Articles by Chris Thompson

XPeng is continuing to make moves both overseas and here, with a new model, likely destined for Australia, launching in its home market. Pre-orders for the 2026 Mona L05 SUV have opened in China, with the EV having been spied earlier this year testing on Australian roads. While the L05 is not locked in for Australia yet, the smaller Mona L03 is due to launch in Australia in 2027 and both have been testing together with evaluation in mind. In China, there will be full EV and range extender (EREV) powertrain options, the former being available in versions with driving ranges from 615km to 660km, the latter with a maximum combined range of 1310km thanks to a 37.2kWh battery. According to CarNewsChina the Mona L05 will launch from the equivalent of around A$36,400 in its home market, with prices reaching just north of A$41,000. Of course, that won’t translate directly to Australian pricing if the L05 does eventually land here. At 4870mm long, 1930mm wide, and 1636mm tall, with a wheelbase of 2940mm, the mid-size Mona L05 has a swoopy almost ‘breadvan’ rear shape and differentiates itself from the XPeng G6 by targeting a younger audience. It boasts a few key features like a 102L front-trunk to add to the 702L boot space, LEDs reminiscent of Volvo and Polestar’s ‘Thor’s Hammer’ lights at the front, a 26.8-inch head-up display for the driver and a huge 17.3-inch touchscreen for rear passengers. The front seats get massage, heating, and ventilation functions while the front passenger gets a ‘zero-gravity’ mode.

BYD has launched a new EV at the 2026 Paris Motor Show, but it’s one Australians might find a little familiar. The BYD Atto 8 launched this week is an electric version of the 2026 BYD Sealion 8 plug-in hybrid (PHEV) launched in Australia recently. Set to top the BYD range in Europe, the Atto 8/ Sealion 8 EV is the first in that market to feature cutting-edge ‘flash charging’. The new feature allows the large SUV to go from 10 per cent battery capacity to 97 per cent in just nine minutes, a feature yet to launch in Australia. BYD’s local arm told CarsGuide the Sealion 8 PHEV is, for now, the range-topper given how recently it launched, with no immediate plans to bring the EV version here. “We only launched Sealion 8 earlier this year and it’s ticking all the boxes for us at the moment so we’re not thinking too far ahead at this stage,” a BYD spokesperson said. The BYD Sealion 8 plug-in hybrid launched at the start of 2026 with a starting price of $56,990 before on-roads for its front-wheel drive base model, with a top-spec all-wheel drive grade at $70,990. In its home market of China, the Sealion 8 or Atto 8 is called the ‘BYD Tang L’ The base Atto 8 has a front-drive setup with 340kW and 365Nm, with a 115kWh battery and a WLTP range of 652km, while the top-spec AWD version has 570kW and 775Nm with a range of 602km but an impressive 0-100km/h sprint of 4.6 seconds. A huge 26-inch widescreen head-up display, a 15.6-inch central multimedia touchscreen, a 10.25-inch digital instrument display and a seven-seat layout with heating and cooling in the front two (outboard) rows join tri-zone climate control, dual wireless phone chargers, numerous USB-C ports and a front refrigerator/heating compartment. In each grade, the seat upholstery is all genuine leather. With “3000 stations to be installed across Europe by the end of 2027”, flash charging is about to become a much more common thing in the EU.  The system allows as much as 1500kW to juice the EV’s battery, in this case the Atto 8’s 115kWh battery, to near-full much faster than usual. In the Atto 8, this means 10 to 97 per cent in nine minutes, though in severely cold temperatures that normally limit charging the flash system still allows 20 to 97 per cent in 12 minutes, not bad. Just five minutes of charging is said to add 60 per cent (from 10 to 70 per cent) to the battery - all resulting in BYD’s line of ‘ready in 5, full in 9, cold add 3'.

