Articles by Andrew Chesterton

Mitsubishi in Australia says it has its hand in the air for an expanded Pajero family as it plots a new model line that it hopes will elevate it to the upper echelon of off-road brands in this market.

Work has begun on Kia Tasman 2.0, with componentry already undergoing testing in Australia as the brand prepares a mid-life facelift that will likely touch everything from design to powertrains and dynamics.

This might sound a little mean, and I really don’t mean it to, but the new Mitsubishi Pajero is, quite literally, shockingly good when you meet it in person. Shocking because, on paper, it had begun to sound a little like another Mitsubishi roll-the-arm-over special. A platform borrowed from the Mitsubishi Triton, an engine borrowed from the same ute, which was itself borrowed from the previous Triton, such is its vintage. And all from a brand without a known passion for the latest in cabin materials and technology. So it’s a relief to finally encounter the Pajero in person and to discover that any misgivings are unwarranted. On first impressions, at least, this feels like a true return to form for Mitsubishi, and for the iconic Pajero nameplate. Granted, all of our time was spent in the top-spec GSR grade ($84,990), which sports the best stuff, including 20-inch black alloy wheels and the very nice two-tone camel-and-black leather trim, but even the cheapest GLS grade ($68,490) gets plenty of high-tech stuff, including twin 12.3-inch displays and a 12.3-inch driver display. All get an underbody-mounted spare wheel, too. On the price for a second, whether that's a bargain or not depends on how you see the Pajero. It's less than something like a Toyota Prado, but more than other ute-based SUVs like the Ford Everest or Isuzu MU-X. This isn’t an ASX time machine, and nor is it a warmed-over Triton with an SUV body. It feels genuinely fresh, new and modern, and it might just be the best vehicle the brand has launched in years. To know for sure, we’ll have to wait for the official launch later this year, but after our brief off-road sample, the signs are looking good. Mitsubishi made the deviously ingenious decision to have us lap the same off-road circuit twice – once behind the wheel of the old Pajero, and once driving the new one – and the difference was staggering. I liken it to a bit like mobile phones. The first Pajero is a clunky Blackberry, and the new one is an iPhone 18, both will perform the same basic tasks – calls, texts, emails – but the way they achieve those goals is starkly different.  The first Pajero remains capable, but it is a rough, rugged donkey ride up the side of a mountain. The new one, with its clever traction and off-road brain, feels massively more comfortable and luxurious, with the suspension able to soak up so much more punishment before bouncing its occupants around the cabin. The steering, too, feels far more switched-on and responsive, with fewer lock-to-lock turns and far more engagement. It’s as about as comfortable as it gets in the bone-punishing world of off-roading, and I would argue a damn site more pleasant than most dual-cab utes, including the Triton. Off-road purists might stare at you through their beards and tell you that there's something charming, romantic even, about a rough-and-ready analogue 4WD that's now missing from the modern Pajero. But these people like sleeping outside even after the invention of the flushing toilet, and so are not to be listened to. We know already that Mitsubishi has dodged electrification entirely for Pajero, and instead fitted a 2.4-litre single-turbo-diesel four-cylinder engine making 150kW and 480Nm. Despite calling it newly developed, the engine actually dates back to the Triton before the current Triton. There’s a new eight-speed automatic on board, too, and the prerequisite 3.5-tonne towing capacity, along with a fuel use promise of around 7.0 litres per hundred kays. Is that enough power to shift a vehicle this big on a freeway overtake? I have no idea, to be honest. I don’t think I cracked 20km/h on the off-road circuit. Still, the grunt didn’t underwhelm. The Pajero sports Mitsi’s off-road tech, like Super Select 4WD with 4 High and 4 Low with a centre diff lock, along with a separate switch for the rear diff lock, but the track we were on wasn’t challenging enough for us to use all of them. Still, there were places