Articles by Chris Thompson

One of China's biggest car brands has a special Australia-focused model set for reveal later this year.During the recent arrival of BYD’s Zhengzhou cargo ship carrying thousands of new BYDs for waiting customers, the brand’s global VP and local COO confirmed the brand has an Australia-only model on the way.Liu Xueliang, Group Vice President of BYD and General Manager of BYD Asia-Pacific Auto Sales Division, was asked by journalists about models designed with Europe in mind - like the BYD Dolphin G revealed a week ago -  and whether they could come to Australia.“We have another special model, just for Australian customers,” Liu told journalists via translator, but wouldn’t be drawn on further details.Chief Operating Officer of BYD Australia Stephen Collins said no more could be said yet, but that the brand will “have more to say about that later in the year”.Given BYD already has a model seemingly built for the Australian psyche, the Shark 6 plug-in hybrid ute, it’s not yet clear what the Oz-specific BYD could be.A strong possibility at this stage is the apparent monocoque chassis ute, which has been spied testing numerous times in camouflage.According to Chinese government documents, the brand is planning more capacity for a ‘plug-in hybrid pick-up’ at its Zhengzhou production facility, though it doesn't mention the Shark 6.Spy photos show the ute with what appears to be a front-end similar to the likes of the BYD Sealion 5, and a small tub at the rear attached to a car-like dual-cab set-up.What could be China’s severely belated answer to car-based utes like the Holden Crewman, though previous expectations were that this model would be sold in China as well as other markets where small utes are popular, like South America.BYD is, in any case, expanding its line-up of Shark 6 ute variants to nab more share in the persistently competitive category here in Australia, so we will have to wait and see whether more information comes to light around BYD’s special model for Australia.

The first arrival of a BYD-owned shipping vessel to Australia has caused a stir as the brand’s top brass is confident troubles with supply in its home nation won’t affect Australian demand.The BYD Zhengzhou docked at the Port of Melbourne carrying 4809 BYD vehicles destined for Australian customers, part of a promise to deliver 30,000 new cars in the second quarter of 2026.BYD has already more than doubled its sales in the first quarter of 2026 compared to Q1, 2025, and if 30,000 vehicles are added to the existing count before halfway through the year, BYD will finish the first half with a remarkable 55,000 new cars sold in Australia.But on the morning media were given a tour of the BYD Zhengzhou in what could arguably be called a fanfare event, Toyota Australia announced it “has secured an additional 10,000 vehicles for local customers in 2026”.Toyota sold 59,675 cars in Q1 to BYD’s 25,243. BYD also remains behind Mazda, Kia, and Ford.The timing suggests Toyota wanted to remind Australian buyers who is number one in the sales race, but BYD’s commitment to meeting demand for electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) is clear, and the brand’s top brass didn’t hesitate to say as such.Liu Xueliang, Group Vice President of BYD and General Manager of BYD Asia-Pacific Auto Sales Division, told Australian media during a conference in Port Melbourne that despite battery supply challenges in the brand’s home market, BYD would meet demand in Australia.Via interpreter, Mr Liu told CarsGuide that even at home in an EV-saturated market, BYD’s outlook is optimistic.“Sales in China have begun to recover in Q2, we achieved 380,000 units sold in May just past. “Growth has tightened a bit, but that does not affect supply to markets including Australia.“This is just one of our ships, but we’ve got many other ships that are arriving in Australia.”While Mr Liu wouldn’t be drawn on Toyota’s announcement, the theme that returned many times during the conference was BYD’s ownership of its own supply chain, and the control that grants.Given Australia’s demand for plug-in hybrids and EVs in 2026 is higher than it has been by huge margins, Liu Xueliang said this wouldn’t be the first time a BYD-owned ship would be seen in an Australian port.