Leapmotor has shown off the international version of its small EV, the B03, at the 2026 Paris Motor Show. The 2026 Leapmotor B03 is designed “specifically for modern urban lifestyles” but has a claimed WLTP electric driving range up to 390km and a 10-to-80 per cent recharge time of just 21 minutes. It’s built on Leapmotor’s Compact Electric Platform, shared with the B03X small SUV, and as such shares the 53kWh granting the aforementioned driving range. Its 133kW max DC charge rate is also shared. Similarly, the B03’s 145kW of power and 200Nm of torque is the same, meaning it’s probably not a far cry from the B03X’s sprint to 0-100km/h in 8.6 seconds and its maximum speed of 160km/h. Features include a 14.6-inch multimedia touchscreen and 8.8-inch digital driver instrument display, with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto and over-the-air (OTA) updates. The brand says its ‘Leap Box’ storage area is waterproof and spruiks its foldable ‘LeapFlex’ rear seat that can fold up for more floor space like Honda rear seats do. While the B03 is set to be offered in Europe as well as at home in China where it’s called the Leapmotor A05, it’s unlikely the model will launch in Australia. With the 2026 Leapmotor B03X launching in Australia (from $29,990 drive-away until the end of 2026) as the brand’s cheapest model locally, the slightly smaller B03 might not be worth the effort and cost to launch. Given the similar specifications and Australians’ penchant for small SUVs rather than hatchbacks, the B03 isn’t likely to have much of a market when the B03X is available. Leapmotor’s local arm hasn’t confirmed whether the B03 will launch in Australia or not, but the focus on the B03X would suggest that’s the way the brand is headed.

Nissan Australia is, like many legacy brands, in the unenviable position of trying to tackle an increasingly volatile market that’s favouring newcomer brands from China. With a new Managing Director at the helm in Oceania, former Nissan Canada President Steve Milette, the brand’s next moves include ‘going back to basics’ to remind customers why they liked Nissan in the past, and what Nissan is bringing to the table in an increasingly electric market. But it’s not full-EV that Nissan’s got a key focus on just yet, after the long-serving Nissan Leaf and the low-volume Nissan Ariya, the brand is looking at tech it’s been using for years as a way to improve its positioning - including to bring down its potentially hefty NVES emissions fines. Nissan’s e-Power hybrid system has been around for a while, but the view from the top at the brand’s local arm is that Australians have perhaps not been properly introduced to the tech. The way e-Power works is as a series hybrid, which means the engine charges a battery and electric motors propel the car alone. It’s different to the more traditional parallel hybrid system, which involves the engine also helping power the wheels, as Toyota and Honda have been using for quite some time. Unfortunately for Nissan, it no longer has the upper-hand on series hybrid tech. When CarsGuide asked Milette, along with Nissan Australia’s Senior Manager of Corporate Communications Angus Thompson, if it was frustrating to see customers flock to newcomer brands offering an ‘EV driving experience in a hybrid’, the answer from both was an agreed ‘yes’. “I think it wasn't a wake up call,” Thompson told CarsGuide. “I think it was just something where we had to look at ourselves and say we need to do a better job of telling our story.” It lines up with a comment Milette had just made about Nissan Australia’s messaging when it comes to what e-Power is. “We were focused on ‘e-Power’ and forgetting the hybrid, and some people didn't really know what e-Power was, and so now we're trying to connect.  “I mean, in Australia, we're doing a mall tour. We're going through key cities, key malls, and it's all about ePower, and you know, explaining what it's all about and inviting them for test drives. “I think that's, again, back to my challenger mindset. We're going back to the basics.”

