Articles by Jack Quick

Ute sales in Australia have been ballooning out for years now, but it seems the bubble for this has already popped following consecutive months of declining sales. In May 2025, sales of pick-up and cab-chassis 4x2, pick-up and cab-chassis 4x4, and even pick-up and cab-chassis over $100,000 were all down compared to the same month last year and year-on-year. This means not only sales for Thai-made utes like the Ford Ranger and Isuzu D-Max, among others, are down, but also larger, typically North American-made full-size pickups like the Chevrolet Silverado and Ford F-150 are down. It’s the second month in a row where all the ute segments have experienced a drop in sales both year-on-year and compared to the same month last year. This follows a downward trend for overall new vehicle sales. It’s expected new car sales in 2025 won’t beat the record high of 2024. Utes that have experienced some of the sharpest downturns in sales year-to-date (YTD) include the Ford F-150 (534 sales, down 35.5 per cent), Ford Ranger 4x2 (1299 sales, down 47.3 per cent), KGM SsangYong Musso (882 sales, down 41.8 per cent), Nissan Navara 4x2 (162 sales, down 67.1 per cent), Ram 3500 (5 sales, down 81.5 per cent), and the Volkswagen Amarok (2434 sales, down 37.8 per cent). Sales of utes like the Ford Ranger and Toyota HiLux gained a considerable amount of popularity during COVID times and when the instant asset write-off scheme threshold was higher. Utes have historically always been popular in the business and fleet space in Australia, but over the last decade or so they’ve become more popular for private buyers. This is evidenced by the Ford Ranger, which is more popular with private buyers in 4x4 guise. The Ranger and HiLux have been tussling for the top position for the better side of a decade now, with the former claiming the podium for the last two years. As previously reported, Toyota Australia Vice President Sales, Marketing and Franchise Operations, Sean Hanley, said the dominance of dual-cab utes will come to an end this year and an SUV could be the best-selling car for the first time ever. This SUV could be the Toyota RAV4. In May, a total of 4003 examples of the RAV4 were sold. Despite this being down 27.4 per cent on the same month last year, it was still the third best-selling car for the month, behind only the HiLux and Ranger. “We already know that the number of ute models available to Australian buyers will expand rapidly,” said Mr Hanley back in January. “They’ll be competing for an overall ute market that is likely to remain steady, which suggests that the average sales per model will come down as a result.” “It may be, and I stress maybe, that an SUV could rise to the top of the national sales charts in the next year or two, and just maybe that SUV will be a Toyota RAV4 Hybrid.” Toyota has since unveiled a new-generation version of the RAV4 which is set to arrive locally in the first half of 2026. At this stage it’s unclear whether this will impact the potential of the RAV4 achieving the sales title in Australia this year, though at some point production of the current model will wind down to make way for the new model.

Hybrids, specifically plug-in hybrids (PHEVs), are selling stronger than they ever have in Australia, and China’s Leapmotor is expecting to cash in on this trend with its newest model.

Although it was only introduced locally in 2024, GWM’s Tank 500 SUV has been on sale in China since 2022 and it has now been spied in an updated form.

The current-generation Renault Koleos has been on sale in Australia for over nine years now and it seems it will be sticking around for another year as another minor tweak has been made.

Volkswagen has locked in the local specification details for its forthcoming Tayron large SUV ahead of first arrivals in September.

MG Australia has finally rolled out the safety update to its MG5 small sedan following it receiving a zero-star ANCAP safety rating back in 2023. The local independent safety authority has now tested this updated model, which went into production from November 2024 and awarded it a three-star rating. It’s worth noting that MG5 examples built before November 2024 still have a zero-star rating. This safety update has brought standard features like seatbelt pre-tensioners and load limiters for the front and rear outboard seats, upgraded autonomous emergency braking (AEB) and lane-keep assist, as well as seatbelt reminders for all seats for all models across the line-up. The pre-update car had a less sophisticated AEB system, and the entry-level MG5 Vibe only featured a seatbelt warning on front seats. Frontal offset and full-width crash tests were conducted to assess the effectiveness of the seat and load limiters, as well as additional whiplash and pedestrian impact tests. ANCAP noted it saw “enhanced crash performance” in both the frontal offset and full-width tests thanks to the improved restraint systems. Reduced injury risk was noticed for the driver and front passenger, as well as the rear occupants. The “most significant area of improvement” was noted with the MG5’s active safety capability, mainly due to the enhanced AEB system. While there is a new lane-keep assist system fitted, ANCAP noted its performance for emergency lane-keep assist was Marginal. Although the MG5 has picked up a wide range of new safety features with this update, it still lacks a number of commonplace features including blind-spot monitoring and a centre airbag, among others. “We commend MG for taking the opportunity to elevate the safety performance of the MG5. This upgrade demonstrates important progress,” said ANCAP Chief Executive Officer Carla Hoorweg. “While this rating is a step up, it’s important that consumers and fleet operators recognise there are still safety limitations with this model, and that there are other vehicles on the market that offer more robust safety performance.” At this stage MG hasn’t communicated pricing for the updated MG5 sedan line-up. Thanks to an end of financial year deal, it currently starts at $24,990 drive-away for the MG5 Vibe, and extends to $29,990 drive-away for the MG5 Essence.

