Articles by Tom White

Honda has revealed its latest new offering, a fully electric version of its N-One hatch.The retro-styled N-One has been a regular fixture of Honda’s Japanese domestic line-up since 2012, and the new electric version is designed to be the “Ideal EV for the Japanese market.”The boxy hatch, which is designed to fit into Japan’s strict Kei classification, is equipped with a large enough battery for a 270km driving range to the WLTC procedure, complete with vehicle-to-load and vehicle-to-home features.It maintains the combustion version’s retro exterior design (referencing Honda’s original N360 Kei car from the late 1960s) and has a very minimalistic and space-efficient interior design. Honda said the bonnet and the top of the instrument panel are lined up to improve visibility and accentuate the width of the car, while physical buttons and dials are intentionally maintained in the centre of the dash for ease of use.The N-One e’s bumpers are made from recycled materials discarded from other Hondas. In addition, a bio-resin is used for the dash cladding, and various plastics on the interior are made from recycled PET bottles. As a final touch, the floor carpet and insulation is made from recycled clothes sourced from Honda employees.Like other Kei-class vehicles, the exterior dimensions are small but the rear two seats offer enough room to seat adults, and they can also fold completely flush with the boot floor to maximise storage. The N-One e also scores the brand’s signature magic seats, which can fold up to the seat backs to suit taller objects.Full specifications, including elements like motor power, charging speed, and battery capacity  have yet to be revealed, but it would be unsurprising for them to match the related N-Van e which has already launched to the Japanese market.This would mean a 29.6kWh battery pack able to charge at 50kW on DC for a 30 minute charge time, or a 4.5 hour charge time on a 6kW AC connector. The vehicle-to-load or vehicle-to-home mode has a maximum  output of 1500W.The front-mounted electric motor in the N-Van is expected to be shared with the N-One e and produces just 47kW/162Nm. It features a single-pedal driving mode in both models.Sadly, despite it being built in right-hand drive, the N-One e is likely to remain a Japanese domestic market model. Strict safety standards and the cost to comply the cars for the Australian market generally make these models too expensive or otherwise uncompetitive.Mitsubishi recently evaluated bringing its equivalent EV, the eKX to Australia, but it shelved the idea after admitting that it would be “three star ANCAP or less” and that it was likely to cost more than $30,000 once the work had been completed to comply it for our market.Hyundai recently launched a compact electric city car, the Inster, which starts from $39,000, although it offers significantly more driving range, claimed at up to 327km, and has nearly double the electric motor output.BYD is also considering importing its affordable city-sized electric car, the Seagull, which could have a price-tag in the mid-$20k region.Honda is imminently set to announce new model plans for the Australian market, although its footprint has shrunk in recent years. Currently the Japanese brand offers the HR-V small SUV, ZR-V and CR-V mid-sizers, Civic hatch, and Accord sedan.

Leaked images of a stripped-down Model Y, which Tesla supremo Elon Musk said would be the brand’s more attainable new model, have appeared in China.The Model Y looks exactly the same dimensionally as the current car, but has a few notable changes.Tesla has pulled out the panoramic sunroof, rear entertainment screen, the light bar across the front, and likely the light bar across the rear too (although this isn’t seen in the images).A stripped-down specification for the Americas already existed, with Mexican Model 3s once being available with cloth seats and the rear multimedia screen taken out. This variant was hardly revolutionary on the price front, wiping around the equivalent of $4000 off the price-tag.The Chinese images show the Model Y maintaining the synthetic leather interior, pointing to continued production and equipment differences between the Chinese-built vehicles, which arrive in Australia, and the cars built in and for the Americas.Chinese media is claimed inside sources said the new low-cost Model Y is already in production and will launch, at least domestically, before the end of 2025.A six-seat Model Y with an extended wheelbase was also recently revealed by the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) as a Chinese-market special variant. It is 180mm longer, 45mm taller, with an additional 150mm in the wheelbase. In addition, the six-seat version scores a unique set of wheels and an alternate bumper design.Expect increased diversity from the Model Y in the future as Musk earmarks it for future sales growth. The controversial CEO confirmed the more affordable new model coming from the brand would be a variation of the Model Y and warned investors there would be more “rough” financial quarters ahead.Musk said the biggest obstacle isn’t whether people want the Model Y, it’s simply that they can’t afford it.“The more affordable we can make it, the better,” he told investors.In Australia, Tesla had a significant boost year-on-year thanks to the new and heavily updated Model Y earlier in 2025.The Model Y currently starts from $58,900 for a base rear-wheel drive, it used to be one of the most affordable new electric cars on sale in Australia. It is now comfortably beaten in the SUV space by the Leapmotor C10 (from $45,888) and Geely EX5 (from $40,990). It is also facing stiff competition from the BYD Sealion 7 (from $54,990) and XPeng G6 (from $54,800).BYD’s Sealion 7 has done impressive numbers since its recent arrival, the Leapmotor C10 has yet to set the charts on fire despite its bargain pricing, having moved just 309 units this year. The Geely has fared much better, having moved 1845 units.