Nissan Australia is one of several legacy brands under pressure from changing market forces and new entrants to Australia, but its new Managing Director for Oceania isn’t worried about newcomers taking over. In the role since April is former Nissan Canada President Steve Milette, who was most recently the Vice President for Dealer Network Development, Customer Resources, Training and Customer Experience for Nissan and Infiniti in the US and Canada. He told CarsGuide that in his first few months in the top job for Nissan, he’s noticed how effective new entrants to the Australian market, especially from China, have been in terms of climbing the sales charts. He says after his time in Canada and the US, he was surprised how much ground new brands have made here compared to the “inexistent” presence of brands from China in North America. “But it is surprising, now it's not an overnight success. Like it's 10 years in the making for some of them,” Milette told CarsGuide. “Some of those brands have come and gone and come back, and so you'd think that consumers would remember that. You know that it could be temporary in nature.” Milette said despite the dramatic changes in the new car market, past crises and economic instability has often resulted in the car industry finding its way back to a familiar balance. “But I do think that there's like a perfect storm, right?  “Of the Iran crisis, if you will, the spike in fuel prices, the hyperinflation, rates were up again yesterday in Australia, and so it does create pressure on the consumer. “And at the initial stages of this Middle East crisis, there was not only fuel pricing up, but there could be a shortage of fuel, and so people just jumped. It was the perfect opportunity to jump into a relatively inexpensive EV from a new entrant.” The latest sales figures show Australians are not only moving their buying habits to new cars from China, but doing it in droves. Most new cars sold in Australia in September 2026 were from China, around 40,000 compared to the next-highest, around 23,000 from Japan. In the top 10 cars for that month, four came from Chinese brands and five were built in China. Four of September’s top 10 brands were also Chinese. But Milette says as the fuel crisis subsides and economic pressures change, people will revert to previous buying behaviours. “I do think all that will come back to the mean, I think crisis or history shows that they're always resolved, and everything reverts back to the mean.  “And so, I do think for me, it's just to continue pushing on the values that we have, and the vehicles that we have, and working closely with our dealers. And I think, you know, things are only going to go up for us here, from a business perspective in Australia.” The idea of dramatically changing market trends isn’t a reason to hit the emergency button and change the brand’s entire approach, says Milette.  In fact, he’s surprised there’s been a narrative around Nissan being one of the brands under the most pressure in the current new car industry climate. “I'd say from a sales perspective, obviously we're one of the brands that has decreased year over year,” Milette said. “I mean, if you look at you know the winners and losers, if you count sales volume as the criteria, most new entrants are at the top of the chart, and most legacy brands are at the bottom of the chart, and all of them, not just Nissan.  “Some are in worse shape than we are, but for us, what I've seen maybe that's different to… the markets I've come from… is the rhetoric around ‘hey is Nissan here to stay or what's happening with Nissan globally?’  “I had not heard that in Canada or the US in years, at least a couple years.  “You know, there are articles written sometimes about legacy OEMs having a hard time, and you know some are leaving, and then they'll show our logo. But the article had nothing to do with us, and so we need to break through that because we're not just here to survive; we're here to thrive as a company.”

The Nissan X-Trail has been well-liked since its inception 25 years ago and the current generation has done reasonably well in an increasingly crowded mid-size SUV market. While not the front-runner in terms of sales - the Toyota RAV4 holds that title, of course - the Nissan X-Trail is one of a few mid-size SUVs to break the 1000-sales mark this year so far, a feat increasingly achieved by newcomer Chinese models. To strengthen its place in the market, Nissan has broadened the X-Trail offering to include more affordable (and more efficient) two-wheel drive versions of its e-Power hybrid grades, as well as a style-focused soft-roader version called the Rock Creek. Starting with the most visually obvious addition, the X-Trail Rock Creek is a $48,315 ask, before-on roads, for its single seven-seat grade. The Rock Creek uses the same 2.