference, carmakers have the ability to customise their vehicles using a local enhancement program. Offering new-car models that are better suited to Australia's driving conditions can give them a strong competitive advantage. They're the two big reasons. Why is locally tuned suspension such a valuable enhancement for consumers and auto brands, and not just in Australia? Well, some conditions we're exposed to in Australia can be quite different but they're not always vastly different to anywhere else in the world. But it's the variety of conditions which a driver might encounter in a single day that can be so vast. And we sometimes expect our vehicles to do too much. You can see this in the fact that the two best-selling cars in Australia are quite often the Ford Ranger and Toyota HiLux. Dual-cab utes are very popular here, partly because the bandwidth these vehicles have to cope with in terms of usage profile is huge. So you have to try and create a suspension tune that works well on a massive variety of surfaces with a very wide range of driving conditions, and this needs very special consideration. And this, to me, is a unique customer usage profile that you won't find in many other markets. How important is local advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) tuning? The proof's in the pudding. When you drive a car with poor ADAS tuning, or a car that hasn't been tuned to specific Australian conditions, and it's a very frustrating experience. There's a temptation for a lot of carmakers to conclude, "oh, Australia's just a relatively small market. Let's just use this ADAS tune from the US or Japan or China or wherever". It's a mistake. It simply doesn't work because Australia's driving environment is unique. Cars parked on the side of the road, bike lanes, different architecture for traffic lights, speed-limit signs, warning signs, and other street furniture. Expert Insights: Q&A with Premcar CEO Bernie Quinn ADAS systems that have been developed and tuned somewhere else too often don't work correctly here. So it's extremely important to have locally tuned – and correctly tuned – ADAS systems, especially if you don't want to end up with a dissatisfied customer or a customer that just turns the system off. And keep in mind that locally tuning a car's ADAS systems isn't just a matter of plugging in a laptop and fiddling with some digital settings. There's quite a bit involved to achieve correct tuning, especially considering almost all of these systems are proprietary to the carmaker, even if the related hardware and some of the software is supplied by major technology brands. Why has Premcar continued to succeed after local car manufacturing ended in 2017? Lots of hard work. I've said a few times that when my partner Jim Jovanovski and I took over the business in 2012 it was a bit like jumping off a building while building the parachute on the way down. We had a strategic plan but, more importantly, we had great capabilities, lots of flexibility and a huge amount of resilience in our group. That's really the key to our success. We searched for a unique position in the market and we eventually found it, and that's the reason why we've thrived. It didn't come to us easily. It was a lot of hard work and we always put the customer first, which has been critical. I'm talking in terms of working out exactly what the customer needs and wants, and then working really hard to meet them and ensuring it helps to build their business. Why is Australian car-making important – and possible – in 2025, despite the local manufacturing naysayers? It's because we've got a market here in Australia that is desperate for products that are very well suited to buyers' needs, and these customers are often willing to spend a little more compared to buyers in other countries. Companies like Premcar and Walkinshaw prove that if you offer products that are developed in Australia for Australians, local customers will buy them, even if these products have a premium price. It's important to cater to these customers. We're doing it through secondary manufacturing at the moment, but this could be expanded to build cars in Australia for Australians. You have to remember that the decisions made about closing the local new-car manufacturing industry in Australia were made at a time when our currency was, let's say, artificially and temporarily high. Those decisions had their gestation in 2009. That was the time when key decisions about the possible next Commodore, next Falcon and next Territory were being cemented. The Australian currency didn't support the industry at the time because it was about A$1.05 to A$1.10 to the US dollar due to the global financial crisis, which happened mostly in other countries, and not to the same extent in Australia. Expert Insights: Q&A with Premcar CEO Bernie Quinn And that was really the beginning of the end. Now, when these big car companies closed their doors on local manufacturing, the currency was back around 70 cents US, and at the moment it's around 65 US cents. We would be very competitive if we had maintained all the capital equipment and knowledge and systems and processes. We had been able to capture that and leverage it in 2009 through to 2015. We'd have a thriving industry now, so it was really an aberration which led to its closing. That's the really frustrating and disappointing thing about it. Now, to get back into local car manufacturing, we'd have to invest a lot of money. We'd have to build all that capital equipment again and all that infrastructure again. It wouldn't be easy. But is it possible? A hundred per cent, yes. Would it be successful? 