The Australasian New Car Assessment Program's (ANCAP) Chief Executive Officer Carla Hoorweg said criticism of its testing protocols was expected given how competitive our new car market now is.Hoorweg added criticism of ANCAP was arguably not just due to established manufacturers having to stump up for increased costs or decreased star ratings, but also because an increasing amount of new five-star ANCAP scores were being achieved by newcomers to the market from China, which were already putting price pressure on rivals.New cars built in China now account for the most new five-star ratings since 2023, accounting for 32 per cent of all new five-star rated models. In comparison, cars sourced from Japan and Germany have shrunk to 19 and 18 per cent respectively.82 per cent of cars put to the test from Japan have a five star rating, while 94 per cent of cars sourced from Germany have a five-star rating. Cars sourced from China are holding an 86 per cent five-star rating from 2023.“It’s disappointing because we know those brands can deliver five star products, so we hope they’re trying to bring those vehicles in. It is a competitive market though, so obviously they’re going to try to change the playing field. is one way they try to do that."The safety authority has been accused of effectively stopping manufacturers from bringing in more affordable cars or versions of cars built in markets with lower safety requirements due to its ever increasing safety standards, which Hoorweg agreed was a source of frustration for manufactures.“It’s true, they wouldn’t be as safe,” she said. “We exist to say, 'you can bring that ASEAN version, but it’s not as safe and it’s not what consumers expect'.”One recent notable example affected by both a potentially low ANCAP score and an increase to Australia’s base new-car safety standards in the Australian Design rules, is Mitsubishi’s ASX successor. If it weren't for ANCAP safety standards the hybrid XForce small SUV sold in right-hand drive for Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia could have made it Down Under.Mitsubishi has been forced to import an ASX based on the Renault Captur from Europe, which will be much more expensive than the outgoing version. Mitsubishi cited high development costs to upgrade the XForce for ruling it out.Some new vehicles from Australia’s favourite brands, which have received less than five-stars in recent years, include the new Suzuki Swift that got one star due to poor crash performance. The Hyundai i30 sedan got three stars for the lack of advanced auto braking and blind spot monitoring as standard as well as poor vulnerable road user protection. The Mahindra Scorpio 4x4 and MG5 sedan that both scored zero stars for poor occupant protection and missing key active safety equipment.MG said it was able to bring its cars in at a lower price by not including all the required active safety equipment, while Mahindra argued its 4x4 comfortably met Australian Design Rules and was rated highly by the far more lenient Global NCAP, which focuses mainly on basic features and structural crash performance.MG brought a raft of upgrades to its MG5 a year after its 2023 launch, which resulted in a revised three-star rating.Hoorweg said some manufacturers would rather challenge the existence of ANCAP altogether, or criticise its messaging, as its increasingly harsh safety standards factor into these new model choices, but the reality is prices ultimately stabilise as companies package together various key technologies.“A lot of arguments get run, but there’s a lot of components which go into a vehicle and there’s a lot which goes into the cost of the car," said Hoorweg.“Safety is one element but what we see is the unit cost goes down, so when a new technology is coming through for the first time it has an expensive per unit cost but that decreases over time and things get bundled together so it decreases .“We’ve seen the real cost of a vehicle which factors in what you’re actually getting. The cost has stuck around $25,000 for a very long time, but what you’re actually getting is a lot more, so the real cost to the consumer has actually decreased. Manufacturers have actually done a great job of keeping those prices that low for a very long time, but we don’t want to see safety be the element that gets blamed for that ,” she said.Hoorweg noted calls to simply allow ratings to fall back to those from vehicle’s home countries or ratings out of Europe would result in some trying to take advantage of the lack of local standards.“There’s a huge opportunity to de-spec cars due to the differences between ADRs and European design rules,” she said.Hoorweg pointed to the Suzuki Swift as being a prime example of a car, which had alarming omissions in the specification delivered to Australia, that resulted in its one-star ANCAP score and three-star EuroNCAP score.Hoorweg added the language on five-star-or-nothing may have been softened a little, the body wouldn't back down on ratcheting standards up every few years, with a new framework starting in January 2026 focusing more heavily on driver assist systems and post-crash survivability."I think there’s enough consumer support and fleet support that there’s not much interest in dropping standards." she said.Even the Kia Tasman, which just received a five-star ANCAP rating was notable for the rating only applying to variants equipped with a unique bumper designed to maximise pedestrian safety. High-grade models likely to be popular with private buyers, like the top-spec off-road focused X-Pro are specifically excluded from the score.

