Articles by James Cleary

If you don't love this ute, you can give it back - but there's a catch.

Skoda has a big new-model year ahead of it and this Skoda Octavia RS is one of the first arrivals. It combines medium sedan/wagon dynamics with sporty performance, brilliant practicality and top-shelf safety. We find out if it's a better bet than the ubiquitous mid-size SUV.

MG continues to firm up its position as a mainstream player in the Aussie new-car market. The ZS small five-seat SUV has proved a hit with local buyers and a more urgent Essence Turbo variant has been added to the line-up. James Cleary spent time with it to determine if it should be on your new car short list.

Chinese automotive giant BYD has confirmed right-hand drive production of its city-sized Seagull EV for sale in the UK this year, opening up the possibility of the budget-focused five-door coming to Australia.

It may be faster and more powerful than the ‘Hemi’ V8-powered model it replaces but the big question is whether the in-line six-cylinder MY25 Ram 1500 maintains its well-established ‘tough truck' aura with two fewer cylinders under the bonnet.

Mazda finally confirms a hybrid CX-5 replacement will launch in 2027.

Imagine you’re living in another dimension where General Motors decided to keep the Holden brand alive in Australia and the Opel Insignia-based ZB Commodore is still in market.Now take a look at the pictures accompanying this story and that’s more than likely the car that would currently be gracing Holden showrooms across the country.That’s because, despite GM’s sale of Opel to PSA Group in 2017 and the German brand’s transition to Stellantis four years later (in the PSA - Fiat Chrysler Automobiles merger), the Insignia-based car lives on as the Buick Regal in China.And that inter-dimensional Commodore has just received what would surely have been the evergreen Holden’s final facelift.SAIC General Motors is enjoying ongoing success with the Buick brand in the Chinese domestic market with the Regal serving as “a mid-to-high-end car with super driving value”.A 2024 facelift introduced a new grille and bumper treatment to freshen up the car’s look, although its 2018 origins are still clear.But headline news is this month’s introduction of a GS ‘Gran Sport’ high-performance version of the four-door, five-seater.However, rather than the up to 7.5-litre (455ci) V8 engines powering Buick GS muscle cars of the 1960s and early ‘70s, the new Regal offers a 176kW/350Nm version of the ‘Ecotec’ 2.0-litre, four-cylinder, turbo-petrol engine driving the front wheels through a nine-speed auto transmission.Externally the GS sports an ‘Obsidian Black’ grille with cells arranged “in a three-dimensional matrix” and a "fang blade” across its centre. There’s also a black “Tail Wing” spoiler across the boot lid and GS badging front and rear.Underneath the skin the Regal GS’s suspension has been given “European-style sports chassis tuning” and upgraded Brembo brakes are standard, but there are no changes to the interior.Interestingly, owners of 2024 and onwards model Regals will be able to retrofit their car with a GS upgrade kit.SAIC GM says it has sold more than 1.8 million Buick Regals in China over multiple generations and more than two decades on sale. But Holden devotees can only dream of the Holden Commodore GS that could have been.

Believe it or not, exactly two years have passed since the Chery Omoda 5 reestablished the Chinese challenger brand’s presence in the Australian new car market.It was already two years old by the time it hit our shores, so a design and packaging refresh is almost overdue.No surprise, then, that an updated version of the five-seat Omoda 5 small SUV has begun to appear in selected export markets.Changes are mostly cosmetic, including a glow-up for the previous broad, honeycomb-style grille to an equally bold ‘Matrix Grille’ treatment. At the same time the combination headlight pods on either side have been extended downwards and recessed more distinctly to form a more pronounced angular section defining the grille.The Omoda name also sits proudly at the top of the nose, under the leading edge of the bonnet in similar fashion to the current Omoda E5 pure-electric variant, while the slimline LED DRLs are unchanged. Redesigned 18-inch gloss black alloy wheels feature a five-way twin-spoke design.But the updates aren’t all cosmetic with the brand’s packaging boffins tweaking the boot space to increase volume (with rear seats upright) close to 20 per cent from 372 litres (360L quoted in Australia) to 442 litres.The interior is untouched with the sleek dual 10.25-inch screens in place across the dash and broad centre console including a ‘flying buttress’ design to provide a handy lower storage and connectivity space.Similarly, the (108kW /210Nm) 1.5-litre, four-cylinder, turbo-petrol engine driving the front wheels through a CVT auto is unchanged.    When contacted for an update on the revised Omoda 5’s arrival in the local market, Chery Australia told CarsGuide it "doesn't have any confirmed timing for this model as yet".

Toyota has been reaping the benefits of a relatively reserved global electric vehicle strategy, but other makers have been diving into the deep end of the EV pool with offerings in virtually all market categories.Sticking with the petrol-electric hybrid technology it pioneered in the 1990s, the Japanese giant appears to have struck the optimal mix of powertrains to generate consumer demand while dealing with ever-tightening carbon emissions and vehicle sales regulations.But that doesn’t mean Toyota has consigned EVs to the back burner. The bZ4X compact EV SUV has been launched in multiple export markets, including Australia, its larger bZ3X cousin (jointly-developed with GAC) is offered as a budget-focused option in China and the C-HR+ has just launched in Europe.And other EVs are reportedly either under consideration or in the early stages of development as the appetite for electric cars continues to grow, but at a far slower rate than many manufacturers initially believed it would.One long-standing Toyota city-car favourite, seemingly ripe for electrification, is the Yaris and Toyota Motor Europe’s Director of Marketing and Product Development Andrea Carlucci has confirmed an electric successor for the sub-compact five-door is in the company’s plans.Speaking at this week’s launch of the pure-electric C-HR+, Mr Carlucci told Autocar a Toyota electric supermini is likely to arrive in the latter part of the decade but made the point that new EVs in higher volume segments will take priority.When asked about a Yaris EV he said, “This is the idea, but now it is not something we talk about”."We have deliberately decided to start in the fastest-growing segments. The right moment will arrive, but this is not quite now. There will come a time and a place.“For us, it is all about the right car, the right place at the right time. It really is. And at the moment, the expansion you're seeing are the right segments for Europe for us right now,” he said.Interestingly, like the C-HR+, the newcomer is expected to retain the Yaris name, as Carlucci told Autocar that future Toyota EVs would take "familiar" names from “current cars”.And Toyota is not alone in reevaluating its decision to designate its electric models with specific (in this case 'bZ') sub-branding, as Audi has massaged its ‘e-tron’ naming conventions and Mercedes-Benz has integrated its ‘EQ’ models into the brand’s broader model line-up.

Porsche CEO Oliver Blume has addressed the EV-only Macan shaped elephant in the room with news of a complimentary SUV model line, including internal-combustion variants, set to arrive before the end of the decade.