BYD has once again made a move to one-up its international rival Tesla by offering full liability coverage for its ‘God’s Eye’ advanced driver assistance system (ADAS).The brand announced at its ‘Intelligence Strategy Launch Event’ that it would cover “all resulting economic losses” from an accident resulting from use of BYD’s Urban Navigate on Autopilot (NOA) function, part of its God’s Eye ADAS suite.The move comes as part of a commitment to spend A$20.5 billion on investment into ADAS and self-driving, alongside revealing what it claims is China’s first mass-produced 4-nanometer (4nm) autonomous driving chip.BYD has also announced that its entire line-up can be equipped with the top-spec LiDAR version of God’s Eye, enabling level 3 and 4 self-driving.In China, BYD customers are able to purchase a one-year plan to cover use of God’s Eye 5.0.BYD says the policy states “if a legally-liable accident occurs while a user is operating the Urban NOA function in compliance with regulations, BYD will directly cover all resulting economic losses”.BYD cites the reason for this confidence as being down to its “3.15 million Intelligent Driving Assistance vehicles on the road” resulting in around 200 million kilometres logged every day, plus the brand’s huge R&D team of 5000 engineers, which it claims is the largest in China’s automotive industry.God’s Eye has also received an AI-based “hyper‑realistic digital assistant” for use by the driver in the cabin, which BYD claims results in a “continuously evolving in-car experience”.The tech and God’s Eye damage coverage is currently only available in China, while Tesla’s ‘Full Self Driving (FSD) Supervised’ is available in equipped models in Australia, though Tesla won’t take any of the blame for accidents that occur during its use.

The pile-on continues days after Maranello revealed its first electric car, with Lamborghini's CEO implying Ferrari has made a misstep with the new model.The 2026 Ferrari Luce debuted this week, designed by Jony Ive (of original iPhone fame) alongside Australian design veteran Marc Newson, and the internet has not reacted well.Nor has Ferrari’s customer base and investors - a drop in stock price of more than 6 per cent punctuated markets opening the day after the reveal.After that, external criticism from notable figures in the media and wider industry now includes Lamborghini CEO Stephan Winkelmann.While not the same direct admonishment as was handed down by former Ferrari boss Luca di Montezemolo who said he hopes “they at least remove the prancing horse from that car”, Winkelmann told CNBC plug-in hybrids are “the right way to go”.While he wouldn’t be drawn on directly commenting on the Luce as “ speak about its competitors”, he said “by observing the market ... we saw that the acceptance curve for our type of customers is not increasing, and that therefore we decided to move away from a full-electric car into a plug-in hybrid”.“Every brand, every company has to decide for themselves.”Lamborghini recently reversed plans to build a new model EV, the Lanzador, as well as an electric Urus, in favour of PHEV technology.Ferrari, on the other hand, went ahead with the move.Winkelmann’s comments and the more direct criticism from di Montezemolo aren’t the only high-profile snippets of ‘feedback’ aimed at Maranello, with Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister (and Transport Minister) Matteo Salvini having taken to X (formerly Twitter) to say “electric, incredibly expensive (€550,000!), and aesthetically speaking, it speaks for itself... It looks anything but a Prancing Horse car”.“And this is supposed to be ‘innovation’? I wonder what Enzo Ferrari would say…," he said.The technology under the Luce hasn’t been as widely criticised as its design departure from Ferrari’s tradition - 772kW and 990Nm from four electric motors and a 0-100km/h sprint in 2.5 seconds would be welcome in most other stables.