where Pajero old and new both struggled for grip, and the new one found traction sooner, and with less fuss in the cabin. At 4920mm long, 1925mm wide and 1910mm tall, it’s a big unit, and it feels it off-road, where obstacles feel close to the expensive bits of the metal. Helping mitigate that somewhat is the off-road camera that shows you what’s happening outside the car, but that seems to be the only piece of technology that’s been teleported from the past, with the image blurry and underwhelming. Like the mid-grade Exceed, our test GSR is a seven-seat only proposition (though you can opt for five seats in the entry-level GLS), and space in the second row is both ample and comfortable. The seatbacks of the two front seats are home to USB-C charging ports, and there’s a home-style power point between them, which is a great addition, and one you usually only find in electrified vehicles. There’s also rear seat heating in the window seats, and climate settings, too. See what I mean about this feeling more modern than most Mitsubishis? There is a bit of weirdness in the third row, though. Getting in is easy enough – you pull a level and the seat folds flat and forwards, making it easy for my 175cm frame to climb in. Once in though, there are raised portions on the floor of both sides of the cabin, making it impossible to sit with both feet flat and even on the floor, so you end up tilting towards the centre. Adults will hate it, though kids can sit back there easily enough. And kudos to Mitsubishi for blending old and new all over the cabin, and for displaying a real attention to detail, too. The big screens are joined by physical controls for the air-con and volume, for example, and I love the way 'Pajero' has been hot-stamped into the leather in places like on the grab handles. So yes, shockingly good so far. The real test still awaits, but this is looking good for Mitsubishi. Add a 10-year (conditional) warranty and 10 years of capped-price servicing, and the brand could be onto a winner.

Mitsubishi has worked wonders with one of its oldest engine families in the all-new Pajero, with the brand's "newly developed" diesel donk tracing its history back to 2015 and the Triton ute, which launched as the 4N15 engine. In that model, the 2.4-litre single-turbodiesel produced a then-impressive 133kW and 430Nm, but when the new Triton arrived in 2023, the engine code became 4N16, and two-stage turbocharging was added, upping outputs to 150kW and 470Nm. And now, in Pajero guise, the brand has returned to single turbocharging, though still managing to increase maximum torque to 480Nm. It's a decade-plus run for one of the brand's most well-known engine families, and it seems history will soon repeat with the Triton almost certain to adopt Pajero power from its next update. "It's a new generation of the 4N16, and the main thing is to be able to comply with Euro 6D regulations. And then also, the other reason that happened is to be able to pair that engine with the 8-speed transmission," says Rob Pinedo, Pajero Product Manager, who also confirms the same core engine has now powered two generations of Triton and one of Pajero. Asked whether the facelifted Triton would feature the same engine, Mr Pinedo replied: "That may happen". "There's going to be a point in time where every car you sell, every new car you sell, then has to comply with Euro 6D," he says. If that engine sounds like the one old-fashioned part of the Pajero story, it shouldn't. After a brief off-road drive we felt the combination of a smooth eight-speed transmission, what must be a ton of insulation and sound-deadening, and the light bump in torque makes the Pajero's engine feel far fresher and more smooth than even the dual-stage turbo equivalent in the Triton. It's a big moment for Mitsubishi in Australia. The brand hasn't had much to crow about in the past few years, but the return of the Pajero nameplate is a significant moment. "I've been working for Mitsubishi for 35 years, and I'm very much a Mitsubishi person," says Shunichi Kihara, Mitsubishi Australia CEO.  "Therefore, to see the return of this iconic name in our lineup is super, super exciting. And the product itself is also very encouraging. We believe that Pajero has a lot of strengths and features and character, so having this iconic name with that level of product competitiveness is a very, very exciting moment."

