Articles by Dom Tripolone

Australia's ever tightening emissions regulations have taken another scalp.

Toyota Australia has responded after Queensland Police alleged an international crime syndicate was targeting its vehicles in the Brisbane region.Between October 20 and December 2, 60 high-end Toyota vehicles, including LandCruisers and Prados, were stolen with the intent to ship the vehicles to the United Arab Emirates, according to Queensland Police. The vehicles were valued at about $9.0M.Several of the vehicles were recovered in Melbourne and Queensland before they headed overseas.Queensland Police have arrested seven men and charged them with more than 300 offences.Brisbane Detective Acting Inspector Russell Joyce said, “This was an extremely complex operation with a disciplined international syndicate allegedly targeting vehicles for personal gain.“The QPS is sending a strong message that offences of this nature will not be tolerated, and police will be relentless in their pursuit of any alleged offender,” he said.Toyota Australia said it has worked closely with the Queensland and Victorian Police to identify the devices used in the thefts.The company said it had implemented security enhancements to counter their effectiveness.In a statement Toyota Australia said, “Toyota is committed to continuously improving vehicle security and has progressively introduced advanced protective measures across its range.“In 2025, Toyota took further steps to enhance security on several models, including the New HiLux, LandCruiser 300 and LandCruiser Prado providing owners with even greater peace of mind,” the statement said.Toyota is going a step further and developing factory approved genuine accessories, which include an additional immobiliser, to combat the issue.The Japanese carmaker is also working on a process to prioritise owners affected by theft to receive replacement vehicles as soon as possible.

Mitsubishi has just slapped a new face on its popular Triton workhorse, but there’s a catch.The new look ute is a special edition only available in Thailand, dubbed the Mega Cab Street Edition. But could it point to a future new look Aussie version?Thailand is where the majority of Aussie-bound utes are built, and the South-East Asian nation is more mad for utes than Aussies, so they sometimes get special treats not for us.It is still very rare that a model gets a completely new face for one variant, which could point to a future facelift for the polarising-looking ute.The current Triton was launched in Australia in early 2024, which means it isn’t due for a proper facelift for a few years yet, but the company might tweak its styling to help boost sales.The biggest change is a new front grille. The Street Edition ditches the three slate grille design of the standard Triton for a blacked-out layout that has shades of the brand’s diamond badge theme.The front lighting signature varies slightly with the bottom fog lights featuring a tweaked shape. And the coloured highlights connecting the three levels of front lighting are gone, too.The lower bumper has been changed to black rather than body colour, which combined with the black grille gives it a meaner look.There aren't the same chrome highlights which feature on several Aussie delivered models.Thai-delivered vehicles are less well equipped than Australian versions, and the Street Edition is a base low-riding version. This means there isn’t much to crow about.It has 17-inch black alloy wheels, and it is only available with a Mega Cab layout, which is a two seat cabin with a sizeable storage area behind (usually called extra cab in Aus).Mitsubishi and other big-name ute makers are under pressure from a wave of new, affordable models arriving from China.These models are often updated very quickly in response to customer demand and feedback, which may force some more established rivals to follow suit and make running changes to vehicles outside the four to five year mid-life update schedule.

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