110 per cent. With the right attitude and the right amount of commitment it could be very, very successful. And keep in mind that many of the countries that dominate new-car manufacturing and assembly today didn't know how to make cars or their components 40 years ago. But with the right attitude, commitment and investment they've achieved remarkable results. Premcar recently launched in South Africa. Is it looking to further expand its offerings into other overseas markets? Yes. One of the successes to come from our secondary manufacturing programs in Australia has been how various OEMs [automakers] around the world have responded. And as everyone knows – because it's in the news every day – the established OEM carmakers are very, very keen to look for extra revenue from their existing model lines. Expert Insights: Q&A with Premcar CEO Bernie Quinn We're trying to assist them to achieve this with secondary manufacturing programs, not just in Australia but in other markets as well. And then there are the new brands entering the market; they're keen to create a unique product offering as well. What we do with our new-vehicle enhancement programs and secondary manufacturing programs appeals to both the traditional legacy OEMs and the new OEM brands. So I think we're in a really good position to grow and expand in Australia, as well as globally. What's your opinion of Australia's current new-vehicle market and all of the new auto brands that are entering it? It's very competitive and it's very, very tough to be successful. I think the new brands to emerge from China are being very aggressive. It's widely reported China has an oversupply of new-car stock in their domestic market so Australia is clearly a very attractive market for revenue. Expert Insights: Q&A with Premcar CEO Bernie Quinn Many of the long-standing OEMs are trying to adjust and transform their companies in what is now an extremely competitive new-car market that's been changed mainly by new Chinese brands coming in at lower prices. It's important for them to create product-based differences or advantages and helping them achieve these is where we focus our business development energies. How does a new brand differentiate itself in such a crowded auto market like Australia's? I touched on this in my last answer. I think the best way to achieve a point of difference is to create a product-based advantage, which means that you create a new car that your target customers can really enjoy because it accurately meets the needs of their lifestyle, and they can drive away in that car from the showroom. And it's not just offering the right new cars that's critical. Another big point of difference is offering the right aftersales backup. You can see a number of long-standing OEMs are actively marketing that they have authorised dealerships across the country, which implies lots of easy-to-access parts and service support, and very long new-car warranties. All of this is clearly about trust, and that can take time. Does the influx of new Chinese car brands give you more opportunities? Yes, it does, because we can help them behind the scenes with the technical refinements that consumers rarely ever see but can experience when they drive their new car. Expert Insights: Q&A with Premcar CEO Bernie Quinn Making new cars more suitable for local consumers is a great way to reach more new-car buyers. But it's not just the new brands that are offering great opportunities for Premcar. Many of the long-standing car brands are taking the same approach because this new level of market competition is driving brands to look for specific product-based advantages. Do you have the capability to do right-hand drive remanufacturing and can we expect any such projects? Yes, we've done them in the past. We've done them from both an engineering design point of view and a manufacturing point of view. So yes, we can do them on a drive-in, drive-out basis. There's nothing I can talk about right now, but the simple answer is yes, we can do them, and it's quite likely at some stage you'll see something about this from Premcar. Given Premcar's experience with performance vehicles, could we see enhanced vehicles from your firm that aren't utes? One hundred per cent. Absolutely. The majority of my career was spent doing high-performance sports sedans and a lot of the Premcar team have the same career history. All of those capabilities still remain and they can easily be applied to make some awesome new vehicles. There's a new Nissan Patrol coming. Have you spoken with Nissan about giving it the Warrior treatment? We've spoken. What can I tell you about it? Well, not much at the moment. However, I think that vehicle is ideally suited to the Warrior treatment and I can't wait to get my hands on one. What else is Premcar currently working on? I think the biggest opportunity that has taken my time of late is the expansion of the Warrior brand and the expansion of Premcar into other markets outside Australia. I'm expecting big growth in the Australian part of our business, but also the same growth, if not bigger, on some international projects. It's a thrill to take our Aussie-owned and Aussie-based company out into the wide world. This is where my job gets really exciting. Content originally sourced from: Newsletters & Alerts View all Daily Your morning news Today's top stories curated by our news team. Also includes evening update. As it happens Public Service News Don't miss updates on news about the Public Service. Weekdays The lunch break Grab a quick bite of today's latest news from around the region and the nation. Weekdays The evening wrap Catch up on the news of the day and unwind with great reading for your evening. Weekly Subscriber Only Note from the Editor Get the editor's insights: what's happening & why it matters. Weekly What's On Going out or staying in? Find out what's on. Daily Sport The latest news, results & expert analysis. Daily Subscriber Only Early Look At David Pope Your exclusive preview of David Pope's latest cartoon. Weekly Times Reader's Panel Join our weekly poll for Canberra Times readers. 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USA Today
2 days ago
- Sport
- USA Today
Falcons RB Bijan Robinson deemed 2025 MVP candidate by NFL.com
