SUV

Sometimes car companies just get it wrong.Despite all the market research, focus groups, design studies and marketing programs, some cars just don’t sell. Sometimes it’s a case of being the right car at the wrong time, arriving ahead of the curve or after the boom. We looked at that recently with the Holden Volt, a plug-in hybrid that arrived too soon (and for too much money) to be successful, even if the concept was right.But then there are some cars that are just a complete miss, arriving as an undesirable product. They are, to be blunt, the wrong car at the wrong time.Here are some examples of what happens when carmakers get it wrong.The decision to end local manufacturing for Holden cannot have been an easy one for General Motors management, but it was probably an inevitable one. The decision they did not have to make was to destroy the brand equity, not to mention the national pride and love, in the Commodore badge.While most of the cars on this list are obviously bad choices with the benefit of hindsight, the ZB Commodore was an obviously bad choice at the time. It was meant to soften the blow of the departure of the brilliant and beloved VF Commodore, but it only served to rub salt into the wounds.To the nice folks at Opel, GM’s German division, who developed the car (which was known as the Insignia in Europe) this was like having your glass of beer taken away and replaced with water from a muddy puddle with ‘beer’ written on the glass.It wasn’t a ‘Commodore’ in any way, shape or form, despite what Holden PR tried to spin at the time. Holden and GM should have followed the example Ford set with the Falcon and retired the name with dignity rather than slapping it on a sub-par import.Sometimes in life you’re faced with a 50-50 decision to make and the difference it makes in the long run can be enormous, or even catastrophic. That’s the case with Ford Australia and the Territory Turbo.The Territory was an inspired decision, a great example of delivering the right car at the right time. Ford managed to get in on the SUV craze just as it started to rise in the early 2000s, offering buyers who were starting to look for something taller than a Falcon an in-house alternative.The problem was, in 2006 they decided to expand the line-up and made the wrong call on that 50-50 decision. Legend has it that Ford Australia only had the funds to develop a Territory Turbo OR a Territory diesel, but not both at the same time.In the words of the Knight at the end of that Indiana Jones movie: “They chose poorly.”Thankfully they didn’t shrivel up and die in an instant, like the Indiana Jones’ nemesis, but it was a decision that didn’t help the future of Ford’s local models.By the time the Territory diesel did arrive in 2011, along with a facelift, Ford had lost too much ground to imported rivals and by the end of 2016, the Territory was done. While Ford’s decision to add the turbocharged ‘Barra’ engine to the Territory seemed logical, given the high demand for that engine in the Falcon XR6 Turbo, it highlighted the difference between the Falcon and Territory buyer.In the same way a diesel Falcon would have been a terrible idea in 2006, so too did the Territory Turbo prove a costly mistake.The Evoque was a brilliant addition to Range Rovers’ line-up, another demonstration of reading the market to perfection and adding a smaller model when that’s what luxury SUV customers were looking for.Unfortunately, the Evoque Convertible was as bad an idea as the Evoque was a good one. And this was one of those ideas that you really could tell wasn’t brilliant at the time.Sure, the SUV market was rapidly changing at that point and there were some unlikely sales hits, namely Audi’s turbo-diesel SQ5. If a diesel SUV can be a popular performance car, surely a convertible would be appealing, right?Wrong. Very, very wrong.Introduced in mid-2016, the final Evoque drop-top rolled off the production line in 2018. A footnote in the history of Range Rover, and one they’d probably like to forget.As Mazda prepares to launch its second and third EVs, the sharply-priced 6e and CX-6e, it can be easy to forget its first attempt. And they might prefer you did.The MX-30 was a bolder-than-average design, with ‘suicide doors’ that were actually more like ‘choke the front seat occupants if you opened the rear doors’, but it fit nicely into the popular Mazda line-up.The problem was what was powering the MX-30. For starters, Mazda hedged its bets, offering its much-hyped EV with a mild-hybrid powertrain option, just to confuse the issue. Which was needed because the EV only had a small battery and a theoretical driving range of only 200km, but a big price tag of over $66k.While EV sales were starting to increase at this point, so seemingly the time was right, Mazda was behind the times in terms of both capability and cost. It was destined to fail and that’s what it did, quietly pulled from sale after only three years.The American brand’s attempt to crack the lucrative ute (or ‘truck’ if you’re American) market was over before it began. On the one hand you have to give credit to Tesla for not trying to take on Ford, Chevrolet and Ram head on. But, on the other hand, what the heck were they thinking?The Cybertruck was always going to be a niche offering, with Tesla frontman Elon Musk's 250,000 annual sales claim being wildly optimistic (to put it very delicately). As the flop of the F-150 Lightning demonstrated, there is simply not a market for electric utes, whether they look like a traditional ute or something created by the work experience kid after a lot of caffeine.Where Musk and the rest of Tesla management thought they’d find 250,000 people who wanted to look like they just drove out of a 1990s computer game remains a mystery to equal the lost city of Atlantis.Electric utes may seem like a good idea, but their time has simply not come year, but certainly the Cybertruck is not what people want.