Mitsubishi says its new ASX VR-e EV will be aimed more at legacy manufacturers than cheaper Chinese brands, and says it believes buyers will see the value in the brand's legacy and network. That's the word from Tim Clarke, Mitsubishi's Product Strategy Manager, who says the car that is being built in Taiwan in partnership with iPhone manufacturer Foxconn will be banking on his brand's history in Australia to justify what is likely to be a higher price than some rivals. Australian pricing is yet to be confirmed, but for context, the model has been priced in New Zealand, and spans NZ$57,990($47,050) to NZ$72,990($59,220) for the flagship GSR. "We are focused on the value proposition. So what do you get for the money that we think it should be sold for, and making sure that that's competitive amongst the market that it operates in," Clarke says. "And with this product in particular, it doesn't fit well in the small SUV category (in terms of space), even though that's where it will be counted. How do we communicate that, and leverage that, and who will that appeal to? "It's been a really interesting process for us as we've understood the product, as we've learned more about it. "So for the vehicle's content and the overall ownership experience, which we include the 10/10 warranty and the network as well, what's the value of that? "It is a pretty challenging question to put a number on it. But we do that internally and we position it accordingly. And we think versus all the vehicles that you might cross-shop it against in medium SUV, small SUV, passenger – it's a lot of different segments that we arrived at -- the value proposition is where we want it to be." Asked if he believed Australian buyers were willing to pay a premium for legacy and dealership footprint rather than opt for a cheaper newcomer Chinese brand, Mr Clarke replied: "Yeah, definitely. We think it has value for us." The VR-e will launch in Australia this year, and will arrive with four trim levels – LS, Aspire, Exceed and GSR.  All share the same 57.7kWh LFP battery, and all but the GSR get a single, rear-mounted electric motor delivering 171kW and 350Nm. Stepping up to the GSR earns you a second front-mounted motor, which not only ups the grunt to 342kW and 700Nm, but its 3.9-second sprint to 100km/h makes it the fastest production Mitsubishi ever sold in Australia.

Mazda's long-awaited 2.5-litre petrol-hybrid engine won't just power the CX-5, but will find its way into the brand's larger products, like the CX-70 and CX-90, when the in-house-developed Skyactiv-Z hybrid set-up arrives next year. Mazda has been chasing its own hybrid solution globally for some time – in the US, the CX-50 Hybrid used a system borrowed from the Toyota RAV4 – and the launch is finally nearing, with 2027 earmarked for the engine to arrive. The first port of call will be the already-confirmed Mazda CX-5 Hybrid, but new reports suggest the engine will then be quickly fitted to other Mazda SUVs, including the CX-60, CX-70, CX-80 and CX-90. In Australia, those models can be had with a choice of 3.3-litre petrol or diesel, both fitted with a 48-volt mild hybrid system. And both models have struggled for sales traction in Australia this year – the 70 has found just 182 buyers, while the 90 has found 470 homes. The CX-5, for contrast, has sold 15,273 units. The CX-60 (3566 sales) and CX-80 (1,931 sales) both offer the additional option of a 2.5-litre plug-in hybrid powertrain. That sales result is reflected overseas, and especially in America, where fresh reports have emerged that those models could now borrow the CX-5's powertrain to boost sales. The brand has flagged the expansion in its latest Integrated Report, where its English translation reads: "We will also expand HEVs to four models", before later revealing a roadmap for its in-house hybrid that says it is "considering deployment of component technologies to large models". Mazda has previously flagged the importance of developing its own technology, including in the EV space, rather than relying on partnerships. "If we don't do anything at all...we're going to end up becoming a company which will purchase technology. If we do that, we'll have no value as a Mazda brand," Hiroshi Ozawa, Mazda's Technological Strategy Officer, has told CarsGuide.