BMW Australia is currently recalling 2947 examples of the E9x-generation 3 Series as they are fitted with defective Takata airbags.

In Japan Subaru has reportedly detailed plans to unveil a new prototype at this year’s Japan Mobility Show in October. As reported by Japanese publication Best Car Web, it’s speculated this new prototype will preview a new-generation WRX sports car. Subaru even showed off a shadowy picture of what appears to be this new prototype, as reported by Best Car Web. It looks like a WRX with a bonnet scoop and pronounced front and rear spoilers. This new prototype will also reportedly receive a new horizontally opposed (Boxer or flat) engine. At this stage specifications have not been disclosed, although it will reportedly support E20 carbon-neutral fuel. Subaru also reportedly hinted this new Boxer engine will support electrification, either as a hybrid or plug-in hybrid (PHEV). Additionally, it’ll come with an “evolved” version of its symmetrical all-wheel-drive system that it has been using in the Super Taikyu Series in Japan. This new prototype will reportedly be used for next year’s Fuji 24 Hours race. Subaru has historically used racing as a testing ground for developing its future technologies and products, much like Toyota. “We want to value customers who choose Subaru,” said Subaru Chief Technology Officer Tetsuo Fujiniki to Best Car Web when translated from Japanese to English. “We will continue to make cars that will help them do so.” At this stage it’s unclear if this new Boxer powertrain will eventually lead to a new WRX STI. The current-generation Subaru WRX was unveiled in 2021 and launched locally during 2022. It’s the first generation to be available without an STI performance flagship. Subaru did however reveal the S210 prototype earlier this year, noting it as the “pinnacle of the STI complete cars”. It’s likely not going to be sold outside of Japan, however.

Toyota has been floating the idea of reviving the FJ Cruiser for years now and it appears to be closer than ever.

BMW has globally unveiled some tweaks to its Tesla Model 3-rivalling i4 electric liftback that are set to go into production from July. Gone is the high-performance BMW i4 M50, and in its place is the new i4 M60. This dual-motor all-wheel drive flagship now produces a total system output of 442kW of power, which is up 42kW on the outgoing i4 M50. BMW claims the i4 M60 is capable of doing the 0-100km/h sprint in 3.7 seconds, which is 0.2 seconds faster than the i4 M50. Total speed is unchanged at 225km/h. While there is extra power, it has come at the expense of claimed range. The i4 M60 is claimed to be able to travel up to 433km, according to WLTP testing, whereas the i4 M50 was claimed to be able to travel up to 480km, according to WLTP testing. This is despite all i4s from July production onwards getting silicon carbide semiconductor components, which in the entry-level i4 eDrive35 is claimed to reduce energy consumption by 4.5 per cent and add up to 22km of range. These latest additions and changes to the BMW i4 line-up follows a minor facelift that was unveiled in April 2024. At this stage this updated model still hasn’t arrived in Australia. "Any updates regarding the BMW i4 line-up for Australia will be announced in due course," said a BMW Australia spokesperson. This update brought subtle exterior revisions including new grille designs, different LED headlight signatures, new alloy wheels, as well as more paint colours. The car also received the option of Laserlight rear lights in the style of the M4 CSL. Inside there was a new steering wheel, reduced physical buttons and controls on the instrument panel, new interior trim elements, CraftedClarity glass applications, as well as ambient lighting as standard. The BMW i4 launched locally back in 2022 as an all-electric counterpart to the 4 Series Gran Coupe, which has been subsequently axed in Australia. In the first four months of 2024, BMW sold a total of 382 i4 examples, which is down 42.4 per cent year-on-year. For context, Tesla sold a total of 2266 Model 3 examples over the same period of time. Hyundai also sold 58 Ioniq 6 examples and Polestar sold 179 Polestar 2 examples.