Cars

Hyundai might have just let slip its big new secret.

GAC has launched its Aion i60 Toyota RAV4 fighter in China giving those of us watching from Australia a better look at the mid-sized SUV, which might make its way Down Under.Aion is a sub-brand of GAC and the i60 is RAV4 sized at 4685mm long and even has more than a passing resemblance to the popular Toyota SUV and it’s available not only as a hybrid but as a full EV as well.Details of the two powertrains have been revealed with the fully electric i60 equipped with a 75kWh battery with a range of up to 650km (CLTC), while the hybrid combines a 1.5-litre petrol engine with an electric motor offering up to an impressive 1240km in travel distance.Pricing for the i60 begins at A$24,000 for the entry grade i60 in China.The Aion V has similar styling inside and out to the Aion V, which has just launched in Australia. Both SUVs are five seaters and have the same wheelbase, but the i60 is a longer SUV overall and offers more boot space.The i60 will be available in six colours including Warm Velet Gold, Galaxy Blue and Holographic Silver.Whether the i60 makes it to Australia is uncertain. GAC has only recently arrived in Australia but has already announced several models cherry picked from its various sub-brands to go on sale locally. These include the Aion V, the M8 people mover and its Emzoom small SUV.The Aion i60 is just another model the gigantic GAC may choose next for an Australian launch.GAC’s arrival in Australia comes later than many other Chinese brands such as Geely, Zeekr, Leapmotor, BYD and Xpeng, but the company’s size and battery making ability could make it hard to beat.

Land Rover has launched a 35th Anniversary Edition of the Discovery and it enters a small but fiercely contested segment - does it have enough to stand out.

Nissan has become the latest car manufacturer to announce a new focus on hybrid vehicles with the company’s global boss declaring a “full blast” of new models to come.Speaking to industry publication Automotive News at Nissan's headquarters in Japan last week the company's CEO Ivan Espinosa said that while sales have been flat a host of new products are about to be launched. “Next year we should be in a position to grow our sales,” Espinosa told Automotive News.“The fact that we have these new product lines coming in and having a full blast next year is definitely something that’s going to help.”Espinosa said Hybrid variants would be offered across Nissan’s range including the possibility of a V6 hybrid. “We should see offers in the C segment (medium sized vehicles), in the D segment (large), and likely in the B (small) segment. We see the hybridisation accelerating very quickly,”Espinoza also announced that Nissan’s production facilities in the United States will continue to operate due to the new tariffs and regulations overseas carmakers now face. Nissan has three plants in the US, which make the X-Trail and Pathfinder SUVs and others. “It will not make a lot of sense to stop a plant in the US when you have tariffs,” Espinosa said.Nissan has been struggling with profitability and closing the US plants was a possible way to cut costs but those plans appear to be on hold now and in a fortunate turn of events the factories have become advantageous to the company.  “What could have been seen as a problem 18 months ago, is now a strength that we have because of the presence and the capability that we have,” he said. “It’s a good position to be in.”Nissan has faced major financial difficulties in recent years. In May this year Nissan posted a loss of A$7B for 2025. The shortfall prompted the company to undergo an emergency restructure with potentially 11,000 job cuts and the closure of plants.Espinsosa became Nissan’s CEO in April 2025 and is faced with the considerable challenge to turn the company’s fortunes around and that may see joint ventures with other car makers. Only last week Espinosa announced he was looking at the co-development of engines with Honda.In Australia, Nissan has two hybrid vehicles already on sale —  X-Trail e-Power and Qashqai e-Power. Subaru also recently announced a focus on hybrid vehicles and a step back from its massive electric vehicle plans. 

There is a sneak peak for a new affordable compact SUV.

