Articles by Andrew Chesterton

Toyota appears to have given us a peek behind the curtain at just how it would plug-in power its hybrid HiLux workhorse, with reports firming that the new mini HiLux will debut PHEV tech in the brand's ute space.Reportedly codenamed Project 150D, and designed to take on everything from the BYD Mako or Shark 5 to the Ford Maverick, the monocoque ute will reportedly adopt a version of the plug-in hybrid system from the brand's Prius.That would pair a 2.0-litre petrol engine with two electric motors for a total system output of 166kW, while the e-CVT is joined by a second electric motor to enable eFour all-wheel drive.Toyota is reportedly targeting the first half of 2027 for the launch of the mini HiLux.Toyota opening the door to its passenger range for its commercial plug-in options gives the brand some interesting choices for the long-expected plug-in hybrid HiLux, chief among them being the powertrain from the new RAV4 PHEV GR Sport.That model develops a total 227kW, with a 2.5-litre petrol engine joined by two electric motors, which also delivers AWD grip.Toyota has previously confirmed work is underway on PHEV technology that would suit the user case of HiLux, with the brand's former VP of Sales and Marketing Sean Hanley saying "you'd never rule it out" when asked at the unveiling of the 2026 range.“Battery technology evolves, and it's evolving quickly. If we can get to a situation where a PHEV has the capability of doing 200-plus kilometres on BEV alone — so in other words, if I've got a HiLux I can just go around town, I can run that on BEV and be carbon-neutral pretty well, providing I'm using renewable energy to do it," Mr Hanley has also previously told CarsGuide.“Now the issue is of course can it tow? Can it take a heavy load? Well, to be able to flick a switch and say, well, for those moments where I'm going out off-road or for those moments where I need to tow a heavy load, I've got the convenience of going to a normal hybrid engine and I can get 500 or 600 kilometres and it's convenient, then I see a role for PHEV in that space.“I think that's some years away, to be honest, that battery technology. But when it comes, PHEVs will have a renewed engagement with the market because they'll go from what I call the ultimate inconvenience to the ultimate convenience.”

Tesla has rolled out a key update for its Full Self-Driving Supervised technology, with version 14 (or v14.3.3) addressing the key flaws in the system’s earlier iterations and creating a near-flawless self-driving experience.Described by Elon Musk as “a banger”, the new version began rolling out on eligible Tesla vehicles in Australia on June 19, and now CarsGuide has taken the wheel (or not taken the wheel) to test the upgraded tech on Australian roads.But first, what’s new? Truthfully, a lot of stuff that’s difficult to understand. The neural vision encoder has been upgraded, for example, while the AI compiler has been rewritten with MLIR. But it’s less what's been done, and more why it has been done, with Tesla's intention to make self-driving technology feel more natural, and more decisive, while adding new features.Tesla says reaction time is now 20 per cent faster, and lane biasing and tailgating have been mitigated. There’s also faster response times for emergency situations, like oncoming traffic, the sudden appearance of emergency vehicles and the unexpected arrival of what the brand describes as “small animals” in the Tesla’s path.The driver monitoring system has also been sharpened, making it less keen to chirp the driver for not paying attention, while the system has been trained to push through "temporary system degradations" without asking the driver to take over.It's about reducing driver interventions, Tesla says, and to that end the brand has also included a kilometre counter that tracks how long self-driving was in use without the driver having to do anything.The biggest (and most noticeable from the driver’s seat) change is the way Tesla’s FSDS now operates, with the ‘driving’ modes expanded to include Sloth, Chill, Standard and Hurry. While only Sloth (which “comes with lower speeds and more conservative lane selection”) and Chill are new, all have been programmed to offer a more noticeable difference in driving behaviour. Hurry, for example, reacts like a harried human driver, overtaking slower-moving cars and darting into traffic gaps.“Driver profile now has a stronger impact on behaviour,” Tesla says. “The more assertive the profile, the higher the max speed.”Also new is the ability to choose how your trip will end, with your Tesla now able to pull into your driveway, or park at the front of your house. Alternatively, you can choose a carpark or indoor carpark.If that’s the on-paper changes, the real-world result is nothing short of staggering. One of my biggest complaints with self-driving technology is that it takes longer to get somewhere than if you drove yourself – especially in a busy city, where lane selection and gap seizing is absolutely crucial.But Tesla FSDS V14 pretty comprehensively addresses those concerns. My first journey was a 33km trek from the edge of Sydney’s Northern Beaches to the city’s inner west, on a rain-soaked afternoon on the edge of School Zone chaos, and at no point was I forced to intervene.Twice with an exit approaching in less than 800m, my Tesla Model 3 left its lane to overtake a vehicle travelling