Industry news

Subaru has revealed a new version of the off-road-ready Forester Wilderness over in the US.The Subaru Forester Wilderness Hybrid is the first time a Wilderness model has been equipped with a hybrid powertrain. To date they’ve only been offered with purely petrol power.Using the same hybrid powertrain as the regular Forester Hybrid, it marries together a 2.5-litre four-cylinder boxer engine running the Atkinson/Miller cycle with electric motors to produce a total system output of 145kW.Subaru claims this powertrain provides up to 25 per cent better fuel economy than the regular Forester Wilderness, which is powered by a 2.5-litre four-cylinder boxer engine producing 134kW in US-spec guise.Although it has a different powertrain, the Forester Wilderness Hybrid retains all the upgrades the regular model receives.These include upgraded suspension giving an increased ground clearance of 246mm, as well as improved approach, breakover and departure angles.Additionally there are raised, ladder-type roof rails with a static load rating of 360kg, as well as 17-inch matte black wheels wrapped in Yokohama Geolandar all-terrain tyres.Other standard equipment includes a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster, 11.6-inch touchscreen multimedia system with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, an 11-speaker Harman Kardon sound system, grey synthetic leather upholstery, as well as all-weather floor mats and a boot mat.At this stage the Forester Wilderness Hybrid is set to launch in North America in late 2026. It’s unclear if it will be offered in other markets at this stage."The latest Subaru global unveilings are exciting, and while they’ve generated plenty of interest, we’re unable to comment on future product," said a Subaru Australia spokesperson.Subaru only recently introduced the Wilderness moniker in Australia with the larger, new-generation Outback.Unlike the regular Australian-specification model, it receives a 2.4-litre turbocharged four-cylinder boxer engine which is more powerful than the 2.5-litre naturally aspirated four-cylinder boxer engine.Like all Wilderness models it picks up unique looks and off-road upgrades, however, the Australian-specification model retains highway tyres, not all-terrain tyres like the US-spec model receives.

BYD has fired a shot across the bow of some of the biggest car bands in Australia in March.The Chinese automaker sold 7217 vehicles in the past month as Australians scrambled to get their hands on plug-in hybrids and electric cars as fuel prices soared.That is a mammoth one month total which beat Ford (7149), Mazda (7156) and Hyundai (6979). Only Toyota (16,574) and Kia (7320) did better than BYD.BYD sales increased by 50 per cent compared to March last year, just as leading brands sales declined. If the Chinese challenger keeps up this growth it's on track to tackle Toyota off the top spot.It was also a banner month for electric vehicles, with about 15,500 finding a new home, which is about double the amount sold in March, 2025.Tesla’s Model Y led the pack with 2818 sales, followed by the BYD Sealion 7 (1970), Zeekr 7X (679), Tesla Model 3 (667) and Geely EX5 (606).Sales of hybrids and plug-in hybrids were also up, but not at the same rate as electric vehicles.Australians bought 17,953 hybrids in March, and 8215 plug-in hybrids (PHEV).Most of the conventional hybrids were Toyotas with BYD gobbling up the lion’s share of PHEVs.A total of 108,703 were sold in the past month, which is slightly down on the previous March. The latest sales data from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) shows there is still plenty of demand for diesel and petrol cars.The Ford Ranger ute was against the best selling vehicle in the nation with 4452 examples finding a new home.This was followed by the Toyota HiLux (4167), Tesla Model Y (2818), Nissan X-Trail (2438) and Mitsubishi Outlander (2318).The Hyundai Kona (2316), Chery Tiggo 4 (2258), Isuzu D-Max (2167), Hyundai Tucson (2042) and Haval Jolion (2013) rounded out the top 10.China was again the top importer to Australia in March — off the back of the success of BYD, GWM, MG and Chery — beating Japan to the post by less than 400 cars. Japan is still the biggest importer of new cars through the first three months but the gap is shrinking fast.Thailand — where the majority of dual-cab utes are built — sunk to a distant third.Toyota’s bad run continued with sales down nearly 20 per cent compared to the same month last year, and down 23 per cent for the year to date.The Japanese giant will get a boost in sales thanks to the new RAV4 family SUV arriving in dealerships this month.Top 10 selling  vehicles March, 2026Top selling car brands March, 2026