The small SUV market is getting busy. Plenty of aggressively affordable models are here, arriving, or soon to land thanks to the boom in China’s international new car market.Cars like the Kia Seltos can’t win on price alone anymore, as may have been the case in the past.It’s a good thing, then, that Kia has a new Seltos with some fresh tricks like a hybrid system for Australia and an interior that wouldn't look out of place in much more expensive Kias.This car isn’t due in Australia for some time - around October should be the launch - but an international preview in South Korea gave us a pretty solid look at what we can expect from Kia’s new small SUV.We don’t know quite how much the Seltos will cost just yet, but we have some clues.Given the last-gen Seltos pricing and the market positioning of the very closely related Hyundai Kona, we expect the Seltos to start in the high $30,000 region, before on-road costs.Chances are its line-up will look a lot like the previous Seltos range, with a few options ranging from a relatively basic ‘S’ to the fully-specified GT-Line.Specifications and features are also yet to be determined. The cars available to us during the test were likely representative of GT-Line cars that will arrive in Australia, with panoramic sunroofs, heated and vented seats, adjustable interior ambient lighting, synthetic leather upholstery and a large screen display.The three-part screen unit consists of 12.3-inch screens - one touchscreen for multimedia and one for the driver display - either side of a 5.0-inch touchscreen for climate controls. As is often the case with this section of the screen arrangement in Kias, it’s out of sight behind the steering wheel when you’re in a driving position.If you’ve been in a recently designed Kia like the EV3 or EV5, the interior design and layout will look familiar. There are still physical buttons and controls for important functions, as well as shortcuts to key sections in the multimedia menus, but the overall layout is relatively tidy.The driving position works well, visibility is good thanks to decently-sized windscreen and windows, and the seats are comfortable enough for a full day of driving.The second row is spacious enough for an adult on a decent drive, Kia says there’s another 20mm of legroom because the Seltos is now slightly bigger than the previous generation - 45mm longer with a 60mm longer wheelbase.There’s also 536 litres of boot space, and in Australia under that will be a spare wheel. This means we won’t have vehicle-to-load (V2L) capability, but it seems the sensible trade-off for Australia if only one of the two is up for grabs.In Australia, the drivetrain will be a hybrid-assisted 1.6-litre four-cylinder petrol engine mated to a six-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission.We’re expecting a front-wheel drive version with outputs to be approximately 113kw/265Nm, plus an all-wheel drive with 131kW, though its rear wheels will be powered by an electric motor and not mechanically connected to the front wheels.The hybrid version will be it for Australia, with the brand forgoing petrol-only variants. This means more efficiency to be expected from the new Seltos, and while Kia hasn’t provided indicative fuel economy expectations for this variant, the Korean test drive provided some insight.While not a perfect indication of the efficiency we can expect in Australia (given South Korea’s roads are flatter, straighter and slower for the most part), our test averaged between 4.8L/100km and 6.1L/100km. Tyre pressures were a few kilopascals higher than you’d expect them to be on an average Australian commute, by the way.We’re going to wait until later this year for a more definitive judgement on the Seltos, but first signs are impressive.Of course, a local Australian tune is already in the works thanks to Kia Australia’s Chief Engineer for Ride and Handling, Graeme Gambold, but the starting point built to suit the Korean market is a good basis.It’s soft and can get wafty on uneven surfaces, but generally easy to control in dynamic cornering without sacrificing comfort on long stretches of old roads.We can expect a firmer tune for better input response here in Australia, with the aim of reduced body roll and more accurate steering.The drivetrain, aside from its efficiency, is also a big plus for the Seltos, though its regenerative braking caused a couple of unexpected minor lurches during braking.While not entirely lacking urgency, keen drivers might be disappointed by the outputs, especially in front-drive.The nature of Korea’s highways and roads meant we were only able to get a matter of minutes rather than hours of twisty-road dynamic driving in, but given Kia Australia’s history of decent suspension work, there’s reason to expect the new Seltos will handle well once it lands in Australia.

The Toyota-owned Lexus brand has given the motoring world some truly desirable sports cars, and even a legendary supercar.Yamaha-tuned naturally aspirated 5.0-litre V8 engines have graced the engine bays of sedans, coupes and tourers, and a similarly developed 4.8-litre V10 found under the long bonnet of the Lexus LFA supercar is often cited as one of the world's best-sounding.More accessible, the still-available (for now) Lexus LC500 sounds like a NASCAR on the limiter, and the back-to-basics dynamics of cars like the relatively recent RC F were a far cry from the ‘retirement-spec’ Lexus SUVs that make up the bulk of the brand’s sales (and, at times, image).At the Australian launch of the updated 2026 Lexus RZ electric SUV, CarsGuide asked the brand’s local top brass where the next desirable halo model is coming from.Lexus Australia Chief Executive Jack Hobbs said, for now, the F Sport models available in the line-up and cars like the LBX Morizo have enough pep to fill customer demand for performance.“Certainly you know we'd love to have those sorts of products in our suite,” he told CarsGuide.“At the same time I think we've got enough offerings through the F Sport grades across the model range, and offerings like the LBX Morizo to, I guess, extend the range enough at this point in time.”While Lexus doesn’t quite have a high-performance aspirational model like the LFA - not even the limited-run RZ 600e F Sport Performance seems to fit the bill - the Lexus LFA Concept unveiled in stages as the Lexus Sport Concept in 2025 is starting to become more concrete.It’s just that it’s a battery electric vehicle.Strategic Communications Manager Nam Luong added some context around what the brand sees as its future direction, focussing on mobility and luxury rather than outright performance.“Yes, I think what you saw at the Japan Mobility Show in the Discover concepts, what we're looking at is broadening the expansion of the model range to encompass multiple forms of mobility, in terms of land, sea and air.”Other concepts that joined the LFA under the ‘Discover’ banner included a high-end people mover, the LS Concept, and a high-riding LS Coupe Concept sedan. Autonomous personal pods and even water-faring luxury yachts are part of the vision.“From a land perspective, the LFA concept has a role to play from that performance point of view, but what we're trying to identify is, well, how do we create a Lexus experience ecosystem beyond just the land element, seeing where and what Lexus Australia can continue to deliver on is also ‘what is that lifestyle experience’ that we can provide to our customers as well.”