just under the speed limit ahead of me, cutting back into the correct lane in time to take the exit. In previous iterations, I’ve found the technology’s patience is a lot more forgiving than my own, but that was not the case this time, with the Tesla also quick to change into a faster-moving lane when it spotted an opening, too.When I arrived home, my Model 3 parked in a space out the front of my house, like it had been asked to.The changes might not sound revolutionary, and the core technology isn't that different from when FSDS first launched in Australia, but the on-road feel is massively different, with the system now feeling far more natural and human-like in its reaction times and decision making.Or to put it another way, I have now taken several trips in the Model 3, and the only time I have intervened is when I doubted the vehicle's ability to navigate a dangerous-feeling situation. That's not to say the system would have failed, just that I don't yet have the courage to launch it into a complicated and busy intersection on a dark and rain-soaked Sydney evening.Downsides? You might have noticed I said "near-flawless", and that is because Tesla's FSDS still has an uncanny ability to pick out a pot hole, of which there are many on Australian roads. Even when cars ahead swerved around them, the Model 3 clanged through them. Another time it clipped the edge of what appeared to be a bit of bumper in its lane, while cars ahead and behind dodged it.But even this is on the list for future updates, with Tesla promising to "add pothole avoidance" in its next update.

Chinese brand Leapmotor says buttons are on the verge of an in-car comeback as China’s army of automotive manufacturers further tailor their vehicles for international tastes.That’s the word from Frederik Dallmeyer, Lead Exterior Designer at Leapmotor International, who says customer tastes are causing a rethink on featureless cabins in which all functions are controlled through a central screen.Leapmotor has already begun launching work-arounds, in which shortcuts take a driver straight to the most important functions, like changing the wing-mirror position, but says the next generation of vehicles could feature a return to toggles and switches."I can't be concrete about it. (But) if the tastes of the market dictate that buttons are a must-have, then yes, but let’s see,” he says.“My personal preference is that I like to also have quick access to things. So yeah, I think that’s something that will be worked on.”Asked when Leapmotor vehicles could return to easy-access functionality in its cabins, the designer replied: “I think it’s the next generation.”It has long been thought that the Chinese domestic market’s preference for screen-heavy interior would effectively strong-arm the rest of the world into adopting the same cabin layouts, given the size of China’s export market. The country is now the biggest country of origin for vehicles sold in Australia, with as many as one in three vehicles sold here made in China, depending on the month.But Mr Dallmeyer suggested that wasn’t necessarily the case, with the designer not ruling out individual cabin treatments for domestic and global markets, while also suggesting Chinese tastes could be changing.“I think that depends a little bit on how things were to evolve in China because China is always a very quickly evolving market,” he said.“Tastes change, preferences change. Maybe it’s not necessary, like if more physical functions are also appreciated in that market.”

A new front in the ongoing ute wars has opened, with fresh reporting that Toyota and BYD will soon have plug-in hybrid ute options sitting beneath the HiLux and Shark 6.The monocoque, or car-based, ute offerings are taking shape in South America, where manufacturers clearly keen to expand beyond the saturated dual-cab market are plotting their next move.That begins with the Mako, expected to be called the BYD Shark 5 in international markets, which will reportedly nab a different plug-in hybrid powertrain to its Shark 6 older brother.In Brazil, the Mako is a plug-in hybrid producing an expected 175kW, and promising a circa-100km EV-only driving range, along with a choice of two- or all-wheel drive.But the Mako is the ocean's fastest shark, and it seems global markets will be sticking true to the name, upping the power to more like 200kW. The powertrain in question will reportedly be borrowed from the Sealion 6 SUV, pairing a 1.5-litre turbo-petrol engine with an electric motor. Unconfirmed reports of Toyota's smaller ute offering are now emerging from the same region. The ute, based on the Corolla Cross and currently codenamed Project 150D, will reportedly score its own plug-in hybrid system.In huge news for the brand, reports out of Brazil point to the 150D adopting the powertrain from the Toyota Prius, which pairs a 2.0-litre petrol engine with two electric motors.Total system output would be around 166kW, while the e-CVT is joined by a second electric motor to enable eFour all-wheel drive.According to reports, the smaller Toyota ute will launch in South America in the first half of 2027, while the BYD Mako is expected to launch in the final quarter of 2026, giving the Chinese brand a headstart from a global sales perspective.Australian launch timing is at this point unclear, but both Toyota and BYD have said the door is open to ute models below the Shark 6 and HiLux, so watch this space.