From Australia's most slow-and-steady car brand to two major launches – at opposite ends of the segment spectrum – in a matter of months, Mitsubishi is entering a new era. And while the reborn Pajero will steal most of the headlines, it's the Mitsubishi ASX VR-e that is arguably the more interesting model, given it will be one of the most globe-trotting EVs to launch in Australia this year. The small SUV (4315mm/1535mm/1885mm) was developed by Foxtron, the auto division of Taiwanese iPhone manufacturer Foxconn (the ASX VR-e is known as the Foxtron Bria in other markets). It was designed by famed Italian auto styling house Pininfarina. It was tuned and tested at the Lang Lang Proving Ground in Victoria. And it will be badged and sold by Mitsubishi in Australia. There's little doubt what the VR-e represents for Mitsubishi. The brand was among the first to the EV market with the ahead-of-its-time i-MiEV way back in 2010, before pivoting to a plug-in hybrid strategy that it's stuck to ever since. This is step one of its fight back in the EV space. To do it, it turned to Foxtron and the Bria, which, when it arrives in Australia later this year wearing the VR-e badge, will launch in four trim levels – LS, Aspire, Exceed and GSR. All share the same 57.7kWh LFP battery, and all but the GSR get a single, rear-mounted electric motor delivering 171kW and 350Nm. Stepping up to the GSR earns you a second front-mounted motor, which not only ups the grunt to 342kW and 700Nm, but its 3.9-second sprint to 100km/h makes it the fastest production Mitsubishi ever sold in Australia. Charging is less impressive, with DC charging capped at 134kW, and AC limited to 6.6kW.  All were tuned at the Lang Lang Proving Ground in Victoria where Mitsubishi engineers laid out their ride and handling requirements for Australian conditions. "This collaborative process resulted in suspension and steering upgrades and tuning, creating a unique Mitsubishi-ness on the Foxtron platform and improved ride and handling on Australian road conditions," says Tim Clarke, Mitsubishi's Product Strategy Manager.  One thing it won't be, however, is cheap. While Mitsubishi is yet to detail pricing, the brand told CarsGuide it considers its newest model a rival for legacy brands, rather than cut-price Chinese newcomers, and that Mitsubishi's legacy and dealership network would go some way to offsetting any price premium. In New Zealand, the VR-e opens at NZ$57,990 (A$47,050), and climbs to a substantial $NZ72,990 (A$59,220) for the flagship GSR. "We understand that the current EV market in Australia is very competitive. When we price this vehicle, of course we are looking at the broader range of competitors, and we evaluate our product strengths, and our brand strengths as well, including the after-sales network strengths," says Shunichi Kihara, Mitsubishi Australia CEO. "So with all those elements considered, we will finalise our pricing, and we will announce it very soon. We don't necessarily say this is a rival to a particular brand, but... we think our primary target is more like a legacy automaker. So using all those considerations, we can finalise the pricing." The 2026 Mitsubishi ASX VR-e specifications include: ASX VR-e LS Single-motor, rear-wheel drive 18-inch alloy wheels Five-stage regenerative braking adjustment (including full single pedal mode Flush door handles Black/grey cloth seat trim Six-way driver seat manual adjustment Four-way passenger seat manual adjustment 2nd row 60/40 split fold flat Rear parking sensors Rear-view monitor Dual-zone climate control Six-speaker audio 57.7 kWh LFP battery CCS2 DC Charging – maximum 134 kW Type 2 AC Charging – maximum 6.6 kW Vehicle to load (V2L) via external Type 2 AC charging port LED headlights with auto high beam  LED daytime running lamps LED tail-lights 9.2-inch Digital Driver Display 15.6-inch multimedia touchscreen Wireless CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity ASX VR-e Aspire Automatic flush door handles Black artificial leather seat trim Eight-way driver seat power adjustment Driver seat memory Driver seat heating and cooling Four-way passenger seat power adjustment Passenger seat heating and cooling 64-colour interior ambient lighting Front trunk with electric bonnet release Adjustable height rear cargo floor Adaptive high beam Six front parking sensors Six rear parking sensors Surround-view monitor with 360-degree camera Autonomous parking ASX VR-e Exceed 20-inch two-tone alloy wheels Panoramic glass roof Electric tailgate with hands-free operation 12-speaker SEAS sound system ASX VR-e GSR Dual-motor all-wheel drive Black artificial leather with microsuede seat trim Blue stitching on seats Two-tone paint