The Exceed Tourer is the pinnacle of the Mitsubishi Outlander range, featuring all of the available equipment.

Victoria is the worst and most expensive state to own a car in Australia, according to a new study released by insurance comparison firm iSelect.iSelect’s study ranked states by four metrics - the percentage of income spent on motoring, the amount of hours lost to traffic, the road quality ranked by the number of potholes per 100,000 people and the road fatality rate per 100,000 people.The study ranked Victoria in last position by some margin, with by far the highest percentage of income spent on motoring (26.28 per cent), the second highest amount of hours lost to traffic (84 hours per year), the third worst road quality (165.05 number of road damages reported per 100k people), however the fatality rate per 100k people was low at 4.01.iSelect gave Victoria an overall score of 2.91 out of 10.In comparison, the study showed the ACT was the best place to own a car in Australia. It had the second lowest amount of household income spent on motoring costs (21.97 per cent) and the second lowest amount of time spent in traffic (44 hours) with by far the highest quality road surfaces (with just 7.35 instances of damaged road reported per 100k people). It also had the lowest fatality rate per 100,000 people (just 2.31), netting it an overall rating of 8.84.The data revealed that Northern Territory ranked the worst for road safety with 22.69 fatalities per 100k people (more than three times higher than the next nearest state), and Queensland the worst for road quality with 211.92 instances of road damage reported per 100k people.For the best road traffic, the NT had by far the least amount of time spent bumper-to-bumper at 28 hours per year.Interestingly New South Wales ranked largely in the middle for everything, with a total score of 5.81 noted for its poor road quality and bad traffic, but relatively low percentage of income spent on motoring and a low fatality rate.iSelect used data from a variety of sources. The percentage of income spent on motoring costs came from the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the Australian Auto Association, the hours spent in peak hour traffic was sourced from TomTom’s traffic index ranking, the mortality rate was sourced from the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and The Arts, and road quality was sourced from Snap Send Solve.In addition to iSelect’s findings, police enforcement data provided to the department revealed you’re most likely to receive a speeding fine in Western Australia, with 4241 fines per 10,000 license holders.You’re most likely to receive a camera-based fine for using your mobile phone in New South Wales (348 fines per 10,000 license holders), and you’re most likely to fail a roadside drug test in South Australia, which recorded 488 positive tests per 10,000 license holders.

Mitsubishi was taken aback this year by the popularity of its oldest product, the outgoing previous-generation ASX.

This is Australia’s most affordable plug-in hybrid vehicle. It’s the Chery Tiggo 7 ‘Super Hybrid’ and you can have one for just $39,990 drive-away at the time we put this review together.