I guess the big question is, do you believe in love at second sight?The first time I drove the Leapmotor B05 (the brand’s Golf-sized electric hatchback), it was on a rented test track near the brand’s headquarters in China, and I came away thinking it had plenty of promise, but not enough dynamic polish to ever be considered a sporty threat in Australia.It was about quick enough and looked pretty enough, but its soft, spongecake dynamics culled any hope of it delivering on the warm-hatch promises Leapmotor had made about its sportiest offering to date.This second time, though, was different. Because the B05 that will arrive in Australia towards the end of 2026 (wearing a circa-$35,000 price tag) is not the same car I drove in China. Well, it is. It just no longer feels like it.To Leapmotor's credit, it has recognised Chinese driving tastes differ wildly to those in Europe and Australia. And that making a car that's fast in a straight line but offers all the dynamism and body control of a pot of just-set jelly isn't going to cut it in the rest of the world.And so the brand handed the B05 over to its Stellantis co-owners in Italy, and set them to work readying the warm hatch for a global release. The result, the brand says, "is a different animal" to the car we got to know in China.It had its chassis and suspension reworked at Alfa Romeo's Balocco Proving Ground, roughly halfway between Milan and Turin. And not just tuning either, they've also changed the way the suspension connects to the vehicle, shifting the mounting points to give it a lower center of gravity and a sportier feel.We’ll see if the changes have worked in a moment, but first, I think this is one of the best-looking cars to have come out of China in some time, and the brand tells me it will form the beginnings of a blueprint for all future Leapmotor models.The cars they've already got in Australia, the C10 and B10 SUVs, have been criticised in some quarters for being a bit bland. I don't feel that way about this car at all. The B05 looks grown-up, premium and modern, and while much has been done in the pursuit of EV-friendly aerodynamics, it doesn't look like a science experiment. It rides on 19-inch alloys as standard, and only the subtle rear roof spoiler gives away its sportier intentions, though a (presumably much angrier-looking) Ultra version is on the way which will no doubt dial up the exterior aggression.Cleverness abounds in the cabin, too. There's no escaping the use of budget friendly plastics, but the way the dash is laid out, with a perforated inlay framed by two architectural-feeling ledges, helps make the no-frills feel funky. The big glass roof helps lift the mood, too.You get a 14.6-inch screen in the centre of the cabin and an 8.8-inch letterbox display in front of the driver. The main screen controls almost all of the car's functions, which can get fiddly and annoying, but the locked climate control bar at the bottom at least allows for quick access to heating and cooling. The brand has also added the ability to shortcut to the wing-mirror adjustment screen from a button on the steering wheel, which is a good idea, because digging through screens when you want to quickly change the mirrors can be rage-inducing.Another clever addition is the inclusion of driving profiles, in which you can save your ADAS preferences (things like the lane keep assist, over-speed warning and driver attention alarm) to on or off. When you get in, you simply choose your profile and away you go. It reduces lots of screen poking and scrolling to two quick taps before you're on the road.There's also plenty of room in the backseat of the B05. It's 4430mm in length, 1880mm in width and 1520mm in height and its full-flat electric platform is a boon for backseat riders. I had more than enough knee and headroom to get comfortable behind my own 175cm driving position, and