Honda has become the first Japanese car manufacturer to offer a Chinese-built model for sale in its domestic market.The all-new Honda Insight, a mid-size, pure-electric crossover has been produced in right-hand drive at the joint-venture Dongfeng Honda plant in Wuhan, China.Riding on the same ‘e:N Architecture F’ front-wheel drive platform as the Honda e:NS2 it’s based on, the Insight is powered by a 150kW/310Nm permanent magnet synchronous electric motor, the compact five-seater using a 68.8kWh NMC battery and boasting a WLTC-rated range of 535km.Claimed 20 to 80 per cent charge time is approximately 40 minutes on a ‘standard’ 50kW charger.At close to 4.8 metres long, a bit over 1.8m wide and just under 1.6m tall the fourth-generation EV is appreciably larger than its hybrid predecessor, last seen in Australia over a decade ago.Offered in a single variant, the Insight features an ‘Intelligent Heating System’ (coordinating cabin, seat and steering wheel heating), 12-speaker Bose audio, genuine leather trim, an aroma diffuser, ambient lighting, a 12.8-inch central media screen, 9.4-inch driver information display, an 11.5-inch head-up display, multi-view camera system, an integrated dashcam, a slide and tilt glass sunroof, LED active cornering lights, 18-inch alloy rims and ‘Honda Sensing’ active safety.Given the Insight’s RHD availability CarsGuide contacted Honda Australia for comment on the car’s potential for local sale and a spokesperson said, "We’re constantly evaluating options from Honda’s global line up which we feel would be suited to our Australian customers however we do not have any new models to announce just yet."Japanese pricing of ¥5,500,000 (~$48,100) means if it did come to Australia the Insight would offer an interesting alternative to premium mid-size EV SUVs like the Deepal S07 (from $53,990), Hyundai Elexio (from $58,990), KGM Torres EVX (58,000, drive-away), Leapmotor C10 EV (from $49,888), Renault Scenic E-Tech (from $55,990) and Skoda Elroq (from $47,990). Speaking to Nikkei Asia about the car’s likely appeal to Japanese buyers, Honda Head of Development development Kunihiro Koike said, “We manage the Insight's quality according to global standards."We will continue to consider introducing vehicles manufactured overseas into the domestic market," he said.