One of Australia's few remaining petrol V8 engines has reached the end of the line, with the final shipments of the Y62 Nissan Patrol landing ahead of the arrival of the Y63 Patrol and its V6 engine.The latest dispatch from Nissan also locks in a 2026 launch for the Y63 Patrol, which is an early mark from its planned early-2027 arrival, putting an official end date on one of Australia's most iconic 4WDs.Nissan dealers have begun contacting customers, telling them that "our limited final allocation will be arriving in the next few months...before the new V6 models arrive at the end of the year".The V6 in question is the most powerful production engine the brand has ever offered – a 3.5-litre unit derived from the power plant in the GT-R that produces a sizeable 317kW and 700Nm, dwarfing the 298kW and 560Nm produced by the soon-to-be-defunct V8 of the Y62 Patrol.Independent testing in the USA found the Patrol – badged Armada in America – can sprint from zero to 60mph (96.5km/h) in 6.16 seconds. That's significantly faster than the Y62 Patrol, which takes more like 7.0-7.5 seconds to complete the admittedly slightly longer 100km/h dash.Crucially, this latest dispatch appears to confirm the models will arrive at the end of the year. It was thought orders would open in 2026, with deliveries beginning in 2027, but it appears the models will be on the ground and on sale before year's end.There had been talk of the Y62 and Y63 Patrols crossing over, such is the sustained popularity of the V8 model, but it would appear that is no longer the case, with the last of the eight-cylinder models now en route to Australia.Examples of the Y63 Patrol have already been spied in Australia, as far back as November last year.

With all due respect to GAC and its plans for a new dual-cab ute — please don’t. Same goes for Hyundai, which has been talking up its plans for a ute in recent months, and Chery that has a yet-to-be-named new ute incoming. We have enough utes in this country.That might sound like a ‘click-bait, hot take’ (and it partially is) but it’s also very much true. The ute market in Australia is getting over-crowded and new additions will make it even more densely packed.Don’t take my word for it, Sean Hanley, the former sales and marketing boss of Toyota has been saying we’ve reached ‘peak ute’ for more than a year. Coming from a man who oversaw the enduring sales success of the HiLux and introduced the Tundra to Australia, that’s a notable position to take. Speaking in January 2025, Hanley said he wasn’t confident that more utes arriving would equal more sales overall.“I’m not necessarily sharing a view that it's going to grow astronomically because of the new entrants,” he said. “It may, I could be wrong, but it’ll be interesting to watch.“Looking towards the future, we already know that the number of ute models available to Australian buyers will expand rapidly. “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.”That hypothesis was proved correct when the 2025 sales were tallied. The ute segment grew only 2.7 per cent between 2024 and ‘25, despite 12 new entrants from several new brands — including Kia, BYD, MG, Foton and GWM.Go back five years and look at the difference between 2021 and ‘25 and the idea of hitting ‘peak ute’ comes into even greater focus. In that span there was 5.9 per cent sales growth but a 41 per cent increase in the available number of models. Hanley followed up his January comments with more at the launch of the new HiLux late in 2025.“So when I say the ute market's peaked, what I mean is that, well, exactly that, it's peaked. But it's still a significant market, and it will be for the future,” he told CarsGuide."But I think that whole ute market's going to be crazy for the next couple of years. So in the end it doesn't matter what I think. It matters what customers think.”Nissan Oceania Managing Director Andrew Humberstone, seemingly along with GAC and Hyundai management, believes the contrary and the ute market has increased volume in its future.“I don't want to really talk specifically about numbers, but we see certainly an increase in volume,” he told CarsGuide in December ‘25.While BYD has made strong in-roads into the ute market with the Shark 6, cementing itself as a top five selling dual-cab, the reality for most of these new players is they are attracting relatively small volumes.Kia, which set a public goal of 10,000 sales by the end of ‘25 managed less than half of that (4196), while despite a competitive price and bigger-than-average size, the MG U9 managed only 472 sales in the few months it was on sale. Foton split 177 sales between its Tunland V7 and V9 since they hit the market in late ‘25.But even some models that were on sale for the full year in 2025 fared poorly. The Jeep Gladiator found just 332 buyers, while the Isuzu D-Max, Mitsubishi Triton, Nissan Navara and Volkswagen Amarok all experienced sales drops.Of course, this story won’t stop the new utes from GAC, Hyundai and Chery coming, nor any other brand that wants to join in, but the reality is none are likely to dramatically increase the size of the overall ute market. Instead, the share of the market will just get divided up into smaller and smaller pieces.In the end, natural selection will play its part and the models that don’t sell will simply be overlooked by buyers and are likely to disappear eventually. One way or another, Australia will not have an endlessly growing number of utes to choose from.