there's pull-down cupholders, twin USB ports and air vents for the back, too. The boot promises 345 litres with the rear seat in place and 1400 litres with them folded flat. Now, Leapmotor describes the B05 as its sportiest vehicle to date, and on paper, the ingredients that have gone into this recipe sound good. It has a perfect 50/50 weight distribution, the electric motor is housed at the rear for rear-wheel drive and the battery is integrated into the chassis for extra stiffness.That rear-mounted motor makes 160kW and 240Nm, or enough for a launch-control-assisted sprint to 100km/h in 6.7 seconds.We should also get both battery sizes when the B05 arrives in Australia, with the smaller 56.2kWh version delivering 401km on the WLTP cycle, and the bigger 67.1kWh version upping that to 482km. AC charging is rated at 11kW, while DC fast charging is 168kW, or enough to go from 30-80 per cent charged in 17 minutes.So, the drive. I think it is important to wrap some context around the B05. All this talk of sporty this and launch control that had me anticipating some kind of bristling hot hatch. But it doesn't feel like that.I don't mean that in a negative way, just that there's nothing hard, harsh or particularly violent about the driving experience here, including a pretty leisurely feeling run to 100km/h.But Leapmotor has delivered a car that feels far more engaged and far more compelling for the driver. There's a connection now between car and driver, and car and road, which was missing from the Chinese version, and which vastly improves the drive experience.It never feels underpowered either, and the rolling acceleration is strong. Put your foot down at rolling speed and there’s plenty of punch there for overtaking.Forget the super sporty stuff, what Leapmotor in Europe has instead managed to deliver is a far more coherent package. I like the steering, I like the ride, it's pretty quiet in the cabin (save for a bit of wind noise at higher speeds) and it feels far more put together, enjoyable and engaging to drive. We tackled plenty of winding hill-climb roads, and there was none of that sea-sickness swaying or bouncing, with the B05 feeling stable and sorted through the bends, with most of its weight cleverly hidden away behind its compliant but very competent suspension tune.It also feels like a solid base for the faster version coming, the Ultra, which makes more power and delivers more torque.Now, there are still some quirks to the Leapmotor experience I can't quite wrap my head around, and the first is there's still no physical key or engine start/stop button for this car. You're either using the key card, your phone, or the passcode system, which is still annoying. A proper key is coming in 2027.The other issue is the active safety package, which can be ferociously annoying, with the B05 constantly binging and bonging at you or tugging at your wheel. That's not really a problem exclusive to Leapmotor, and to its credit it has introduced those driver profiles, which means you can switch them off with a touch or two, but I long for the days when they didn't exist.And finally there's still just a little bit of clunkiness to the way the car's tech operates. I noticed, for example, when I got in and put the car in reverse, I was waiting for five seconds or so for the screen to wake up and switch to the reverse cameras. Maybe I'm just really impatient, but I find those kinds of delays a bit annoying.All in all, though, I am impressed with the B05. Even if it's not a particularly sporty feeling, it feels far more cohesive than the other version I drove and the ride and handling changes have made a massive difference. It might be one of the best-riding cars I’ve driven from China (via Europe) yet, but I will have to see how it performs on Australian roads before permanently bestowing that honour.The signs are good for the B05.