I don’t think I’ve ever been able to say this about a car before, but I can pretty much guarantee that at some point in the not-too-distant future, you will find yourself sitting in this new Tesla Model 3, whether you want to or not. Just not necessarily in the driver’s seat. This is the Tesla Model 3 Rear-Wheel Drive, the brand’s newest model and one that arrived after the existing range was stamped with a new 'Premium' tag, opening the door for this entry-level model to sit below. Tesla says this is what its version of affordability looks like, and that it expects this model to be a runaway hit with rideshare drivers – which is why you’ll definitely be sitting in one at some point – given it undercuts even its Chinese competition with a sharp $45,900 price tag, before on-road costs. For the record, the next cheapest model in the Tesla family is the Model 3 Premium, which starts $9.0K above this model, at $54,900. That is a sizeable saving. And it’s cheaper than the BYD Seal Dynamic ($49,888), Kia EV4 ($50,040) and Mazda 6e ($49,990). Before we get to all the driving stuff, let’s cover just how Tesla was able to shave the better part of 10 grand off its cheapest model, especially given — from the outside, at least — this still very much looks like a Model 3. Step one is the tyres, with the Hankooks or Michelins usually preferred by Tesla swapped out for cheaper Giti rubber, which comes from China. The 18-inch wheels themselves now wear new black aero covers. But that’s the only sizeable change outside, with the Model 3 still sporting a glass roof and LED lighting. Inside, though, the changes are more noticeable. The seats front and back are now mostly cloth (though they’re still heated up front), and the screen for rear-seat riders has been deleted. There are no floor mats included, and the door trims are a harder plastic. There’s also no cabin ambient interior lighting, with interior lights confined to the footwell, and there are now only seven speakers. Perhaps the weirdest delete, though, is the electric seat controls, which are usually knobs attached to the lower left- or right-hand side of each front seat. The seats are still electric, only now they’re controlled through the central screen. Deleting the plastic knobs must have saved Tesla about 80 cents. But it all adds up, I guess. Like other Teslas, there’s a five-year unlimited-kilometre warranty on the vehicle itself, while the battery is covered for eight years or 160,000km. And Tesla has joined the V2L (Vehicle-to-Load) party with what the brand calls Power Share, which means you can plug in to the vehicle’s battery to run or power up your devices. You will need an adaptor, though. Finally, it also shares the rest of the range’s maximum five-star ANCAP rating. Would you pay $9.0K for better seats, more speakers, more interior lighting and a rear screen for the kids? I know I wouldn’t. Tesla is annoyingly mysterious when it comes to the technical specification of its vehicles. I don’t know of any other brands that will take your money but won’t tell you what you’re actually buying. But there is some crucial stuff we do know. This Model 3 will travel an impressive 572km between charges, and will reportedly clip 100km in 6.2 seconds on its way to a licence-shredding top speed of 201km/h. That’s more than 50km in extra range than you get in the more expensive Premium version, but down on the huge 750km range offered in the Model 3 Long Range. Apart from that, we think it's single electric motor makes up to 208kW, and that the battery on board is a 63kWh Lithium-Ferro-Phosphate (LFP) unit. Charging is thought to be up to 130kW DC. Like the new Model Y, Tesla has largely fixed the annoyances that plagued earlier versions of the Model 3, namely too-sharp steering and a too-harsh ride. But before we get to that, there is something refreshingly seamless about the way this Model 3 operates. Not all of its tech is unique, but the way it operates without making you want to strangle whoever designed it increasingly is. Lots of brands offer mobile-phone keys and get-in-and-go access, for example, but Tesla’s is seamless. The credit-card key access is clunky — often requiring several goes on the sensor before the door unlocks — but approach with your phone in your pocket and you’re in and moving without any delay. I’m even getting used to the digital gear selector, which now lives on the 16-inch central screen. You swipe forwards for Drive, backwards for Reverse, and tap for Park, but the Model 3 can also predict the gear you need based on your steering inputs. So, if you’re reversing with the wheel locked left, for example, then turn the wheel to the right, it assumes you want to move forwards and will automatically select Drive for you. I hated it at first, but now it’s weirdly intuitive. Less helpful is having to access the screen to activate everyday driving functions like with windscreen wipers. A minimalist interior is fine, but not if it makes the drive experience more annoying. Elsewhere, though, the Model 3 is easy and familiar. The steering is direct but doesn’t feel darty or overreactive, and the ride on its 18-inch alloy wheels is pretty good on all but the dodgiest of Sydney road surfaces. You never feel like you’re sitting on top of, rather than in, the Model 3, which is a good thing. Nor does the damping give you that kind of soft, bouncy and busy ride you can find in some newcomer EVs. That is, of course, if you choose to drive it at all. This cheapest of Model 3s can be had with Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (Supervised) for an extra $149 per month. This is the new V14 version, too, which is the first that I’ve really liked.  Whether this is the Model 3 for you or not all boils down to how much you enjoy the finer things in life. But buy it or not, you will be riding in one at some point. I can see Australia's ride-share fleet booming with these cut-price EVs in the very near future.

