Publication
West meets East
Chinese carmakers arrived in full force at the 2026 Paris Motor Show with a wave of new models and high-tech gadgets as Europe’s automotive giants fight to keep pace. More than 20 Chinese brands had stands at the show, roughly double the number at the...
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On the starting line
At any given time, there are two car-loving wolves fighting inside me. The first can recognise the proliferation of electric and hybrid vehicles as an overall positive thing. It knows that the days of petrol-guzzling cars are numbered, and feels...
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The taste of Tokyo
Australians are obsessed with Japan. Just look at the tourist numbers. Last year, for the first time in history, more than a million of us visited Japan. Every time I open Instagram, someone I know seems to be sitting in an onsen, walking through...
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A rallying cry
Your four-wheel-drive hates you. It’s sitting there, in front of your home, preparing to idle in traffic or do the school run, same as always. But your vehicle dreams of more. It longs to get its boots muddy, sandy, wet or sliding across some of...
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Backing ‘n’ Forthing
Australian drivers are frothing for a Forthing, otherwise the latest budget contender from China wouldn’t be here. That’s the view of the bloke in charge of making a company stand out in an increasingly croweded market. Shaun Garrard, national manager...
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In the black and blue
Like a boxer knocked to the mat before rejoining the fight, Ford has bounced back from a tough month and come up swinging. Having lost its place on the sales podium to China’s BYD – perhaps forever – the blue oval was beaten in the charts by Great Wall...
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Amarok and roll performance
You have to feel for anyone releasing a ute in Australia right now. In an ocean of big, blokey dual cabs, how can one possibly stand out? The market is so crowded, it’s impossible to cut through the noise. Most manufacturers are trying to compete on...
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The heat Zeekr
There’s a quiet storm brewing for Australia’s established luxury car makers. A fast-rising premium contender has offered an early look at its next major local offensive, taking customers to a snow-covered New Zealand proving ground to showcase three...
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In their element
Like a lot of people, I’ve been baffled by the proliferation of dual cab utes in Australia. They’re a nuisance in suburbia. They clog up carparks and bully smaller cars on the road. Unless you were a tradie, I thought you’d be mad to buy one. But four...
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No small matter
When Geely arrived in Australia with its first car, the EX5, it shocked the nation with a seriously competitive price. Now the Chinese carmaker has done it again with the smaller EX2, a pint-sized electric hatch that is a sales juggernaut overseas. In...
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Back on the wagon
The humble station wagon used to be a default family car for Australians. Before the SUV boom, wagons filled suburban driveways, hauled kids to school and swallowed everything from camping gear to school bags and the family dog. But they have slowly...
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Back from the brink
Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, XPeng has emerged from the brink of failure with promises of new success. The brand came within a whisker of failing in Australia under a small locally-led importing operation. Now it is back in business with the...
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Chauffeur of desert racing
Defender’s high-riding wagon is exactly the sort of car you expect to find on a magnificent property such as the Goodwood Estate in England. It’s easy to imagine the Duke of Richmond climbing aboard his British four-wheel-drive to survey neatly...
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A flat battery
Check the weather, because it seems hell has frozen over. There’s an electric Toyota HiLux, and it’s available for anyone to buy. But this is definitely not an appealing mainstream option. And Toyota itself freely admits that, claiming the HiLux BEV is...
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A near perfect shock
You could easily save almost $30,000 and buy a Chinese plug-in hybrid SUV instead of the Toyota RAV4 PHEV. Yes. Thirty large. And hey, if budget is your priority, then go right ahead. But in bypassing Toyota’s firstever PHEV option in Australia, you’d...
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Brave new world
Life’s going to be hard for the new Subaru Trailseeker EV. Not because it’s a rubbish electric vehicle – far from it – but because chunkily-priced EVs from long-trusted brands simply aren’t doing great business. Lobbing a Subaru Outback-sized electric...
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From Australia, with love
It’s fair to say Australians are considered to be a friendly lot. Anthropologists, sociologists and other people with much bigger brains than mine surely have theories about why this is the case. But I’ve always thought it was a welcome side effect of...
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A quantum leap ahead
Abrand’s identity is crucial to how it connects with customers. And for a new carmaker, its country of origin carries enormous weight. Many people equate Japanese cars with reliability. American? Muscle. German? Engineering. But when we think Chinese,...
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A return to form
Having learned to drive in the original Mazda CX-5, I can confidently say it played a huge part in my confidence behind the wheel. Back in 2013, the CX-5 offered Mazda customers a family wagon with sports-car-like handling, a cabin that felt a cut...
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The speed of light
The automotive world stopped when Ferrari unveiled the Luce, its first electric car. Industry insiders were curious to see how a company that led the way for so many elements – racing, turbochargers, hybrids, driver assistance, materials and more –...