The Australian Federal Government’s New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES) is now well and truly in effect and certain carmakers can theoretically profit from the credits that it provides.One of these brands is Polestar, which currently only sells electric vehicles (EVs), as all of its vehicles are under the set CO2 emissions targets.Carmakers that do have a number of new vehicles above the CO2 emissions targets and can’t offset them with new vehicles under the threshold are currently at risk of being fined.These fines currently sit at $100 per gram of CO2 per kilometre for each vehicle sold.As a result, carmakers with credits are able to sell them to other carmakers that will pay fines.Speaking with CarsGuide, Polestar Australia Managing Director Scott Maynard praised this method as it incentivises carmakers to invest in low-emissions vehicles.“Yes, so Polestar will sell carbon credits that it collects along the way to brands,” said Maynard.“I think it’s right that brands that aren’t prepared to invest then have to pay brands that are investing .“So we’ll definitely be part of that program.”Although Maynard didn’t disclose any specific carmaker that Polestar has already sold credits to, he did mention that the company will be selective.“We’ll be careful about who we partner with and who we sell to, but we will be taking their money.”This follows a number of carmakers calling for the NVES CO2 target to be tapered more gradually.Earlier this year former Mitsubishi Australia CEO Shaun Westcott also explained there are still major hurdles to overcome local EV takeup.“Just penalising us is not going to deliver the outcomes we need,” said Westcott in July 2025.“The original thinking was that if you penalised us, we’d bring more EVs to the market.”“There’s no shortage of choice, what we lack is positive initiatives. You can give us as many sticks as you like, we need some carrots.”“The bigger challenge with adoption is that we need to have a government which considers the peculiarities of the Australian market. We’re not Norway. We’re not a small country. We don’t have cities that are 40 kilometres apart.“I think the reality we’re looking at today is a lot of brands have dialled back their EV ambitions because they’ve realised that just bringing the cars to the market, you can fill your showroom with EVs but if nobody buys them you’d have to discount those cars to a point where they will be below the cost of production and that’s happening already just to get people to take them.“OEMs realise that to stay alive you have to sell cars - if Australians aren’t buying the EVs then we have to bring combustion and all the other powertrains to market and that will continue to happen despite the penalties because if the demand isn’t there, you haven’t got a business. It’s simple economics.“Every brand has to cover the cost of those penalties to survive and if customers are only buying single digit (percentages) of EVs - everyone is going to be copping penalties.”Although Polestar Australia sales have been growing, the company globally is currently experiencing some massive financial losses and swirling bankruptcy rumours.In fact Polestar, which is currently publicly listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange, is at risk of being delisted unless it raises its stock price to US$1 ($1.53) for 10 consecutive days.For context, Polestar’s Nasdaq shares are currently sitting at US$0.52 ($0.80).

A Chinese brand’s attempt to copy a viral 4WD stunt has gone wrong.

These days it seems like a new car brand arrives in Australia each week, so it can be easy to become ambivalent about each new name.But you should be paying attention to the latest arrival, because it has the potential to really shake things up, even if you’ve never heard of it before.Denza is the brand in question, revealing plans for a pair of new ‘premium’ off-roaders — the B5 and B8 — to hit showrooms by the end of 2025. So why should you care about Denza?Because it isn’t an ‘all-new’ brand here, it’s actually a spin-off from BYD, which is already well-established in Australia and rapidly rising up the sales charts with its mix of plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles, including the popular Shark 6 ute.In fact, it’s the success of the Shark 6, a plug-in hybrid dual-cab, that bodes so well for Denza. The Shark 6 is already amongst the best-selling 4x4 utes on the market, sure it may be nowhere near the Ford Ranger and Toyota HiLux in sheer volume, but it has already cemented a place amongst the top five utes each month.Based on the sales data available to us, it’s comfortably out-selling Ford’s plug-in hybrid Ranger, showing that a new audience is embracing new technology from new brands in the traditional ute market.Denza will be hoping to do the same in the off-road space, with the B5 and B8 clearly aimed at Toyota’s beloved LandCruiser and Prado. Like the Shark, they will offer something different, with a potent (425kW and 450kW) plug-in hybrid set-up and plenty of other technologies and luxuries.We don’t know how much they’ll cost yet, but despite all the talk of Denza being a ‘premium’ offering, history suggests this Chinese brand will be aggressive on price to undercut its more established competition.The recent strong sales performances of BYD, GWM, Chery and MG underline how important value is to the current generation of brand-agnostic buyers. In this post-Holden/Ford locally-made cars world we now find ourselves, brand loyalty is a thing of the past.Value is what Australian new car buyers are looking for and it’s the Chinese brands that are looking to provide it. Whether it is sustainable or not is an entirely different debate, and one that’s irrelevant for people looking to purchase a new car in the here and now.BYD is already up nearly 150 per cent in sales volume in the first three quarters of 2025, led by the Shark 6 but ably backed up by the Sealion 6 PHEV and Sealion 7 EV SUVs. BYD will look to gain even more of the new car market by appealing to both first time car buyers and EV bargain hunters, when the new $25k Atto 1 hatch goes on sale and undercuts not only every other electric car but also most cars full stop.It is clear that, now run in-house, BYD is looking to make sure it remains headed up the sales charts. So if you only remember a few names from this current influx of new brands, make sure it’s BYD and Denza, because they are the ones most likely to make a lasting impact.

The era of hybrids is upon us.

Toyota says HiLux buyers want "a ute, not a Rolls-Royce", as criticism over the brand's long-awaited workhorse's update mounts on the brand's own channels.