Articles by Andrew Chesterton

As Hyundai’s game-changing dual-cab ute inches closer, more details of just what to expect from the brand’s answer to the Kia Tasman, Toyota HiLux, Ford Ranger and BYD Shark 6 are beginning to surface.The clock is ticking, though, as a new wave of utes from China wash over the Aussie new car market.New utes are big news, and so we here at CarsGuide have once again popped on our detective hats to bring you everything we know about Hyundai’s first ute in Australia.What sort of engine will the Hyundai ute have?The one thing we know for certain is that it won’t be powered by a diesel engine. Unlike the Tasman (and the vast majority of utes sold in Australia, for that matter), Hyundai is ditching the diesel, rightly predicting that the world will have moved on by the time its ute arrives."Australia doesn't need another diesel ute,” Hyundai's new local chief, Don Romano, has previously told us. ”I think we have to look at options. And I can't tell you whether that's a PHEV, a HEV or a BEV, but I think those are options that have to be considered. And I think those are the areas that will give us an opportunity for expansion.”It’s a decision no doubt solidified by the success of the BYD Shark 6, and its petrol plug-in hybrid powertrain, and it seems Hyundai will be taking a different approach, only sans one plug.It is increasingly likely — in fact, I’d say it’s almost certain — that the Hyundai pickup will debut a new Hyundai REEV powertrain that’s nearing its launch. Details are skinny for now, but expect an electric-first powertrain supplemented by a petrol engine, with the latter used to recharge the battery or power the electric motors. Hyundai says a total range of 1000kms is possible, and expects to launch the technology in 2027. The technology appears tailored for ute use, too."The beauty of EREVs lies in combining EV driving characteristics — instant high torque and serene cabin space — with a longer range. It’s kind of a modern hybrid: You can use it as an EV on a daily basis, but if you have to take a long trip, and you don’t want to carefully plan your route around EV charging stations, it provides seamless driving with the ICE generating electricity for you. This freedom is generating a lot of excitement around the world,” says Manfred Harrer, Head of the Vehicle Development Tech Unit at Hyundai Motor Group."But there’s more to EREVs than range. There’s also the ample power for towing capacity — the energy to tow something like a horse trailer — which remains an unsolved issue with EVs.Will the Hyundai ute be based on the Tasman?This is where the mystery deepens. When news of Hyundai’s ute first broke, Mr Romano made special mention of the brand’s global partnership with GM, and the commitment Hyundai HQ had made to co-develop two utes, largely for South and Central America.That remains on the table, but given the expense poured into the Tasman, and the fact that it too is being prepped for electrification, it seems crazy that Hyundai wouldn’t at least use that ladder frame platform as a base for its ute."If we used the body-on-frame, that's the Tasman, made from our factory in Korea, that could be sooner,” Mr Romano has said. ”We are looking at different drivetrains, and all of that adds time. So it's going to be step one; Tasman, diesel, ok, change the engine, ok, let's look at what else we have available from GM, ok, what's the timing on that?Will it be capable on- and off-road?Short answer? Yep. Hyundai’s ute offering will be a ladder-frame solution at least partly tailored to our markets and conditions, and that means a ute that can carry, tow and hold its own off-road. "We're continually feeding into HQ and other regional offices about what our requirements would be. We've been studying for 15-odd years and the proposal continually updates,” says Hyundai's Product Development Manager, Tim Rodgers."There's a huge portfolio of information that HQ has about our market, our market requirements, how we view the market, what would be successful, what would be a differentiated offering, what would be a mainstream offering.”When will the Hyundai ute launch?Happily, the window is shrinking. What began as a 2030 timeframe has been reduced to 2028, with Hyundai Australia COO Gavin Donaldson confirming that was now the rough window. 

