Articles by Dom Tripolone

Move over America, there is a new big SUV titan in town. China’s love affair with oversized SUVs isn’t slowing down, with MG’s premium brand IM Motors showing off its new hybrid behemoth.

Hyundai is about to drop a new cut-price mid-size electric SUV in the Australian market, which should worry BYD and Tesla.

Rumours of the quick demise of electric car batteries have been greatly exaggerated.

Mercedes-Benz has sharpened the pencil on two of its C-Class models.The German carmaker has slashed more than $15,000 off the price of its performance-focused C43 AMG, which now starts at $123,800 (before on-road costs).Benz hasn’t stopped there, it has even added more standard kit to the car to enhance its value even further.The C43 now comes with several packages as standard that add black leather with red contrast stitching AMG seats, AMG steering wheel wrapped in Nappa leather and microfibre,  red brake calipers, a racetrack-focused driving mode, track driving telematics and a darkened grille and dark chrome exterior badging.It uses the same 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine with mild hybrid assistance matched to a nine-speed automatic driving all four wheels.Mercedes has given the C43 a power bump to 310kW, up from 300kW, thanks to an engine recalibration. Torque remains at 500Nm.The German brand has also increased the value of the C300, with extra kit for only an extra $100.Priced from $98,200 (before on-road costs), it now has increased active driver aids, updated headlights with adaptive high beam, a Burmester 3D stereo and Mercedes-Benz augmented reality navigation.Mercedes-Benz is having a solid 2025, having improved sales by about 16 per cent through the first six months of the year, after several years of declines.The C-Class is down about 27 per cent for the year until the end of June, but it is nipping at the heels of the BMW 3 Series for the best-selling compact luxury sedan in Australia this year.

Captiva is back but not as you might recognise it.

There is now less risk in buying a used electric car. Auction house Pickles has launched a new EV battery health score for the used electric cars it sells.

Geely is giving people what they want.

Toyota has just proven it can sell a lot of electric cars.The bZ3X was launched in China several months ago, with prices starting at about the equivalent of A$24,000. That’s a shockingly cheap EV.It is also slightly cheaper than the BYD Atto 3 in China, which is a better comparison, indicating it would be closer to $40,000 if it ever landed here.It has proven immensely popular in China, with more than 20,000 units delivered to customers and a total of 30,000 orders, according to the brand’s official Weibo social media post.Toyota Australia’s sole electric car, the bZ4X, is not a strong seller with only 427 units finding a new home through the first six months of this year.The bZ3X is produced by Toyota’s joint venture with Chinese maker GAC. It shares its underpinnings with GAC’s Aion V electric SUV, which was due to go on sale in Australia this year.In China the bZ3X is available with three different sizes of lithium-iron phosphate (LFP) batteries: 50kWh, 58kWh and 68kWh. Driving range is either 430km, 520km or 610km depending on the size of the battery. All these ranges are calculated using the more lenient China Light-duty vehicle Test Cycle (CLTC), expect range to be about 20 per cent worse if using the benchmark WLTP measurement. It is powered by a single electric motor that makes either 150kW or 165KW, depending on the variant, and drives the front wheels.It is also fitted with advanced self driving technology, which is a major selling point in China. Inside there is a huge 14.6-inch central multimedia display and a smaller digital driver display.Toyota has given no indication the bZ3X will be sold outside of China, but if it continues t be a red hot seller, it may prove too good to ignore.

There’s a new entrant into China’s power wars.

Black is back in fashion.