Third-year Falcons running back Bijan Robinson listed as MVP candidate ahead of 2025 NFL season It's been nine years since a member of the Atlanta Falcons last won the league MVP. Former Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan took home the award in 2016 following his remarkable season. Ryan passed for 4,944 yards, 38 touchdowns and seven touchdowns while leading the team to a division title and eventual berth in the Super Bowl. As Atlanta prepares for the start of training camp next week, a different player has emerged in the MVP conversation. Not only was third-year running back Bijan Robinson our choice for the team's most valuable non-quarterback, but now has taken it a step further by listing Robinson as the Falcons' top MVP candidate for 2025. Bijan Robinson named MVP candidate by Some will disagree with this choice, and given that only three running backs have won an MVP award since 2001 (and none since 2012), history is on my skeptics' side. Look at Saquon Barkley last year -- he racked up 2,283 yards from scrimmage, registered just the ninth 2,000-yard rushing season in league annals … and finished third in the balloting. It's going to take a Barkley-esque yardage total and 20-plus TDs, I suspect, for Robinson to be a serious candidate. But I like his chances better right now than those of Michael Penix Jr., a talented but unproven quarterback. He's probably capable of a Joe Burrow-like Year 2, but expecting that level of individual success is just a big leap for me at the moment. -- Eric Edholm, As Edholm pointed out, the league MVP is almost always awarded to the NFL's top quarterback. Bills quarterback Josh Allen won the award last season despite there being two worthy running backs in Saquon Barkley and Derrick Henry. For Robinson to secure the award, he would need to have one of the best seasons in NFL history, and the Falcons would probably have to win their division. The former top-10 pick certainly has a nose for the end zone, scoring 23 total touchdowns over his first two NFL seasons. Robinson could realistically flirt with the 2,000-yard rushing milestone next year as well. However, there are so many factors outside of Robinson's control that it's hard to see him winning MVP this season. If the Falcons go out and dominate, though, don't be surprised to see Penix in the mix. Atlanta officially reports for training camp on July 23. The first of the team's 11 open practices begins on July 24. Make sure to check out our latest 53-man roster projection for the Falcons ahead of the 2025 season.


Fox Sports
2 days ago
- Sport
- Fox Sports
2025 NFL Odds: Early Week 1 Best Bets For Chargers-Chiefs, Vikings-Bears
Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025. That date might seem a long way away since many of us are enjoying the warm summer months and burning ample vacation days. Don't you worry, though. NFL games will light up our television screens very, very soon. I'm mostly an underdog bettor in the regular season and am almost magnetically attracted to divisional underdogs in Week 1. And there's just something about a team catching a small number against a public darling. Here are three NFL dogs to consider for opening week. Los Angeles Chargers (+2.5) vs. Kansas City Chiefs To Sao Paulo we go for this Friday night tilt. Las Vegas oddsmakers opened this game just shy of a field goal, and it hasn't budged one bit. There's clearly built-in respect to open a team +2.5 instead of +3, and it's a good sign for the Chargers it hasn't ticked up yet. You might have heard the stat about Patrick Mahomes being 19-4 as a starting quarterback in the month of September and surely, it's not ideal to be on the other side of that. But trends were meant to be broken. I will have my money on Jim Harbaugh and the Bolts as a very live 'dog in Brazil. If you want to hold out for a +3, so be it. PICK: Chargers (+2.5) to lose by fewer than 2.5 points or win outright Atlanta Falcons (+2.5) @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers Please get the best number in this one. BetMGM and DraftKings are dealing Atlanta +2.5, while Pinnacle and South Point are at +1.5, CRIS and SuperBook are +1 and Circa has a pick 'em. I have little sympathy for anybody who bets Falcons PK instead of +2.5. Seriously. All Atlanta hype revolves around second-year quarterback Michael Penix Jr., a southpaw with an absolute rifle under center. The Falcons have been accumulating skill players for years, but they thought Kirk Cousins, off an Achilles injury, was the solution in 2024. Close but no cigar. The market feels some type of way about the Falcons, as some of the world's sharpest shops have already been hit. I loved them taking defensive studs Jalon Walker (Georgia) and James Pearce Jr. (Tennessee) in Round 1. Go grab that +2.5 while you still can. PICK: Falcons (+2.5) to lose by fewer than 2.5 points or win outright Minnesota Vikings (+1.5) @ Chicago Bears After gambling on the NFL Thursday, Friday and Sunday, we get one more crack Monday night between Caleb Williams and J.J. McCarthy. As a native Chicagoan, I need two hands to count the amount of times the Bears won the draft or offseason and expectations were unfairly high all summer. It's not that I don't believe in Williams or new head coach Ben Johnson, I want to be patient with a QB learning another new system. Meanwhile, McCarthy spent his entire rookie season learning Kevin O'Connell's system after tearing his meniscus last August. He'll be playing behind an improved offensive line with Aaron Jones, Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, Rondale Moore and T.J. Hockenson at the skill positions. It's difficult to put a young quarterback in a better spot. Minnesota's 53-man roster is one of the best in the league and I think the Vikings go into Soldier Field and leave with a victory. PICK: Vikings (+1.5) to lose by fewer than 1.5 points or win outright Sam Panayotovich is a sports betting analyst for FOX Sports and the BetMGM Network. He previously worked for WGN Radio, NBC Sports and VSiN. Follow him on Twitter @spshoot. Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account , and follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily! recommended Item 1 of 3 Get more from the National Football League Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more