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Reinventing the wheel
Kia hasn’t just updated the Seltos. It has dismantled and started again, building a whole new car. New platform, new powertrain, new interior, new dimensions. The result is a car that shares a name with its predecessor and almost nothing else. For...
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The back seat driver
It’s hard to be bored while carving through Barcelona’s countryside. The scenery is captivating and the winding, sometimes narrow roads take concentration to navigate. This car – Volvo’s new electric vehicle the EX60 – isn’t a yawn either. But, in the...
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Trading places
Australian ute fans are spoiled for choice with new models coming from all around the globe. Here we’ve got three of the latest from Japan, China, and Korea. NISSAN NAVARA The Japanese car industry has been doing it tough, and the new Nissan Navara...
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An electric shock
Meet the car that will encourage you to be a hoon. Hyundai’s all-new Ioniq 6 N is literally designed to look for corners that might be fun to drive at speed and entices you to put your foot down. And that’s just one of several groundbreaking, hi-tech...
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Where big is beautiful
The biggest car show on Earth focused on bigger cars in 2026. And when I say big, I’m talking about an exhibition space almost equivalent to almost 1500 tennis courts – approximately 380,000 square metres – and it needed to be so large as many of the...
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Nissan in action
Nissan is fighting back from the brink of disaster by trimming slow-selling cars and pivoting to new metal from China. Chief executive Ivan Espinosa made it clear that the business was in a very dark place before he took the helm 12 months ago, and...
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Magnificent green
There’s no such thing as the perfect car, but the MG4 Urban may be the perfectly timed car. As fuel prices soar and interest in electric vehicles (EVs) spike, MG has managed to introduce an affordable, electric small car just when that’s what many...
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Hatching a budget EV
Another day, another electric vehicle from China. Thankfully, though, this isn’t another larger SUV with a price tag in the $60K range. Instead, the new GAC Aion UT hatchback is about the size of a Corolla, and it costs less than that petrol-electric...
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Stretching the relationship
Elon-gated. There’ve been a few Elon-gate moments in this brand’s career, but for new-car customers, this is possibly the most important, literal take on that. That’s because the Tesla Model Y L is exactly that – a stretched out version of the standard...
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Timed to perfection
This may be the most perfectly timed launch of a new car in the history of the automobile in Australia. As Australian motorists start to feel the squeeze from rising fuel prices and start to give electric vehicles a closer look, one of Europe’s most...
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Have you driven a Ford lately?
Ford’s chief executive has touched down in Australia on a fact-finding mission: How to win against the Chinese. Blue Oval President Jim Farley is in the country to speak with Australian Ford owners and dealers, haul the new Ranger Super Duty over bush...
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It’s one for the money
This car has to deliver. Hyundai’s Elexio is the latest in a run of electric machines that n eed to step up in order for the company to keep offering customers a broad choice of vehicles. The government’s New Vehicle Efficiency Standard essentially...
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The grand prize
Nothing on four wheels feels faster than this. The Albert Park circuit, home of the Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix, is staggering to drive at speed. I’m incredibly fortunate to have enjoyed a few lifetimes’ worth of driving thrills, from world-famous...
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Building a premium dream
Denza, BYD’s new premium brand, is displaying the kind of optimism seen from the White House’s Orange Man. This Chinese newbie wants to challenge Lexus and Land Rover sales figures this year, then climb the prestige ladder to ankle-tap Audi before...
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Out of the box
Subaru has reinvented the wheel with the newgeneration Outback. For 30 years this model has been a high-riding wagon in design, even if it has become boxier and SUV-like over its first six generations. This seventh-gen model marks the biggest...
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The price is right
BYD has shifted from a name most Australian car buyers had never heard of to one of the fastest-growing brands on the road. And 2026 is shaping up as its most aggressive year yet. With a bunch of new models landing in Australia at prices designed to...
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If you can’t beat them …
Established car makers are turning to China for reinforcements as a wave of new brands floods the car market. Around one in five new cars sold in Australia comes from China. Many are from the nation’s own car industry – built by brands such as BYD, MG,...
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Competition is heating up
Testing a car during a heatwave is a timely reminder that electric cars are cool. Opening the door to a sedan parked in the sun feels like cracking the door of an oven to check on the progress of a Sunday roast. And being branded by a metal seat belt...
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The Bull Oval
Ford’s Formula 1 partnership with Red Bull is about more than a fifth world championship for Max Verstappen, or an uptick in vehicle sales for the blue oval. It’s about being able to see the future, working with the brightest minds in the automotive...
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Year of the chariot
Australians are set to be spoiled for choice in 2026 with a broad array of new machines on the way in coming months. Here’s a run-down of the new metal you will find on the road this year. NEW BRANDS We welcomed more than a few new names in 2025 -...
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