They cost too much. They cause range anxiety. There aren’t enough chargers.There is still a lot of negativity and anxiety around electric vehicles (EVs) and it has kept sales at approximately 10 per cent of the market for several years now. There have been attempts to increase sales of EVs from both the car makers and governments around the country, but regardless the sales have always hit that invisible 10 per cent cap, more or less.But that could be about to change. In fact, if it doesn’t change in the very near-future, we may be waiting a decade or longer before EVs truly become mainstream.Put simply, if EVs are to take a leap forward in terms of sales, it’s now or never (or at least, now or in the distant future).That’s because interest in EVs (and hybrids) have never been higher as fuel prices have spiked since the US and Israel began the conflict with Iran, which has had a major impact on the price of oil and the global supply chain.It has also raised the questions of Australia’s fuel security, with local refineries not currently capable of producing fuel to the same standards as the fuel we import.Geo-politics aside, Australian motorists are simply feeling the financial pain at the pump with unleaded over $2.50 per litre in much of Australia and diesel above $3 per litre and running low in supply in many areas.Searches on CarsGuide classifieds for EVs rose 230 per cent since petrol prices spiked, while searches for hybrids are up a whopping 943 per cent. Autotrader is reporting a 631 per cent jump in people searching for a new EV to buy, with a 221 per cent increase in those looking for a hybrid.Obviously these search results won’t translate to a one-for-one sale increase, but the next few months will be telling for how much Australians are willing to embrace EVs to save at the pump.Skoda happened to launch more-affordable variants of its Enyaq and Elroq EVs in mid-March, which is seemingly perfectly timed to take advantage of the current trouble times. But Skoda Australia director, Lucie Kuhn, cautioned about getting too excited too quickly on a potential dramatic sales shift towards EVs.“Maybe short term, if you're speaking about the conflict in the Middle East, of course it triggers the customers if they shouldn't start considering an electric vehicle as their future car,” she said.“If increased interest will last to such an extent, I think it depends how long the crisis will take.“But already before it has happened, we observed that out of this, in the market 65-70 per cent of customers are still driving combustion .I think already 70 per cent out of them consider, for the next purchase, to start thinking about the electric vehicle.“It doesn't mean that they will necessarily buy an electric vehicle, but they give it a serious thought and we observe that. Many customers in spite maybe in the end go for a combustion engine or maybe for the PHEV as an interim step, they at least consider having and purchasing an EV.” But what this fuel crisis may do, is get those people who have considered an EV or hybrid previously but hesitated because of the above-mentioned concerns about price, charging or range anxiety.The reality is EVs are now on-par, or in some cases cheaper, than petrol or diesel models. For example, the new MG4 Urban EV is cheaper than the similar-sized Toyota Corolla Hybrid. That doesn’t mean all EVs are cheaper than petrol or diesel equivalents, but the criticism that EVs are for “snobs that live in the eastern suburbs”, as NSW Premier Chris Minns said recently, is simply not true.Range anxiety feels like a hangover from the earlier EVs, which had less than 200km of range and needed regular charging. Most EVs on sale today are capable of 300km or more, which means a weekly charge is most likely what’s required for the majority of Australian motorists.While the concerns over the lack of public charging infrastructure is also overblown in the minds of many, with more than 1250 spread across the nation. Are there as many EV chargers as petrol bowsers? Of course not, but given the current rate of EV sales growth, the public network is growing accordingly.If you live in an urban area, there is likely to be several public chargers available, assuming you don’t have off-street parking so you can’t simply charge at home (which many Australians are capable of doing). So if you look beyond the anti-EV sentiment and put your prejudices aside, the reality of actually owning an EV is starting to