Kia’s head of global product planning has fired a cheeky shot at rival brands, said he believes no brand is as well-prepared as Kia for the world’s unpredictable automotive market.Spencer Cho, Kia’s Senior Vice President and Head of the Global Business Planning Subdivision, said it’s impossible to know what the industry might look like in the future, but being prepared for as many possibilities as reasonable is the best answer.Speaking with Australian media at the launch of the new-generation 2026 Kia Seltos, Cho said that he thinks no one can know how global events will affect the industry.Trying to predict the events that might change the way brands need to operate is impossible, he said, but understanding what needs to be done to respond can’t be known until after the fact.“Let me put it this way. If I can say that I can expect everything… that's not possible,” Cho said.The US-Israel war in Iran and the effects it has had on global oil shipping is front-of-mind for Cho.“No one can expect this kind of war will happen, and also a couple years ago for Russia and Ukraine, no one can expect that kind of thing.”"But what we are doing is we carefully monitor the market demand or market changes. And development of product takes quite some time. We should create very sound product strategies, and we have to maintain those strategies in a consistent manner.”Rather than scrambling to respond to changes in the industry, Cho said Kia has built enough options to be able to react quickly in a ‘here’s one we prepared earlier’ manner.“Thankfully, we studied the EV transition quite earlier than any other brand. There are also some ups and downs, but the transition and the trend stays the same, just the differences are a little bit of this slow down. So speed might be the difference.”He says the key is not drastically changing for short-term gain, rather slightly adjusting without removing options for the future. Essentially, giving EVs a boost shouldn’t mean forgetting to continue ICE development, he said.“But we stay in the course to maintain the development of the planned EV models entering each global market, step by step. Yet we're still developing the all new ICE models as well as you see in the new Seltos. “So one of the key strengths we have is all the technologies, the diesel or gasoline or hybrid and plug-ins and EVs.”“So we have all the options in our hands. “Certain market ups and downs… hybrid is rising, we can provide hybrid models. If EV is coming, we can provide EVs. So thankfully, we have all the technologies in our hands, and we have the all the product lineup as well.”Cho took a cheeky swipe at rivals, too, rare for a senior executive. He said Kia’s strength globally is its range of cars available from the budget end, Picanto for example, through to hybrids, plug-ins, and more expensive performance cars or large electric SUVS.“So that's probably one of the strengths Kia has compared to other brands. I don't know whether you can name any other OEMs better than us in the case of the product line-up as of today.”