Depending on how old you are, the name Testarossa either means something, or everything. In the mid-1980s, we're talking proper dog-eared-posters-stuck-to-bedroom-wall status here.There was also the small volume V12 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa (250 TR) sports racer built from 1957 to 1961. But in the '80s it was a 4.9-litre, flat 12-cylinder engine producing the power, making an inconceivable 287kW and 490Nm, and earning the wedge-shaped icon a place among the most powerful supercars in existence at the time.I'm giving you this little history lesson because the Testarossa name is back, only this time it's attached to the plug-in hybrid Ferrari 849 Testarossa. And if you're one of those people who think electrification has no place in the supercar world, just relax for a second. Because the new Testarossa's outputs make the 1984 version seem every bit as exhilarating as a Segway.We're now talking 772kW and 842Nm, generated via the combination of a 4.0-litre twin-turbocharged V8 paired with three electric motors, all of which combine to produce an electrified powerhouse of genuinely epic proportions. The other thing that's gone skywards is the price. It's hard to believe, but that 1984 Testarossa listed for as low as US$85,000, or $121,000. This one starts at $932,648.The numbers only tell part of the 849 story, but we'll cover them off quickly anyway. The 100km/h benchmark arrives in 2.3 seconds, with 200km/h taking just 6.35 seconds from a standing start. Top speed is a claimed 330km/h. The turbo is the biggest ever fitted to a Ferrari production car, while the electric motors (responsible for around 160kW on their own) are arranged with one at the rear and two at the front. The 7.45kWh battery delivers an EV driving range of 25km.And yes, some of those are big and impressive numbers. But the bigger story here is the feel, the emotion, that the 849 Testarossa generates in great big bucketloads. The thrum (this time less orchestral and more mechanical) of the exhaust. The spectacularly direct steering. The sense of car and driver as one.But weirdly the thing that really got myself and my fellow testers the most excited wasn't the brutal acceleration (which was surprising, as this genuinely one of the fastest-feeling cars I've ever driven), but was instead the bull-whip crack of what might be the sweetest, sharpest gearshifts in existence.In this new Testarossa, it's an eight-speed dual-clutch transmission the brand says is derived from its F1 division, and the feel of a flat-footed shift upwards, or a hard-braking downshift into a corner, is genuinely visceral in its action. If you still long for manual gearboxes, the 849 will cure you of that ailment. You end up searching for extra reasons to reach for one of the paddle gearshifters, just to feel and hear the shifts.Driven at noise, this two-seat rocket is a vehicle that demands attention. And not just from the driver (seriously, this is a car that collects speed in such an other-worldly fashion that constant focus is required – blink too long and it feels like you're in a teleportation device as, when your eyes open, you're a long way away from where you were when you closed them), but from anyone in its vicinity, too, with the Ferrari seemingly sucking in bystanders like a vortex, especially in Italy, where even clapping eyes on the latest from Maranello is a near-religious experience.It's also, somehow, not terrifying. The fact that it's AWD and not a snap-happy rear-drive set-up probably helps to settle the nerves. But also the fact that it's something approaching comfortable as a commuter, helped by its adaptive damping, and even has a silent and front-wheel-drive EV mode for city motoring, helps to smooth some of the 849's more murderous edges. That and the fact that Ferrari has a whole heap of high-tech help on board – headlined by something called the Ferrari Integrated Vehicle Estimator, which adjusts its level of control to the quality of your driving – designed to keep you on the tarmac without ever feeling like it's babying you. Driven at noise, the Testarossa is a car that demands attention. And not just from the driver (seriously, this is a car that collects speed in such an other-worldly fashion that constant focus is required), but from anyone in its vicinity, too.The styling was controversial at its unveiling, mostly because of its two-level nose design and blocky rear end with its centralised and mid-mounted exhaust exits, but it grows on you fast. I can also attest that the nose feels every bit as low to the ground as it looks, and you will become quickly accustomed to the nose-lift function, which gives you an extra three centimeters of clearance.Downsides? As is pretty predictable with Ferrari, none turn up in the drive experience. But the interior tech takes some getting used to. With no traditional centre screen, almost all functions are controlled through the steering wheel – including some of the drive modes, like 'EV' – and you have to 'wake up' the digital panel before selecting one. Which I didn't know, and so instead just blindly stabbed at areas until the Ferrari did what I wanted.It also feels very, very big, at 4718mm in length and 2304mm in width. When you're driving at speed you don't notice it, as I'm sure you wouldn't on a racetrack, but I can assure you threading your way through tight Italian streets in a million-dollar supercar can feel like you're playing a very high stakes version of Operation.So, is the 849 Testarossa a worthy wearer of one of Ferrari's most iconic nameplates? You betcha.