look more and more appealing. They are increasingly cost-effective and help Australia wean itself off foreign oil dependency, so it’s a win-win in many respects.No, they still aren’t for every or every market (electric utes are likely to remain as popular as a steak at a vegan restaurant) but for many, namely those in urban areas, now might be the ideal time to make the switch. Whether they will or not remains to be seen.Fuel prices began to increase at the very end of February and March sales date won’t be available until after the Easter long weekend. Even so, March figures aren’t likely to show the full extent of the potential switch to EVs and hybrids. Instead, we will have to watch closely in the coming months to see if the current crisis has a significant and lasting impact on the popularity of EVs in Australia.

A more-adventure-ready version of the new Mazda CX-5 could be in the pipeline for Australia and the rest of the world.Inspired by a special edition package for the North American-market CX-50 mid-sized SUV called the Meridian Edition, it could lead to a CX-5 with a beefier stance, greater clearances, chunkier wheels and extra protective cladding, among other modifications.According to Mazda's Program Manager, Koichiro Yamaguchi, the company is waiting to see whether buyers demand a more off-road edition of the latest CX-5 before taking the plunge.“We don’t have such offerings currently, but we would like to monitor customer feedback very carefully,” he revealed to the Australian media late last month.“Because (today's latest) CX-5 is more for daily life. So, we will listen to feedback from the market.”While more off-road-style versions of popular medium-sized SUVs have yet to take off in Australia, they are proliferating in North America and elsewhere, thanks to models such as the Subaru Forester Wilderness, Toyota RAV4 Woodland, Nissan X-Trail Rock Creek Edition and Hyundai Tucson XRT.Probably the closest we have to that in Australia right now is the Subaru Outback Wilderness, which arrived with the completely redesigned seventh-generation range back in February. A Forester Wilderness grade is expected later this year or during 2027.Mazda's General Manager for Global Sales and Marketing, Manabu Osuga, went into more detail about Mazda’s plans, stating that while the arrival of off-road-themed rivals has not been lost on him, an accessories package based on the CX-50 Meridian may be the way forward for CX-5.“Sure, that's on our radar,” he admitted to CarsGuide.“You know about the CX-50, how we are doing it in the US market. We, at MMC headquarters, developed (such a car), but as an accessories package… and we call that the Meridian package… with an outdoorsy design.“So, where we are going is that, with this CX-5, we are launching this car to begin with as a collaboration with individual markets to expand the range to really fulfil consumer needs, with accessories, though.“We might be able to do (standalone models like Meridian Edition). We will think about it, but first we will do that from the accessory program.”Osuga-san added that the company can lean on its experienced partners to upgrade or evolve the CX-5, in a similar way that BMW utilises M Division.These include Mazda Engineering and Technology Company (Mazda E&T) that has modified vehicles since 1979 for welfare/wheelchair-access, emergency vehicles and specialised work applications.There’s also Mazda Spirit Racing, the 2021 successor to the famous Mazdaspeed sub-brand that focuses on motorsports, driver development and specialised production vehicles.“We also have our subsidiary company, Mazda E&T, for modifications,” Osuga explained.“We don't have that global (as yet)… and there is Mazda Spirit Racing. We are using the Mazda E&T engineering and the technology that has specific manufacturing (capabilities)… and we can use that line to make modifications like Mercedes AMG or M for BMW.“We are trying to make that Mazda E&T company with a capability to bring to the next phase. So, there are possibilities there, but at this moment that they're not specific plans.”Whichever direction Mazda heads, it is clear that the product planners are watching how the Wilderness, Woodland, Rock Creek Edition and XRT grades perform before going for an off-road-biased version of the CX-5.And North America’s CX-50 Meridian Edition is the closest thing we currently have to go by.Badger your Mazda dealer if this is what you want to see in any future CX-5.

