Articles by Tom White

The boss of tech giant Xiaomi, Lei Jun, has confirmed launch timing of the company’s much-anticipated first SUV model, the YU7. Arriving before the end of June, the YU7 joins the SU7 which has shot to explosive popularity in China as an aspirational and locally-produced electric sports sedan. For context, the SU7 secured nearly 90,000 pre-orders when it went on sale in March of 2024.

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Chinese cars aren’t just about being the budget option anymore, and their ability to act fast, take risks and disregard the status quo is an existential threat to some of the world’s biggest manufacturers in Australia.I’ve increasingly had these thoughts as I’ve been driving ambitious new Chinese cars week-to-week against new offerings from their more established European, Japanese, and Korean rivals.It’s not as though these new offerings aren’t riddled with issues, some of them mundane and others extremely frustrating as you can read about in our recent reviews of cars like the Leapmotor C10, Geely EX-5, and Jaecoo J8. But outside the pricing and sheer speed to market, it’s the complete lack of fear to try something new which is making them stand out even in the most congested market segments.My favourite recent examples include Zeekr’s wild 009 performance people mover and the smaller but absurdly modular Mix, as well as the 7X electric mid-size SUV.There’s XPeng’s range of cars, from the surprisingly tidy G6, which has already arrived in Australia, alongside the soon-to-arrive G9 large SUV and Mona M03 sedan.Most recently there’s the wild GWM Tank 700, a $100k-plus twin-turbo V6 plug-in hybrid off-road monster clearly designed to rival some of the biggest names in the industry like G-Wagen, Defender and LandCruiser.That’s not to mention BYD’s mould-breaking Shark 6 plug-in hybrid ute, which has single-handedly upended the predominantly diesel segment and suddenly made heroes of the post-Falcon and Commodore era like the HiLux and D-Max look relatively antiquated.These new Chinese options have a lot in common. They have ambitious futuristic designs, feature-laden cabins with clever software features (albeit not all of them good) and a complete disregard for established industry norms.Performance people mover? Any other manufacturer would say a resounding ‘no’ to that, but Zeekr and XPeng both reckon they can simply create the hype for one out of thin air.Even just the concept of people movers in general. Toyota’s local division constantly dismisses the idea of bringing its luxurious Alphard to our market, despite the fact that it consistently ranks as Australia’s most popular grey import and sold in numbers orders of magnitude greater than the now-discontinued and diesel-only Granvia, which the brand offered as an also-ran alternative thanks to its parts commonality with the HiAce.Yet soon Australia will be again flooded with people mover offerings from the likes of BYD’s Denza brand as well as Xpeng and Zeekr, an existential threat to the Kia Carnival, which has remained largely unchallenged for the last few years.Even the entire concept of a Chinese semi-luxury brand like Jaecoo or Zeekr would have been scoffed at a handful of years ago, yet here they are, and not with one or two models, but fully-fledged line-ups.You can go even more granular than that. Recently I had a new Suzuki Swift ‘hybrid’ as a long-termer. It’s a sweet little car and technically ticks a lot of boxes for the intended buyer. The issue? It goes into battle against the new MG3.There’s a few problems with this. Firstly, the Suzuki feels like a facelift of the previous car, rather than a new-generation as claimed, and secondly, it’s not a ‘real hybrid’ in the sense that there’s no electric motor large enough to independently drive the wheels.In comparison, the MG launches with a clean-sheet, screen-centric interior (for better or worse), and an interesting dedicated hybrid transmission system with plenty of electric driving potential. Again, the MG is far from perfect, but it’s the relative ambition on show which could make or break a sale.Another example I drove recently was the Audi Q6 e-tron. It’s a great luxury mid-size electric SUV. The problem is, Volkswagen Group made a big song and dance about its brand-new PPE platform as though it was going to revolutionize the space, and the problem is the end product is just good when it needs to be stellar.In comparison, the Zeekr 7X I drove at the end of 2024 in China completely outgunned my expectations. It’s a similar offering; a ground-up new mid-size luxury electric SUV, but it brings a surprisingly plush interior (in some aspects, nicer than the Audi), with very clever software features, a coherent and innovative design and solid motor and battery specs.Zeekr was so confident we’d be impressed by it, they brought a current BMW X5 for us to test it against, and, to put it simply, the 7X felt much more a product of today. Plus it looks set to cost closer to $75k than the $100k of the base Q6.Now I'll stop at this point to add the caveat that just because these new offerings are ambitious - whether it's their design, price, market segment, or features - they're not always objectively better vehicles.The point is: at both ends of the price spectrum now, Chinese brands are putting the pressure on and tempting buyers away at a time where traditional brands can't afford to lose their audience.You don’t even need to take my word for it. It’s clear as day in the latest VFACTs figures for new car registrations in Australia.At the low end of the market, the squeeze is undeniable. The once-dominating Suzuki is down 19.8 per cent this year as it faces particular pressure from both MG and Chery, and cult hero SsangYong from Korea is taking a big hit as GWM and JAC muscle in on the territory of its humble Musso ute, the brand’s sales also dropping 27.6 per cent year-on-year.Even Mitsubishi is struggling to keep up, its affordable ASX now discontinued and new competition particularly fierce in the same segments as its core Triton ute and Outlander mid-sizer.BYD’s surge to the front of the EV charts has the once-dominant Tesla on the ropes for the first time, and it’s clear that some niche parts of the market are struggling to deal with the new car landscape, with Volvo down 21 per cent year-on-year and Jeep down 20.8 per cent.Granted it’s hard to attribute new Chinese players purely to these issues, with some ageing product no doubt to blame, but it’s worth pondering whether the lost volume will ever be recovered with so much competition tempting buyers away.Some traditional players are fairing better than others. Toyota is stable thanks to a steady stream of refreshed versions of its popular range of hybrids (although a question mark hangs above its ageing HiLux), while Kia and Hyundai take a different path, leaning into offering a diverse range of hybrids and electric cars with their own ambitious design allure.None of this will last. Despite a new range of ambitious products, even the once trailblazing MG is feeling a bit of heat, down 12.7 per cent this year as it tries to outgrow its cheap and cheerful phase, the mantle of which has been taken up by Chery.No doubt the same fate could await its contemporaries, as even more Chinese brands have designs on the Australian market - widely seen as a microcosm of other markets like the US and Europe - a perfect testbed for global expansion plans.Eventually the dust will settle, but how many automakers - new or old - will survive an increasingly intense race to 2030 seems impossible to tell.