Kia’s global product planning boss confirmed the brand has pumped the brakes on two rumoured models, a small EV and a new SUV.While many anticipated an even smaller electric SUV to join the brand’s line-up below the Kia EV2 - something as a twin to the Hyundai Inster - it’s been confirmed the brand won’t be adding any new model lines in the near future.This also means the potential for an SUV sibling to the Kia Tasman, which would follow the popular trend of ute-based SUVs, is off the cards.Spencer Cho, Kia’s Senior Vice President and Head of the Global Business Planning Subdivision said adding more products to the range wouldn’t be useful when the brand’s line-up is “big enough” already.When asked about the rumoured Tasman-based SUV, which CarsGuide had been told had been discussed within Kia Australia at a conceptual level, Cho told journalists the focus is solely on options within the existing line-up at the moment.“Well, there might be options, but at this point, we are trying to focus on what we can and what we can do better, and of course, we can give much more choices to the customers,” he said. “At this time, as you know, we have the ICE line-up, and we also have close to the full EV line-up as well.“So our model line-up itself is big enough. “Instead of adding other model lines, we try to focus on product improvement and also improve our competitiveness with what we have in our hands right now.”Cho’s comment about Kia having ‘close to the full EV line-up’ might seem to point to the potential for a smaller EV to sit below the EV2 (which won’t come to Australia at this stage).The idea of a Kia EV1 has been floated by Kia representatives in interviews with media, especially in Europe, but Cho said the current line-up of EVs needs the brand’s attention for the foreseeable future.“We will consider any opportunities for the new segment, but at this moment, we are very much focused on the EV line-up we have right now. “As you may know already, we have almost a full range of the EV line-up in this moment. We recently launched EV2 in the European market, and EV3 is the one of the global success models we have. Cho pointed out the series of EV models Kia has now spans EV2 through EV3, 4, 5, 6, and 9, with the chances of anything extending that on either side of the smallest and largest models unlikely.“We already have the full range of the SUVs, so we are open to develop any spaces or any market demand for new products, but we already have good choices of the line-ups, so we will focus on what we have today.“We will keep an eye on any opportunities in the marketplace, smaller than EV2, but probably the chances are quite less, because the EV1 or whatever, smaller than the EV2 target market is not that much bigger than the global market. “So a simple answer is, we will focus on what we already have in the BEV lineups, even just the EV models.”

It’s no secret Kia’s entry into the ute market has been rocky.The Kia Tasman was introduced with a couple of goals: an annual sales target of 80,000 units globally, and about 20,000 in Australia.For 2026 up to the end of April, Kia Australia has sold 1658 Tasmans, bringing its total sales since launch to 5854.While the Tasman’s engine - a 2.2-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel - doesn’t put it at a disadvantage amongst its peers, the ute’s design has been divisive to say the least.Just this week, Kia Australia pulled one emergency lever in the form of a massive price cut in excess of $10,000 for some variants.But that’s not all the brand has in mind, with its global executives paying close attention to the ute’s fortunes in Australia. Spencer Cho, Kia’s Senior Vice President and Head of the Global Business Planning Subdivision, didn’t mince words when asked about the ute’s global sales performance.“So the answer is clearly, we are not satisfied yet,” Cho said.“We have a lot of expectations, and we are still in the starting point, and we still have a lot of time… so we will carefully monitor the market.”Cho specified the Australian market’s tumultuous reception to the brand’s HiLux and Ranger rival was of particular interest to the global executive team, given Australia’s seemingly unending fascination with utes.“The reactions and early disappointment we have in the Australian market, that gave us a lot of good lessons, then we will provide the counter measures for the coming years.“We will have other power train choices, if we can, and also other design changes or improvements, or any other offerings for new features and content and technology.“Currently we are working on every area in which we can improve the performance of the Tasman, especially in the Australian market.”Specifically regarding new powertrains for the Tasman, he clarified “all the options are on the table right now”.A 2.5-litre turbo four-cylinder petrol-hybrid version of the Tasman has reportedly been testing, and flagged by Kia Australia as the most logical option if a new drivetrain is to be introduced.“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,” Kia Australia General Manager of Product Planning Roland Rivero has told CarsGuide.Kia’s top brass is further willing to do whatever it takes to bring the Tasman’s performance up to scratch, Cho said, once feedback is clear in terms of what needs to be improved.“As long as we have the clear market reactions to improve the initial areas, then we will go all the way.”“We are not just looking at the short term solutions right now. So we are working on, right now, the short term and the midterm solutions at the same time.”In terms of Kia’s measure of success for any changes made to the Tasman, feedback from Kia Australia and its customers is set to be a big part of the planning process.“Of course, we have the internal targets to position the Tasman in the right place, which we expected, and also we are monitoring the customer feedback and the market reactions, throughout digital media and also the customer voices. “And as we, as you know, Kia Australia is getting a lot of the feedback from the media and also the dealers and also the actual customers.”Kia Australia is also not shying away from the issues facing the Tasman, with a spokesperson telling CarsGuide earlier this year the brand has “been quite vocal, and been with this car in particular”."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.”