ANCAP Chief Executive Officer Carla Hoorweg explained how the safety body doesn’t require many of the more frustrating elements of modern safety suites plaguing some new cars.Hoorweg said ANCAP doesn’t actually require beeping or overbearing assistive input for specific features like lane departure warning, traffic sign recognition, or driver attention alert, which are all often derided as the source of annoying sounds or interventions.“It’s certainly something we take the opportunity to correct. It is something that is thrown up from time to time by a small number of people in the industry as a way of avoiding some of the difficult and complex decisions and R&D processes that manufacturers have to go through.”She said the specifics of Australian road conditions can mean some safety suites tuned overseas in Europe or China for example, may not as easily transfer across, despite them still technically qualifying the vehicle for a maximum five-star score under ANCAP’s current regime.“Some people might not realise that it isn’t actually a requirement, we’re not requiring this. When we’re talking to manufacturers and consumers a lot of what we’re talking about is ensuring these systems are well designed for Australian and New Zealand conditions - and they’ve done that real-world driving and R&D in-country and not just said ‘oh that works in the test lab, it’ll be fine’.”She added the new ratings system, which will be introduced from 2026, will have specific pillars the safety body will be able to use to target things like overbearing safety aids and the lack of tactile functions in cars going forward.“From 2026 there will be elements of that - driver distraction is a big focus - you’ve seen some of the comments around buttons vs touchscreens, whether that makes it into the 2026 standards remains to be seen, but that area as a focus area of the protocols is very live and there’s a lot of work going on around human machine interface and driver distraction," she said.“If it doesn’t come in 2026,  it will come at some point. We’ll be looking at systems which are more distracting than beneficial and we’ll be trying to move manufacturers more towards helpful systems.“If they’re not thinking about it already, they should be.“This is all about driver assistance systems rather than systems that are distracting or annoying or worse,” said Hoorweg.The new ‘Safe Driving’ category, which focuses on technology and the driving experience, will be targeting such systems. More research is needed to see the actual impact overbearing beeping and steering assists as well as frustrating touchscreen menus actually had on driver performance and the rates of actual crashes.“If we don’t see some improvement, these are the levers we have to pull.”“There is a lot of research going on at the moment to try and quantify that. Are we seeing crashes because people are distracted, or are people just annoyed by it and it’s not actually causing crashes. Is it turning up in the data and if it is in these scenarios how do we target that?”She said research in this area is conducted by working groups which provide academic studies and research papers to safety bodies around the world.“Globally it’s going on, but it’s also filtering up through the EuroNCAP and ANCAP working group.”“Manufacturers are involved in those working groups, so manufacturers will know where the protocols are going. The conversation now is about 2029 protocols - 2026 we need to finish those off, but the direction is there, so now it’s the work on 2029 - the manufacturers involved in that know where it’s going and what’s being looked at and the more concrete steps around kinds of controls.”She added that just because a safety system was annoying, doesn’t mean the safety body will target it, and it will only be regulated if it has a measurable impact on resulting collisions.ANCAP’s new safety regime debuting in January 2026 overhauls the system into a new set of pillars dubbed ‘the stages of safety’ which are said to be “a much more logical approach for the layperson.”The new categories are Safe Driving, Crash Avoidance, Crash Protection, and Post Crash, replacing Adult Occupant Protection, Child Occupant Protection, Vulnerable Road User Protection, and Safety Assist.The pillars give ANCAP a framework by which to score cars, and also a method by which to automatically deduct stars where some key elements of each pillar are not met.

The Exceed sits second from the top of the Outlander range and is available only as a five-seater in all-wheel drive.It is priced from $55,140 before on-roads and features all of the equipment from the lower grade Aspire, plus 'high-grade leather-appointed' seats and interior trim, heating, ventilation and power adjust for the front two positions, memory options for the driver's seat, a digital rear-vision mirror, a hands-free power tailgate, an upgrade to tri-zone climate adding a third climate zone for the second row, aluminium pedals, a panoramic opening sunroof, built-in sunshades for the rear windows, and a full-size alloy spare.It scores the full safety suite consisting of the standard auto emergency braking (front and rear), lane keep assist with departure warning, blind spot monitoring with rear cross-traffic alert, driver attention alert, traffic sign recognition, adaptive cruise control with traffic jam assist, and adaptive high beams.All combustion Outlander grades are powered by the same 2.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine (135kW/244Nm) mated to a continuously variable automatic transmission (CVT). Importantly for the 2025 update, all Outlander grades now score an Australian-developed ride and handling tune.Fuel consumption is rated at 8.1L/100km. All combustion Outlanders can use 91RON petrol.Boot capacity is 485 litres in all five-seat combustion-powered Outlanders, and the spare resides under the floor.

The angry-looking Cupra Tavascan is more like a cream puff in the daily commute.