Isuzu says it will look to trade emissions credits with other manufacturers and attempt to share the extra cost between dealers, its local head office and its international HQ to keep selling the diesel D-Max and MU-X in Australia without jacking up prices. The brand is in a tough spot when it comes to the federal government's New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES) in Australia, with two models sharing diesel engines, and no form of electrification either here or coming in the immediate future. But it also says the segments it competes in – namely the ute and off-road SUV spaces – aren’t embracing electrification, even if it had powertrains to offer. That leaves it with little option but to buy credits from other lower-emitting manufacturers. Part of the government’s NVES policy is that manufacturers who exceed their fleet emission target end in credit, while those who miss theirs end with a deficit, but brands can trade to balance their ledgers. “The strategy is that we’ll do everything we can to make the impact as low as possible on the end user,”  says  Rod Caldwell, Executive General Manager - MD Office and Internal Audit Office. “If that means we need to buy credits, we're not saying that we won't do that. "If that means that it protects the consumer from any excessive price increases or whatever, but it gives them the lowest impact, then that's what we'll do. Some brands say they won't, we're saying that's an option we will seriously consider.” Caldwell says the brand would attempt to share any cost increases across the vehicle suppliers, rather than pass them onto the customer, though he concedes that might not be entirely possible. “We're trying to trim expenses at the same time, and we've got a number of parties involved in our process,” he says. “We've got the manufacturer, we've got our owner, we've got us. So we’ve all got a job to do to make sure that the customer doesn't have to wear the brunt of it.  “We want to minimise the impact. We will have to absorb some, the factory will have to absorb some. At the end of the day, the factory is the one responsible for the penalty, not us, but we've got to come to an arrangement on how we share this burden. “It's not going to be long term. We are going to have new technology in the future, for sure.”

Australia’s obsession with ride and handling is proving a secret weapon for one Chinese car maker, with Australian preferences and know-how set to be exported to the world. That’s the word from GWM, who took tuning its cars for Australian conditions so seriously that it took a near-12 month residency at Lang Lang (Holden’s old proving ground), and recruited Holden tuning ace Rob Trubiani to lead its local ride and handling program. What began as essentially tuning the components supplied by China has evolved into something far more in-depth for Trubiani and his team, who says he’s been overwhelmed by the response to his feedback from GWM’s global HQ. “They're very receptive to the stuff that we're doing, and they've been very positive about it,” Trubiani says. “We can tweak the components that we've got, but we're also now having input into changing stuff if we want to. “It's not that we're doing it right and they’re not. Each market is different. That's what drives our changes, right, our market is different to the China market, which is different to other regions. “We are developing the car for our market specifically, but I've also got a lot of experience in global tuning work and global development from my past days. So, we can leverage that experience.” It’s a thought echoed by GWM Chief Operating Officer, John Kett, who says the local engineering work has been so well received it is now being folded into the manufacturing process, meaning cars arrive in Australia with Trubiani’s tuning requirements baked in. “We're getting further and further up the engineering supply chain, meaning we'll get to the point where many of them now just come straight out of the chute ready to go,” Kett says. Trubiani is now influencing global supply chain choices for future products, with the models now just destined for Australia, but potentially for several global markets, too. "There are cars that Rob has already driven six, eight, 12 months before they're due to be released in China," says GWM Head Of Marketing & Communication, Steve Maciver. "And he said, 'no, this isn't, we need this, we need that'. The supply chain in those cars, Rob is influencing. "Brazil has expressed an interest in taking it. (And) once we did Tech Day last year, we had Pakistan, we had Russia, we had a few other markets looking at what Rob's doing. We certainly know from the Head Office R&D and engineering perspective, they're very, very keen on what Rob's doing. "Rob's probably giving a Western view to a company that's got global ambitions."