MG’s getting rather good at building cars that don’t feel so… cheap.For some time after Chinese state-owned manufacturer SAIC Motor took over the historically British brand, MG’s passenger cars seemed destined to be driven into the ground and replaced, but that’s not the case now.Not only has the brand’s formerly ‘cheap and barely cheerful’ MG3 become a decent hatchback, MG has started building properly good electric cars.The 2026 MG S5 EV, as much as Audi might have an issue with that name, is one of them.The small electric SUV is not only affordable when you consider what you get (as in many such cases with Chinese cars), but it’s also quite a decent drive.For $48,990 drive-away, you can have the car pictured, the top-of-the-range S5 EV Essence 62. It’s named as such because, you guessed it, it has a 62kWh battery rather than the smaller 49kWh unit also available in either this or the lower-grade Excite. That’s four grades all up, but we’re sticking at the top.That means the S5 is approaching the price of one of CarsGuide’s favourite electric cars, the Kia EV3 – even if it’s the base EV3 and the features list is somewhat shorter.The Essence 62 has a claimed WLTP rated range of 425km, which isn’t groundbreaking considering similar-sized electric SUVs have been doing this for the better part of a decade – the Hyundai Kona Electric had it beat five years ago with a similarly-sized battery.The Essence 62 also gets the same extensive list of features as the Essence 49, aside from the (90km) longer range.Inside, there’s a 10.25-inch driver display and a 12.8-inch multimedia touchscreen, wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, a six-speaker sound system, a wireless phone charger, surround-view parking camera, heated front seats and steering wheel, V2L capability, keyless entry and start and rain-sensing window wipers.It’s a practical space inside that still retains physical controls for the climate along with buttons on the steering wheel, while the native operating system within the touchscreen is clear and easy to navigate.Its LED daytime running lights, 18-inch alloys, power tailgate, a panoramic sunroof and tinted privacy glass are all giveaways from the exterior, but they’re not my biggest point about the S5’s exterior.Yes, the big thing that very much turns me off the S5 EV is its design. MG’s design language has struck me as a little hodge-podge for a while, and the S5 feels like one of the best examples of why.It has these soft curves and lines that, in a lot of ways, are fairly restrained. There isn’t a lot of unnecessary trim or just lines for the sake of breaking things up.But then there’s the face.The DRLs and headlights create these sharp, angular eyes and an almost war-paint-like shape underneath. Why does this small, family-friendly SUV look so aggressive from the front? It’s got 125kW and 250Nm.Fortunately, it doesn’t feel aggressive from behind the wheel.Those 125kW and 250Nm are put to better use than you might think, but the delivery is progressive and still gives you that little shove as you put your foot down, which you’ll be familiar with if you’re an EV person. It doesn’t feel incredibly urgent and you won’t be spinning the rear wheels (yes, it’s rear-wheel drive!) unless it’s pouring rain… and oil, perhaps. Its steering is arguably too light and lacks communication, but it’s accurate enough and once you’re used to it becomes a bit of a non-issue.The suspension, similarly, is nothing necessarily to write home about, but it’s a big improvement on where your expectations from previous MGs might land.It can be unsettled at times, usually during fast cornering on rough roads, but you wouldn’t expect most people to be doing this in a small electric SUV anyway.It wafts a little after big bumps or undulations in the road, but collects itself quickly enough to not feel sickening as some EVs are prone to.At the same time, it’s not too stiff. Comfortable, practical, a relatively well-judged setup overall.Practicality continues post-purchase, MG’s 10-year/250,000-kilometre warranty includes the battery and you shouldn’t really be worried by that distance limitation. You do need to service with MG to keep the warranty going, though.There’s also a maximum five-star ANCAP safety rating from 2025, plus seven airbags and a long list of active driver-assistance tech that actually seems rather well-calibrated given the overbearing nature of many systems, particularly those from Chinese brands.