Yet another premium Chinese brand could be headed to Australia, as the Avatr 11 launches in right-hand drive guise at the Hong Kong motor show.Avatr is the premium electric vehicle arm of Changan which also includes Deepal in its corporate umbrella. The new brand claims to “blend Chinese innovation and European design”.Deepal also made its debut in Hong Kong at the show, but it is already imported to Australia in right-hand drive via the same importer as Subaru and Peugeot, Inchcape.It is not the first time Avatr models have launched in right-hand drive. The is brand already in Thailand where Changan is establishing a manufacturing presence to be a larger domestic player alongside fellow Chinese carmaker, GWM.Like its Deepal cousins, the Avatr 11 is an unusual crossover-style shape, which has an unconventional rear boot aperture and rear deck feature. While it has the ride height of an SUV, its body style is closer to that of a four-door GT car.Electric versions come in rear-wheel drive powered by a 230kW/370Nm motor or an all-wheel drive producing 402kW/687Nm which. They're offered with two battery capacities on an 800-volt architecture, either a 90.38kWh Standard Range with 575km driving range (on the more lenient NEDC measure), or a 116.79kWh Long Range offering 680km of driving range on a single charge.Its 0-100km/h time is 6.6 seconds for the Standard Range, or 6.9 seconds for the long range.Interestingly, there is also now a range-extender hybrid version, which pairs a 1.5-litre four-cylinder engine (115kW) with the base RWD motor.It is equipped with a 39.05kWh battery pack good for up to 225km of EV range (according to Chinese specifications). So far only the fully electric version in rear-wheel drive has been sold in right-hand drive format in Thailand. The all-wheel drive and range-extender variants are still left-hand drive, primarily for the Chinese market.The interior features luxurious trims and a tri-screen layout, consisting of a 10.25-inch digital instrument cluster, a massive 15.6-inch central multimedia touchscreen, and a second 10.25-inch screen for the passenger.The Avatr 11 is not cheap in Thailand, with the base rear-drive version starting from the equivalent of A$100,000, however left-hand-drive Chinese versions start from the equivalent of A$62,500.If it were to land in Australia, you could expect the brand to split the difference, landing at least 15 to 20 per cent more than the Chinese version, but below the Thai version. Other models in the brand’s range yet to be seen in right-hand-drive form include the Avatr 06 sports sedan, Avatr 07 mid-size SUV, and Avatr 12 Grand Tourer.Currently the only Deepal model sold in Australia is the S07 crossover SUV in a single variant, equipped with a 160kW rear-mounted electric motor and 475km of driving range. It costs $53,900, but despite a keen price-tag is struggling to make an impact on the increasingly competitive affordable electric SUV space.The brand has managed to register just 67 units so far this year, well behind its closest rivals, the Geely EX5 (1023 units) and Leapmotor C10 (249 units), although the brand has plans to rapidly follow-up with the S05 small SUV, E07 ute/SUV hybrid, and potentially the range-extender hybrid and off-road-focused G318.The company and its importer have yet to comment on the idea of Avatr launching in Australia, but globally executives have made no secret of its plans to expand, starting with Asia Pacific.

GWM has revealed a significant facelift for its diminutive Ora hatchback in China, as it looks to better compete with its more successful key rivals.

Chery sticks it to its key Chinese rivals with ultra-affordable plug-in hybrid versions of its two mid-size SUVs

Geely is latest to issue warning about the unsustainable state of global car market joining GWM and even the Chinese government in concerns about price-cuts and oversupply.