Kia HQ in Korea is going to extraordinary lengths to ensure the major update coming to the Tasman is the success in Australia they expected the current model to be, deploying experts from the USA and Korea to our market as well as surveying current Tasman owners on what they like, and what they'd like to see improved.These are steps understood to have never before been taken by Kia in our market – such is the importance of the Tasman – and are being spearheaded by Kia in Korea where work is building on a new-look update.The survey has been sent directly from Korea to Tasman owners across Australia, and is being shared widely across ownership Facebook groups here. The research is being conducted by TrendLab506 in Seoul, which describes itself as a "trend consulting agency based in Seoul, Korea, currently conducting the interviews with Tasman owners in Australia".Following the survey, select owners are then invited to a two-hour focus group online, as well as asked to complete an ownership diary.Incredibly, those who opt to complete the diary will be observed in real time by Kia researchers in Australia as they go about their daily driving lives. "Our research team will accompany participants during activities in which they use their Tasman to observe real-life usage and ask relevant questions," the study application reads. For completing the survey, owners are paid $30. For the focus group, the compensation is $300, while completing the owner's diary is rewarded with $600.Alongside the research study work have been trips by Kia's own R&D staff to Australia, both from Namyang in Korea and from the Hyundai America Technical Center Inc. (HATCI) in Michigan to review the Tasman here, along with the rest of Australia's dual-cab market.All of which points to a facelifted Tasman arriving sooner rather than later, with the current ute so far underperforming in Australia – by far the Tasman's most important market."We've been quite vocal, and we always have been with this car in particular," a Kia spokesperson recently told CarsGuide."We're very vocal with our superiors, and up front. We're definitely being very deliberate in what we think might be hampering its sales performance."If we want to be a third of the total production volume, they've got to be receptive.As to when we could expect a new-look Tasman, the brand cited the costs associated with a "major redesign".All of this is accompanied by what appeared to be a rear-drive version of the company's 2.5-litre turbo-hybrid powertrain spied testing in Europe – seemingly a perfect powertrain choice for a new Tasman.The powertrain in question, the 'TMED-II', is a powerful 2.5-litre turbo four-cylinder petrol-hybrid, producing a diesel-dominating 245kW and 460Nm of torque which is sent to all four wheels via a new six-speed automatic transmission.The powertrain has been flagged by Kia in Australia as the one "that would make sense" for the Tasman, with the brand's product chief, Roland Rivero, having told CarsGuide that hybrid would be the priority powertrain in the era of Australia's recently-implemented New Vehicle Efficiency Standards (NVES), which place increasingly tough penalties on high-emitting cars and utes.“With NVES currently in play, the priority would probably be more of an electrified hybrid, for example, to try and see us through to the longer term,” Mr Rivero previously told CarsGuide.With research work now well underway, a new Tasman looks increasingly likely to touchdown next year.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese today confirmed new legislation would be introduced this year to protect Australia's almost-4000 automotive dealerships from what they see as an unfair power imbalance with international car makers that can end with the customer short-changed.