It may be a new manufacturer to Australia, but Chinese giant GAC has one leg up which many of its rivals can’t claim - its deep ties with Toyota.

Big, burly dual-cab utes are the flavour of the month, but this new generation of rugged workhorses could spawn a 4WD battle royale.The Ford Everest and Isuzu MU-X have largeky had the ute-based SUV market to themselves since Toyota axed the Fortuner late in 2025, but that could soon change.BYD's Denza has just launched its Shark 6-based B5 off-roader Down Under, which is ready to shake-up the Japanese establishment.It likely won't be the only Chinese brand to enter the fray.Chinese maker Chery is one of the latest makers to confirm a dual-cab ute, with its currently unnamed workhorse due to arrive later this year.For now codenamed — KP31 — the ute uses a revolutionary diesel plug-in hybrid set-up, which consists of  a 2.5-litre turbo-diesel engine paired with an electric motor or two and a sizeable battery.There is a chance it could spawn an SUV version down the line, according to Chery Australia Chief Operating Officer Lucas Harris.“It would be amazing if we could get an SUV on that platform,” said Harris.“It’s not something that’s been spoken about or in the plans now, but at the rate things change and develop, you never say never.”For now Chery’s focus is on making sure the ute is a success before they forge ahead with any spin-offs.“I believe Chery has one chance to prove that we can build and deliver a highly capable ute,” said Harris.“And so to do that, it needs towing capability, payload capability, all-terrain capability. Particularly all-terrain capability, you know, you get people towing caravans on the beach. You really do need the torque and power delivery that a diesel gives you down low to be able to do those things.”“I think we need to prove, and I am very confident that Chery can prove with KP31, that we’ve got some credibility in that space and can deliver a competent and capable vehicle,” Harris said.Chery's Korean rival Kia is also believed to be working on an SUV version of its Tasman ute.It is unlikely the SUV will appear before the vehicle’s facelift, which is believed to be 2028-2029.Kia Australia’s GM of Product Planning Roland Rivero previously told CarsGuide the focus for now was on the ute."Globally, we've got to make Tasman a success first and foremost," Rivero says."Once it is, and we're confident it will be, then we can look at growing variants and look at the ability to turn around an SUV."As you might have heard at the launch from our engineers, it's not difficult because the platform is already there. We're not starting from the ground up but we've got to get it right for the ute first and foremost."

