Articles by Andrew Chesterton

Andrew Chesterton
Contributing Journalist

CarsGuide contributing journalist Andrew Chesterton is an award-winning Australian automotive reporter with more than 20 years of experience across newspapers, magazines, digital publishing and automotive corporate communications.

Andrew began his journalism career at Sydney’s The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph, reporting across business, courts, crime, property and state politics before moving into automotive journalism.

He joined Top Gear Australia as its online editor in 2008, later being appointed editor of Top Gear New Zealand. He subsequently worked as an assistant editor during the Australian launch of the Daily Mail Australia, and as communications manager at FCA Australia, now Stellantis.

His experience on both sides of the media industry gives him an unrivalled understanding of the automotive industry, and the relationship between car manufacturers, the media, and Australian consumers.

Andrew’s work has appeared across leading automotive, news, business, luxury, travel and lifestyle publications, including CarsGuide, EV Central, DMARGE, The Sydney Morning Herald, Marie Claire, Top Gear, GQ Australia, The Australian, WISH Magazine, Boss Hunting, The West Australian, The Nightly, Women’s Day Australia, Carsales, NRMA, Men’s Health, CEO Magazine, Australian Financial Review and more.  

Andrew specialises in industry news, vehicle reviews, policy,  performance and luxury cars, electric vehicles, automotive technology, EVs hybrid and plug-in hybrids, and the broader Australian new-car marketplace.

In 2025, Andrew was named Newspress Australia News Journalist of the Year and was a finalist for the overall Journalist of the Year award.

Earlier honours include Website of the Year wins at the Australian Magazine Awards and ACP Awards, the ACP Rising Star Award and recognition in the Bauer Media and News Ltd journalism awards.

Expertise

  • Electric, hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles
  • Performance, luxury and supercars
  • New-car reviews and road testing
  • Australian automotive industry and new-car sales
  • Chinese automotive brands and emerging manufacturers
  • Utes, SUVs and family vehicles
  • Automotive technology
  • Policy

Awards

  • 2025 Newspress Australia News Journalist of the Year

Featured Publications

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.

Massive range expansion for Isuzu D-Max
By Andrew Chesterton · 26 Nov 2021
The Isuzu D-Max family is set to expand in Australia from December 1, with new variants, a new smaller engine option and a heap of new features arriving to usher in the 2022 model year
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Look out LC300! GWM Tank trademarked for Oz
By Andrew Chesterton · 25 Nov 2021
Great Wall Motors has trademarked its off-road focused Tank brand for Australia, unlocking access to models that could target everything from the LC300 to the Toyota LandCruiser Prado.
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The most powerful Prado ever is coming!
By Andrew Chesterton · 24 Nov 2021
Toyota is reportedly prepping the most powerful Prado ever for launch in August next year, with updated version of the super-popular SUV to adopt the thumping V6 diesel from the LandCruiser 300 Series.It's a huge step up from the current (and ageing) Prad
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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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