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine as the rest of the combustion-powered range, with 135kW and 244Nm driving all four of its wheels. It’s built on the same spec as the ST-L, but adds plenty of unique styling and black trim, with orange accents and stitching inside, plus a unique set of 18-inch alloy wheels. Inside, ballistic nylon-trimmed seats are joined by a step-up from the donor ST-L in the form of a 12.3-inch driver display and 10.8-inch head-up display. The front seats are comfortable, spacious and ergonomically sensible, and the second row has a decent amount of room and some adjustability to account for the third row. That back row is, however, pretty useless for adults due to the cramped space. Nissan says the Rock Creek has the same 465 litres of boot space as other seven-seat grades, measured from floor to roof with the third folded flat. The 2WD e-Power on the other hand starts from $45,990 in ST-L grade, $50,915 for the mid-spec Ti and up to $54,715 for the Ti-L. They’re all five-seaters with equipment matching that of their 4WD counterparts. That means the ST-L gets some basics like leather-accented trim and a surround-view camera, while the Ti gets a sunroof and head-up display, and the Ti-L gets all the fruit like a Bose 10-speaker sound system and heated seats even in the second row. The five-seat e-Power has 575L of boot space with all the seats up, 10 litres less than the five-seat petrol. The e-Power 2WD has very similar outputs to the e-Power 4X4, with 150kW and 330Nm from its front-mounted electric motor. The same 106kW/250Nm 1.5-litre three-cylinder engine powers the very small 2.1kWh battery, but not the wheels. Regardless of grade, the X-Trail uses a 55L fuel tank and can run on 91RON unleaded fuel, though Nissan recommends 95RON for the e-Power. The 4X4 petrol Rock Creek sips 7.8L/100km on the combined cycle according to the claim, though with some off-roading and unsealed road driving the trip computer shower 9.7L. The 2WD e-Power should use 5.4L according to the specs, but 6.2L was the displayed rate on the drive. You shouldn’t need to try hard to get better figures than those we saw on the launch, as test-driving involved a combination of fast driving on twisty NZ roads and gentle off-roading around Lake Wakatipu and the Rees River. The current X-Trail has always been easy to work with from behind the wheel and the front-drive versions don’t lose much of the smoothness and urge the all-wheel drive version of the hybrid X-Trails boast. While it doesn’t feel like the lightest SUV, the steering is accurate enough to take any guesswork out of cornering and the electric motors get the mid-sizer moving quickly. Traction doesn’t suffer much without the rear wheels in play, though given the limited drive time in each grade on the launch it’s possible very wet conditions or rough roads could show up flaws. The Rock Creek on the other hand should be safe as houses when it comes to light off-roading, given its 4x4 system, though its on-road prowess is somewhat dulled by its petrol engine. Compared to the e-Power, the Rock Creek handles and rides similarly on the road, but its acceleration feels lacklustre and its efficiency takes a big hit. The X-Trail has a maximum five-star safety score from ANCAP, though this was tested in 2021 under more lenient criteria. Its 'Pro-Pilot' driver assistance systems remain, as mentioned, subtle and exist to prevent genuine mistakes rather than remind you constantly how to drive. Seven airbags join a series of features like front and rear AEB, pedestrian and cyclist detection, blind-spot monitoring, lane-keep assist, adaptive cruise control and a driver monitor that’s based on inputs rather than a visual sensor. Pretty much everything from a safety perspective is the same across the variants, though the Rock Creek gets a spare wheel rather than a repair kit as in the e-Power. Nissan offers a 10-year/300,000km warranty as long as you service with authorised Nissan dealers. Otherwise it’s five years and unlimited kilometres. You also get a flat price of $399 for any X-Trail grade at the first five services. These will come up every 12 months or 15,000km, whichever comes first.

The Civic Type R might be the best front-wheel drive hot hatch ever built. It's almost certainly one of the greatest cars of this century so far. In fact, you can meet me outside if you reckon the Type R isn’t the most capable sports car of its kind ever built. Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s get into why. The 2026 Honda Civic Type R, at an uncomfortable $85,000, drive-away, isn’t a car you can just go and buy. At least not all the time. The latest run launched in July this year, with just a tick under 100 units anticipated for local buyers. Deliveries start in December. It’s more expensive than another benchmark rival, the VW Golf R, by almost $15,000 and it’s not as practical to live with. But even though you can run your daily errands in the Civic Type R, that would be doing it a disservice. See, the Type R is a five-door hatchback with only four seats, and the front two are very figure-hugging sports bucket seats. It’s also only available in manual, so that rules it off the list for some seeking an easy daily driver.  Its 2.0-litre turbo-petrol four-cylinder engine is probably a bit much for the daily grind, too, producing 235kW and 420Nm and sending that entirely through the front wheels. But there is a Comfort mode, and you even get a wireless phone charger. Heated seats? No, but the climate controls are always there - because they’re physical buttons and knobs. And the knobs are delightfully clicky. This is all to say that when you shell out your $85K, you’re paying more for what’s under the metal than the mod-cons in the cabin. Here’s what you do get: 10.2-inch digital driver display  9.0-inch multimedia touchscreen Wireless Apple CarPlay and wired Android Auto Digital and AM/FM radio Bluetooth and USB connectivity Eight-speaker audio LogR performance data tracking system  Red suede-style upholstery Type R sports bucket front seats Alloy shift knob Alloy sports pedals Wireless phone charger Dual-zone