Australia's newest Chinese car brand Dreame says it will push back against the commoditisation of electric vehicles it says has befallen Tesla and BYD, saying its AI-driven products' late arrival to market will work in its favour.And that includes the way the vehicles are sold, with the brand exploring using an existing retail network, like Harvey Norman, as its showroom footprint.But first, what is Dreame? Founded in 2017, Dreame is now a giant of China's smart gadget and household electronics industry. The company is probably best known in Australia for its robotic vacuum cleaners, but it produces everything from drones to televisions, hairdryers and smart phones.And now it is turning its attention to cars, though it concedes it's late to the party. It has currently unveiled its supercar-chasing Nebula Concept range - carbon-fibre electric monsters with quad motors, 1400kW and a sprint to 100km/h in 1.8 seconds.But first to arrive in Australia (in concept form likely this year ahead of a launch in 2027) will be a mid-size SUV that will take aim at models like the BYD Sealion 7 and Tesla Model Y."You see the products today, from BYD, from Tesla, from all the major brands, are getting commoditised," says Dreame Chief Marketing Officer, Mr Ma."So everyone's trying to get bigger, trying to squeeze more screens, more battery power inside the car. And that's why, like I said, as a latecomer, we're not trying to compete on commoditised products."That's why one of the biggest competitive propositions for us is the ecosystem."The ecosystem Mr Ma refers to is the company's eagerness to embrace AI and connected services to link their vehicles with an owner's other appliances, using machine learning to adapt to schedules. An example given was, if a customer tends to arrive home at 6pm, the vehicle would activate household appliances – like a robotic vacuum cleaner – to ensure the house is clean on their arrival.Mr Ma likened the AI boom to the shift to electrification in terms of the impact it will have on the automotive market, both in China and abroad."It's getting crowded with Chinese brands. We definitely know that. And I think in our opinion we are already a late-comer to this industry," he says,"What we're offering is actually a package of products. So the value proposition for us is more about connectivity with the rest of our products together. Dreame as an ecosystem instead of just purely vehicles."That's one of the visions we have, to bring every aspect of technology to our vehicles. And because of that vision, we also see an opportunity, because AI is going to change everything."Let's turn the clock back to 10 years ago. We were thinking that there's no way for BYD or Tesla or some of the newer Chinese brands to have a market share in China. Because domestic brands or foreign brands like Mercedes, Audi, they're already dominating the market. But (then) there's a shift from gasoline to electric vehicles. That creates the window of opportunity for new players."Right now we're standing at a time where AI is creating a new time window for newer players. So that's why I think our vision, and also the window of opportunity, make it essential for us to come into the market."For the cars themselves, that remains something of a mystery. We know a mid-size SUV is coming, and a small SUV and passenger vehicle are also likely. They will be targeting mainstream players like Tesla, BYD, Toyota and Mazda, and will be all-electric, at least to start.Dreame is also confident its own solid-state battery technology, which it says will unlock a 1000km driving range, will also be ready for mass-production in 2027, though is more likely to appear in the Nebula range first.The design sounds promising, too, with words like "timeless" rather than busy used, and a focus on making products that visually age well."We want to have something a bit dynamic. We don't want an electric car which is like a fridge or a laptop or something like that. We want to give it something special. It won't be ultra-cheap, it won't be ultra-high, it'll be accessible for everyone," says John Warner, Dreame Chief Designer.Also unique could be Dreame's distribution method, with the brand all but ruling out a direct-to-consumer model and instead exploring the idea of selling through Australia's existing electronics retail footprint, including stores like Harvey Norman and The Good Guys."What we've done in our core business has been extraordinary. In Australia right now we have 700 distribution points for everything from floor care through to smart home and beauty," says James Moore, Dreame's country manager for Australia and New Zealand. "We're not afraid of going left-field. There's no harm in looking at those opportunities. I'd say watch this space."There are hurdles, too. Dreame doesn't currently have an automotive manufacturing facility in China, largely because of government restrictions on production put in place to counter a glut in manufacturing capacity. The brand says it is working on it, as well as exploring options in the Middle East and Europe.Those restrictions put Dreame in an interesting spot, with the brand suggesting Australia and New Zealand could be the first countries on the planet to receive its vehicles, ahead of even a domestic launch in China.