Chinese brand Leapmotor has slammed a major rival, labelling MG's MG4 XPower "undriveable" and vowing to produce a better performance EV in the B05 Ultra.That's the word from Leapmotor's Alexis Cieslewicz, Head of Product Marketing in Europe, who is also working on the introduction of the brand's most performance-focused model to date, the B05 Ultra.The just-launched B05, which will arrive in Australia later this year and produces 160kW and 240Nm, is the start of Leapmotor's sportier journey. In China, it has already been joined by an Ultra variant, which ups the outputs to 180kW and 320Nm.Leapmotor in Europe is already planning for more again, potentially further dialling up the power along with adding "extras" in its Ultra, which will arrive in the later stages of next year.For perspective, the B05 in China and Europe are wildly different, with the Euro (and Australian) version being completely retuned by Alfa Romeo at its Balocco Proving Ground. The brand also changed the suspension mounting points to deliver a lower centre of gravity, creating what it says is a "different animal" to the Chinese version.The same, and possibly more, will be done to the Ultra."It is not sure that it will be exactly the one you see in China. In the sense that it is Ultra and it should be Ultra," says Danilo Annese, the brand's Head of Commercial Operations in Europe."We are discussing that (Europe's Ultra) is not that car. It is not the Chinese car, (that) is a body kit. And we want to do it a little bit better than that. But the sky is the limit. Let's see what we can do."When it comes to dialling up the power, though, Leapmotor issued a cautionary tale, shading a major rival by describing its 300kW performance hatch as "undriveable"."I am also looking for a good compromise between power and control," Cieslewicz says. "Because we do not want to have something like the MG4 , which has 470 horsepower, but it is undriveable."

Nissan's answer to the BYD Shark 6 has just taken a big step towards an Australian launch, with the Navara Pro PHEV taking the first step on its export journey from China.Revealed in China as the Nissan Frontier Pro, the brand's first plug-in hybrid ute has been renamed the Navara Pro and revealed in the Phillipines, part of Nissan's "From China" export strategy that will lean on China, rather than Japan or Thailand, as an export hub.The Navara Pro is otherwise the same as the Frontier Pro, with the same 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine and a transmission-mounted electric motor producing a potent 320kW and 800Nm combined. The EV-only range is around 100kms WLTP.“As a lead market, China plays a dual role for Nissan, both as a strong market in its own right and a critical source of global competitiveness. This unveiling signal the beginning of our ‘From China’ export strategy, and I am pleased to see these vehicles reaching customers beyond China for the first time," says Guillaume Cartier, Nissan’s chief performance officer."The models demonstrate strong product competitiveness and represent an important step in strengthening our global portfolio and responding more quickly to diverse customer needs. We are excited to bring them to customers in the Philippines as we continue to accelerate this momentum across markets.”CarsGuide understands that, in markets where Navara has nameplate recognition, the Frontier Pro will be renamed as it has been in the Phillipines. And that would include Australia, where the Navara Pro would go head-to-head with the BYD Shark 6.And that could be happening sooner rather than later – and even this year – with reports pointing the project having sign-off in Australia, and moving faster than the original 2027 launch expectation suggested.

BYD's potentially game-changing ute product is ready to launch, with the Mako readying for its international debut in September this year.The focus so far has been entirely in South America, where the Mako will arrive to battle vehicles like the Fiat Toro, with the Mako a car-based unibody utility that would sit below the ladder-frame Shark 6.That would put it on a collision course with everything from the Ford Maverick to the upcoming Corolla Cross-based ute from Toyota, codenamed Project 150D.In Brazil, the Mako is a plug-in hybrid producing an expected 175kW, and promising a circa-100km EV-only driving range, along with a choice of two- or all-wheel drive.A European launch also seems likely – though under the name Shark 5 – given patent filings have appeared in the EU. Reports also point to a flagship 1.5-litre PHEV variant producing 200kW of power being developed.Things are less clear in Australia, but the success of the Shark 6 in our market would surely have local executives excited by the prospect of expanding the range.Just this week, BYD's most senior executive promised a new model designed for Australia would launch here this year, telling CarsGuide that a "special model" was on its way."We have another special model, just for Australian customers," Liu Xueliang, Group Vice President of BYD and General Manager of BYD Asia-Pacific Auto Sales Division Liu told CarsGuide.Chief Operating Officer of BYD Australia Stephen Collins was pressed for more information, but would only say that the brand will “have more to say about that later in the year”.

Cadillac now has a new model, and a volume player, to kickstart its Australian sales ambitions, with the Optiq arriving to take on everything from the BMW iX3 to the Genesis GV60. So, does this all-electric medium SUV have what it takes to compete?