climate control Keyless entry with push button start LED headlights (auto-levelling and dusk-sensing) and tail-lights 19-inch black alloy wheels Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tyres (265/30 ZR19) It all comes together in a package that looks rather aggressive and modern, but feels just far enough removed from the software-driven cars of today that it’s still focused on the driving experience. The exterior styling in particular when it comes to the FL5 Type R (launched in 2023) compared to the more angular FK8 that proceeded it seems to be less divisive. It looks slightly less like it’s come off the screen of an anime, for better or worse. Some specific praise can be levelled at the toning-down of decorative elements that made the FK8 look overly busy. But that doesn’t mean it’s any less suited to total road domination. The FK8, a car I spent plenty of time in during the late 2010s, won awards all over the world for its prowess.  I’ve driven the FL5 on track, but not on public bitumen before this road test. It was immediately obvious this car holds the same ability to turn from a sharp yet manageable city car into a slick corner-hunting weapon outside of urban areas. Nothing had been lost between FK8 and FL5. Praise be. The current Type R continues to be arguably the most capable hot hatch around, with its individual elements - steering, brakes, clutch, all of it - working perfectly and obediently to make this Civic move as quickly as possible. And with little fuss. The front tyres are surely working hard, but there’s mechanical grip in abundance and the helical limited-slip differential ensures traction. It also does this without sacrificing ride quality. Even in Comfort there’s cornering ability on tap, while Sport or R+ don’t turn the chassis into a giant shaker. It's the rear axle that’s particularly impressive, though. Its multi-link rear follows the MacPherson and dual-axis strut fronts with such compliance it’s as if the engineers whipped a fear of rebelling into the Type R’s back-end. During most road tests, there’s little point in trying to push a car - even a sports car - to 10 tenths. Most people won’t and it’s not sensible to try. But, more than most cars, the Type R feels like you could if you wanted to. On a winding road outside of Melbourne, the Type R felt mechanically flawless. Its shift-feel is smooth but decisive, steering is precise and weighted perfectly for input adjustment, throttle response and brakes require no guesswork, and even its seat should hold most drivers in a sturdy position. No notes. The boring bits when it comes to Type R ownership aren’t as grim as you might expect from such a pricey hot hatch. Where some performance cars would push fuel consumption into double-figures, the Type R’s mill only sipped 8.9L/100km on a very spirited route with some highway driving either side. Its claimed consumption under WLTP testing is 7.1L, so that feels reasonably achievable. Honda’s warranty and service schedule is also decent, all things considered. The five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty is starting to feel the bare minimum, but Honda’s $199 capped price for the first five services (every 10,000km or 12 months) is excellent.

Nissan has revealed a new light EV called the Pixo, built on the same platform as the new Renault Twingo. With a single grade confirmed but no pricing so far, the 2027 Nissan Pixo is “engineered specifically for European customers” according to the brand, and will be built at Renault's Novo Mesto manufacturing plant in Slovenia. Set to start European customer deliveries in early 2027, it’s unlikely the Pixo will head down under due to its low power output and relatively limited range. With a 27.5kWh LFP battery providing power to a 60kW front-mounted electric motor, the Pixo is capable of a 259km claimed range and is limited to 50kW on DC fast charging. It should take around half an hour to charge from 15 per cent to 80 per cent, according to Nissan. In terms of specification the Pixo almost mirrors the related Renault Twingo, which also has a 60kW motor and a range only a few kilometres longer. The Pixo also features 23 ‘easter eggs’ in the design and details, seemingly including a smiling face in the tail-lights. Nissan Global Design Lead Exterior Designer Masato Koyama said the Pixo’s diminutive design plays into its intention as a city car. “Pixo proves that great things can come in small packages.  “Its compact dimensions make it a natural fit for Europe’s cities, but we’ve worked hard to maximise the space within them, creating a cabin that feels open, practical and surprisingly roomy.  “I can’t wait to see how our customers embrace this bold and fun new EV – that is perfectly suited to urban environments.”  At just 3796mm long and 1790mm wide, the Pixo is properly small, though its surprisingly spacious boot offers up 356L of space with the rear seats up, and 1221L with the seats folded. Its relatively short wheelbase (2492mm) and minimal overhangs allow the Pixo to achieve a 9.9m turning circle, suitable for its intended purpose as a Euro-centric city car. Clíodhna Lyons, Vice President of Product, Brand and Marketing Strategy for Nissan AMIEO said the Pixo is about “giving customers practical alternatives that help reduce the cost of every journey”. "We believe the future of electric mobility isn't about building bigger vehicles with more technology, it's about building smarter vehicles that fit naturally into people's lives.”