If we know anything about BYD’s rollout in Australia, it’s that nothing stays the same for long. And so it’s unsurprising that the rumours that a new and tougher BYD Shark 6 will launch this year are gathering real steam.Those rumours solidified when BYD lodged Australian government documentation detailing the introduction of a new powertrain for the Shark 6, despite the current version being less than 18 months old in Australia.So CarsGuide has put on its detective cap to bring you everything we know so far about the Chinese ute that promises to now be just as tough as a Ranger, and to offer more tech than a HiLux.Why is this happening?We’re only guessing, but one of the criticisms the BYD Shark 6 faced when it first launched in Australia was its failure to hit some of the non-negotiables for dual-cab utes in Australia — towing and true off-road ability. While the fact the Shark 6 lags its traditional rivals hasn’t impacted sales one iota, it’s entirely possible those criticisms reached important ears.Add to that the fact that Denza has now arrived in Australia, and its B8 model addresses each of those concerns, with its 3.5-tonne towing and proper off-road equipment.In short, the blueprint for a new BYD Shark 6 had arrived.What will be the 2027 BYD Shark 6 platform and powertrain?We have more than a hint on this. In fact, we suspect the answer is already here in the shape of the B8.Government documents suggest the new Shark 6 model will adopt the B8’s 2.0-litre turbo-petrol engine – something the company's executives have been hinting at since 2025 – along with twin electric motors to improve the grunt and massively improve the capability.The Shark 6's homologation documents reveal that the new 2.0-litre engine will produce 180kW before the electric motors are taken into account, compared to the current model's 135kW 1.5-litre turbo.Also worth pointing out that total system power on the Denza B8 is 425kW and 760Nm, but the Shark 6 won't reach that level. Its lodged documents confirm the petrol engine will be joined by a 200kW front electric motor and 150kW rear electric motor for a combined total output of 345kW.Will it be able to tow?Yep, that’s really the core focus of this upgrade. The bigger engine unlocks a true 3.5-tonne braked towing capacity, and 750kg unbraked. That puts it on-par with the diesel dual-cab heavyweights of Australia.Will it improve its off-road ability?That’s a big maybe. If BYD is raiding the Denza product portfolio — and it is — then the B8 has a whole bunch of other kit, like front and rear diff locks, a digitised low range and infinite Terrain Modes.Both the B5 and the B8 have climbed the infamous Beer O'Clock Hill (a challenge the current Shark 6 couldn't rise to), so borrowing from the Denza grab bag of off-road goodies will be a huge step in the right direction.When will it arrive?BYD is yet to comment publicly on the arrival of a 2.0-litre BYD Shark 6, but the government filings suggest the launch is now approaching. We'd estimate an arrival in the second half of 2026, or in early 2027.

China is dominating Australian new-car sales, but it’s also not alone, with a handful of legacy brands bucking the trend to somehow grow their sales in the face of BYD, Chery and GWM’s continued ascent.

Japan has lost its crown as the number one source of new cars for Australia - and it could be for good.

With the hammer predicted to drop on EV subsides in the coming weeks, there are growing calls to instead shine the spotlight on Australia's ute segment, where similar tax breaks exist for "commercial vehicles."

A new and reimagined Polestar 2 will launch next year, and it will place a target on the back of the Tesla Model 3 and BYD Seal.It will form part of a split strategy for entry-level Polestar models, with the Polestar 7 small SUV – due in 2028 – acting as the SUV entry point to the brand, while Polestar 2 will be its most accessible passenger vehicle.It gives the brand a two-pronged attack on the affordable end of the EV market, and the 2 will lead that charge next year, with Polestar Australia chief Scott Maynard assuring the model will deliver a "notch-up in terms of its performance credentials and the way that car rides, handles and drives" but will still "provide a great entry to the Polestar brand", at least until the Polestar 7 arrives."Polestar 2 will still provide a great entry to the Polestar brand for a period of time until we see some of the future products which might provide us with a different platform for entry, but we just need to wait and see. For the time being that will remain as our entry point to the brand," he says."That will see a notch-up in terms of its performance credentials and the way that car rides, handles and drives as well. It's not going to be a sports car in the same light as the Polestar 5, but it will be a notch above the current car which is already really an accomplished, dynamic car.Mr Maynard also confirmed reports the model won't make the shift into an SUV body style, insisting it will remain a "dynamic looking car"."The 2 will be a dynamic looking car, but it won't take on a full SUV platform. That gong goes to Polestar 7 which we see a bit later on."The Polestar 2 is expected to break cover late this year ahead of an on-sale date sometime in 2027."We'll get access to it as soon as the rest of the world does," Mr Maynard says. "So we'll be online when Europe is, it just takes a little bit of time to get them here. So we're hopeful to see them on the ground in 2027."

China is now the biggest country of origin for new-car sales in Australia, leapfrogging Japan in what is a seismic shift in the Australian automotive industry.