Toyota is one the biggest advocates for hydrogen as a fuel source for vehicles, but it’s now focusing its efforts as the mass-market take-up, especially in the passenger car space, still lags.As reported by Nikkei Asia, the Japanese carmaker is doubling down on implementing its hydrogen fuel cell (FCEV) technology in commercial vehicles, like trucks.The reason for this is that demand for hydrogen-fuelled passenger cars is dwindling.Toyota is working with many partners in order to implement and scale its hydrogen fuel cell commercial vehicles.One example is the Japanese carmaker is working closely with the Japanese Government to use hydrogen fuel cell trucks and develop a refuelling station network.“I truly believe now is the time to accelerate our hydrogen initiatives together with partners. Let's change the future with hydrogen,” said Toyota Hydrogen Factory President Mitsumasa Yamagata to Nikkei Asia.Many carmakers have shunned hydrogen as a viable fuel source. Examples include Volkswagen, Stellantis and General Motors.Reasons for this vary but include the high costs associated with developing FCEV technology and producing hydrogen, as well lacklustre refuelling infrastructure, among others.Toyota, along with other brands like BMW and Hyundai are some of the few that have continued development in this space.The Japanese carmaker has been preaching its multi-pathway strategy for decarbonisation for years now and includes continued development in internal-combustion, hybrid, battery electric and hydrogen powertrain technologies.Toyota currently has one FCEV truck in the form of the Hino Profiz Z FCV as Hino is part of the Toyota Group.It uses two fuel cell stacks from the Toyota Mirai FCEV liftback that have been customised for heavy-duty commercial use.Hino claims this FCEV truck has a driving range of around 650km when fully loaded and refuelling takes between 15 and 30 minutes.As it currently stands Toyota doesn’t offer any FCEV vehicle to the public in Australia. The Mirai is only offered to select fleets through lease agreements.However, the Japanese carmaker has previously confirmed it plans to introduce a FCEV version of the HiLux in Australia in 2027. This will be available to the public but will be aimed at commercial fleets, much like the recently priced HiLux BEV.In Australia there are very few hydrogen refuelling stations currently. There are several initiatives and funding from state governments being put forward to scale this.One includes the $20 million Hume Hydrogen Highway initiative from the Victorian and New South Wales Governments to connect Melbourne and Sydney with around four refuelling stations along the Hume Highway.

A new type of battery technology could be about to take over the budget electric car industry. The sodium-ion make-up solves the problem of sourcing expensive and rare materials needed for lithium-iron batteries, while maintaining adequate driving range for smaller EVs.Sodium-ion batteries are further along the full scale commercialisation than solid-state batteries, which have been touted as the holy grail of electric cars, for example. Sodium-ion batteries have less energy density than conventional lithium-ion batteries such as Lithium-Ferro-Phosphate (LFP) and more advanced Nickel-Manganese-Cobalt (NMC) units, and much less than what is promised from futuristic solid-state cells.The big advantage is the ease of access and relative cheapness of obtaining sodium compared to lithium, which makes them an attractive choice. The difference in energy density means on a large scale, particularly for car batteries, LFP is often a cheaper choice. This is because substantially more sodium-ion battery cells are needed to make up the equivalent in LFP units.  The power advantage is diminishing, with energy density on sodium batteries expected to exceed 180Wh/kg in the near future.This means sodium batteries could be a significantly cheaper, and much more viable choice for car batteries, especially in smaller EVs, which do not require a substantial driving range.One of the other benefits of sodium-ion batteries is they are more resistant to extreme temperatures. This has been an issue in particular for NMC batteries, with multiple instances of these batteries not performing to expectations in unusually hot or cold environments. Mainstream Chinese battery manufacturer CATL recently introduced a sodium battery with an energy density of around 175Wh/kg, which is closer to energy density in lithium alternatives. Bridging the energy density gap between sodium and lithium batteries opens up the potential for sodium chemistry to be the go-to for budget EV carmakers.Sodium-ion batteries are also becoming cheaper to manufacture and could reach cost parity within LFP batteries within the next two years, according to reports out of China.This could be seen as the perfect battery make-up for smaller EVs, which are often already budget oriented, meaning the price of these cars could be brought down further. CATL began commercial production of its sodium batteries last year, and manufacturers are already jumping on board. CATL’s Naxtra sodium-ion battery offers a driving range of around 500km, while keeping the extreme temperature benefits of the technology. GAC is expected to utilise a unit from CATL in one of its upcoming EVs, according to a report in Auto News. GAC is one of many brands investing in sodium-ion, with other Chinese rivals such as BYD also developing the technology. BAIC has also been making moves with its battery, which can be fully charged in only 11 minutes. The German government has also put aside 20 million euros for a gigawatt-hour sodium-ion plant, with Mercedes-Benz one of the brands potentially benefiting.