Just days after Hyundai unveiled the next generation Tucson, details of the mid-size SUV have been confirmed for the South Korean market. Giving us a glimpse at what we might expect from the 2027 Hyundai Tucson when it lands here next year, drivetrains, design elements and features of the SUV have been outlined for its home market. Already known was the new styling and design language, which Hyundai calls ‘art of steel’. The mid-size SUV adopts the ‘H-shape’ lights, which are becoming more common on Hyundai’s new models, with the Tucson overall more upright and squared-off. At 4700mm long, 1905mm wide and 1685mm tall, the length, width, and wheelbase increased by 60mm, 40mm and 30mm, respectively for more interior space, with 1031mm of second-row headroom. Along with being overall bigger and more spacious, the Tuscon takes on a tougher look, with an XRT grade available from launch, with a unique front grille, wheel arch and skid plate for extra protection if off-roading. The biggest confirmation from South Korea is a choice of two powertrains, both with a turbocharged 1.6-litre four-cylinder petrol engine but one with hybrid assistance. In Australia, hybrids are becoming increasingly important for the brand, so it wouldn’t be at all surprising to see the Tucson go hybrid-only.  If that’s the case, a 180kW total output from the engine and electric motor is the international specification as is a 5.7L/100km combined fuel consumption rate, though those could be slightly adjusted for Australia. Hyundai also says despite the overall larger SUV, the drag coefficient has been lowered from 0.33Cd to 0.30Cd, achieved through active air flaps. Hyundai has also confirmed its AI assistance program called ‘Gleo AI’, described as “an integrated agent powered by a large language model”, will understand “natural, continuous conversation” rather than only simple commands as has been the case with automotive voice controls. New safety features like a redundancy system for the door locks to allow escape and rescue of occupants in emergency situations or a system to brake if the driver mistakenly presses the accelerator should be appealing to the ANCAP-types, while a ‘Memory Reverse Assist’ remembers the vehicle's trajectory during manoeuvres to assist in tricky parking situations. The 2027 Hyundai Tucson is set to be globally revealed in the USA before the end of the year, at which point we expect to learn more information about its Australian arrival.

Land Rover has revealed its toughest vehicles yet. The company has unveiled three new versions of its Wolf Series for the UK Ministry of Defence. The three versions of the 2026 Land Rover Defender include a Tactical Mobility Vehicle (TMV), Mono‑Tactical Mobility Vehicle (M‑TMV) and a Utility Vehicle (UV) according to JLR (Jaguar Land Rover). They’re all built on the Defender’s platform, and were shown off at the brand’s Millbrook proving ground in Bedfordshire last week. The news that JLR and Stellantis are working on a ute model, possibly to be badged as a Defender, coincides with the Wolf Series II reveal. The Land Rover Wolf name has been used since the mid-1990s for Defender-based military vehicles built by the British brand for use in service all over the world. After “more than 62,000 tests” the Defender Wolf Series II vehicles are the first to be badged as such in the current generation of Defender. The intention of the showcase is for JLR’s newly minted Defender Defence Division to compete for the UK Ministry of Defence’s Light Mobility Vehicle tender, as well as for the brand to offer the Wolf Series II for sale to NATO defence organisations. As a vehicle intended for Military service, JLR hasn’t published the exact specifications of the Defender Wolf Series II. What has been published is that the new trio is built on the brand’s “purpose‑engineered D7x architecture” and uses British-made engines. They’re likely modified versions of a JLR diesel engine. Defender Managing Director Patrick McGillycuddy said about as much as the brand is likely to divulge about the vehicles. “Defender Wolf Series II is exceptionally robust and versatile,” McGillycuddy said. “Its D7x monocoque construction enables us to adapt the platform to the wide range of roles and operational requirements demanded by military organisations. “It is a modern successor to the world‑famous Defender Wolf and Land Rovers that have served the British Armed Forces for more than 70 years.  “Designed and engineered in Britain, with an engine built in Wolverhampton, Defender Wolf Series II also delivers sovereign capability.”