Articles by Andrew Chesterton

Andrew Chesterton
Contributing Journalist

Andrew Chesterton should probably hate cars. From his hail-damaged Camira that looked like it had spent a hard life parked at the end of Tiger Woods' personal driving range, to the Nissan Pulsar Reebok that shook like it was possessed by a particularly mean-spirited demon every time he dared push past 40km/h, his personal car history isn't exactly littered with gold.

But that seemingly endless procession of rust-savaged hate machines taught him something even more important; that cars are more than a collection of nuts, bolts and petrol. They're your ticket to freedom, a way to unlock incredible experiences, rolling invitations to incredible adventures. They have soul.

And so, somehow, the car bug still bit. And it bit hard.

When "Chesto" started his journalism career with News Ltd's Sunday and Daily Telegraph newspapers, he covered just about everything, from business to real estate, courts to crime, before settling into state political reporting at NSW Parliament House.

But the automotive world's siren song soon sounded again, and he begged anyone who would listen for the opportunity to write about cars. Eventually they listened, and his career since has seen him filing car news, reviews and features for TopGear, Wheels, Motor and, of course, CarsGuide, as well as many, many others.

More than a decade later, and the car bug is yet to relinquish its toothy grip. And if you ask Chesto, he thinks it never will.

Note: The author, Andrew Chesterton, is a co-owner of Smart As Media, a content agency and media distribution service with a number automotive brands among its clients. When producing content for CarsGuide, he does so in accordance with the CarsGuide Editorial Guidelines and Code of Ethics, and the views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.

Toyota's massive GR Corolla hint!
By Andrew Chesterton · 24 Nov 2021
Toyota's social media team in the USA has already been responsible for some of the biggest GR Corolla hints to date, but they've just outdone themselves with an Instagram post that invites you to crack the secret code surrounding the brand's incoming Hyun
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How much money do the big auto brands make?
By Andrew Chesterton · 21 Nov 2021
The big Japanese brands' profit forecasts have been revealed, with the impacts of the coronavirus not enough to derail profits for some of the world's biggest auto manufacturers.
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Is this China's craziest ute yet?
By Andrew Chesterton · 20 Nov 2021
Great Wall, or GWM, has unveiled what might be China's craziest ute yet, with a new wide-body, low-riding Cannon harking a return to the on-street performance once dominated by the V8 utes of Ford and Holden.Billed as a "Supercar Pick-up Concept", and yet
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China has gone ute crazy
By Andrew Chesterton · 18 Nov 2021
China has gone ute crazy, with dual-cab sales booming across the country, and expected to double in the next five years. Chinese buyers took home a whopping 414,000 utes in 2020, and increase from 304,000 in 2015.
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Hyundai goes BIG with Concept Seven
By Andrew Chesterton · 18 Nov 2021
Hyundai is betting big on its all-electric future.
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The first properly hardcore Chinese ute!
By Andrew Chesterton · 16 Nov 2021
GWM has teased the first properly hardcore Chinese ute, promising to unveil what its calls a "supercar pickup truck" at the 2021 Guangzhou Motor Show that's based on the big-selling GWM Cannon Ute.And the sketches look, well, epic.
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What’s the point of ANCAP?
By Andrew Chesterton · 12 Nov 2021
Australia's peak automotive safety body knew, in February this year, that the Great Wall Cannon had underperformed in key areas of its crash-test performance, but allowed the vehicle manufacturer to fix the “safety related deficiencies" before awarding it a five-star ANCAP rating.
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Meet the 2022 GWM King Kong Cannon
By Andrew Chesterton · 11 Nov 2021
Just when you thought the Haval Big Dog was about the most out-there Chinese vehicle name we were likely to encounter this year, in swoops GWM with its new King Kong Cannon which has just been revealed in its home market.
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What about an Australian-made Tesla Model 3?
By Andrew Chesterton · 10 Nov 2021
An Australian-made Tesla could be on the cards as homegrown billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes confirms he's lobbying Elon Musk to bring vehicle and battery manufacturing down under.Speaking on the Energy Insiders podcast, the Atlassian founder and minted mu
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Mitsubishi Outlander Evolution rendered
By Andrew Chesterton · 09 Nov 2021
Mitsubishi is reviving the Ralliart performance badge, and rumours in Japan point to a go-fast version of the Outlander SUV as the first to wear in a new and more hardcore Evolution guise.But rather than wait for Mitsubishi to show us, Russian outlet Kole
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