If there’s one thing you can’t complain about in 2026 it’s a lack of affordable electric vehicles. There are now plenty of zero-emissions options and they’re not the kind of short-range hatchbacks you might be imagining either.Cars like the Leapmotor B10 we’re testing here are cleverly-sized small SUVs with all the ingredients to set them up for success (and to keep away those ever-higher fuel bills).There are also options in this class and at this price-point from BYD, Chery and Jaecoo. But what sets this Leapmotor apart? Let’s take a look.For this review we’ve got a top-spec Leapmotor B10 Design. To get into one of these, you’re looking at a before on-roads cost of $40,888, which puts it in a similar league to the BYD Atto 3, Chery E5, Jaecoo J5 and MG S5.All of these rivals land in a very close price radius, with most of them being more affordable than our top-spec Leapmotor, but one key difference is its significant driving range.At a WLTP-certified 434km from its 67.1kWh battery pack, it should out-drive the Chery E5 (430km), Atto 3 (345km), and Jaecoo J5 (402km) to the same measure, and you’ll have to spend several thousand dollars more to get into the longer range versions of the Atto 3 or MG S5, at which point you may as well buy a Geely EX5 or GAC Aion V which have more range and are in a full size-category up.So, in some ways, the B10 Design is the ideal blend of spec, price and driving range in this entry-level part of the market.Like all Chinese cars, this Leapmotor small SUV is value-packed with highlights of its spec including generous synthetic leather interior trim, heated and ventilated seats, a 12-speaker audio system, panoramic sunroof (with powered shade, no less!), a 14.6-inch central multimedia touchscreen with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.Most importantly (aside from the aforementioned driving range) the brand has responded to negative feedback on the safety suite of its larger C10 SUV by adding a custom settings shortcut to the steering wheel of the B10, allowing you to pre-set a driving profile and activate it with the double-tap of a button.It’s also very much right-sized for city slickers. It’s a small SUV which is narrow enough to dart down laneways and easily fit in parking lots, with a big enough interior space for a growing family. At 182cm tall, I fit comfortably in all five seating positions.Drawbacks? There’s no key? More accurately, the brand expects you to use your phone as the key, with the only back-up being a credit card thing.You tap it on the mirror to unlock, and have to place it on the wireless phone charger to start the car. It’s weird and annoying and makes me wonder what would be so hard about having an actual remote with buttons.On the topic of buttons, the B10 hardly has any on the inside for controlling key functions. Almost everything has to be done through the central screen which is inconvenient at best and dangerous while you're trying to drive at worst.In addition, the strange flip-down cupholders are useless for holding anything which isn’t the right-sized bottle. So, get used to putting things in the armrest box or listening to them slide around in the tray below.For a car so focused on software, what’s on offer here is only just fine. It’s better than some of its rivals in that the menus and shortcuts are at least logically located, but it’s never fun scrolling through menus to find a setting which should have been a button in the first place.And the Leapmotor B10 drives surprisingly well. Like other cars in this class it’s got soft and spongy suspension, which makes it very comfortable but means it lacks body control in the corners. It’s not as overtly soft as the GAC Aion UT I drove recently, so there’s at least something to be said for it in the handling department. Doubly so, since the B10 is rear-wheel drive - an oddity in this small SUV segment.The steering is heavily electrically assisted and very light as a result, although it maintains a bit of feel to the front wheels.I’m sorry to report its rear-driven nature doesn’t exactly make it feel like a sports car. Cleverly-tuned traction systems make sure the 160kW/240Nm is strong but not wild enough to overwhelm the LingLong factory tyres.Sporty machine, this is not, but I walked away relatively impressed with how quiet, comfortable, and smooth it is. With the car set to my custom safety settings, it has no dealbreakers from behind the wheel.I drove mine in mainly commuter scenarios and beat the official energy consumption handily. My car was reporting an amazing 12.7kWh/100km in my travels. When I subtract the distance I travelled from the remaining range it landed at about 480km which is a lot more than the WLTP 434km official figure.Confusing things further, the trip computer has two methods for calculating range, static or dynamic, and both were way off. The static one reported the less accurate NEDC range pro-rata, and the dynamic computer consistently and drastically underestimated the remaining range. Very strange.This longer-range version of the B10 can charge at a maximum speed of 168kW on a fast DC charger which is plenty. Officially the charge time is around half an hour, and on a 75kW unit, mine charged from 10-90 per cent in around 40 minutes.

XPeng has unveiled its latest flagship SUV to take on BYD and Zeekr. The XPeng GX is an ultra-luxury large six-seater SUV, powered by a range-extender or fully-electric set-up.This puts it into direct competition with other high-end models in the Chinese market, such as the BYD Great Tang.It will also take on the Zeekr 9X, which is anticipated to launch in Australia over the next year or so. It is unclear at this stage whether the GX will launch in Australia.The brand’s in-limbo distributor TrueEV had previously announced a G9 large SUV and X9 people mover, but that is yet to materialise. The newly-formed XPeng ANZ has expressed interest in having the GX as a model on sale in Australia.The range-extender set-up in the new range-topping GX utilises a 1.5-litre turbo-petrol engine, producing 110kW to charge the battery combined with front- and rear-mounted electric motors, producing 210kW. This variant has a 63kWh battery, offering an electric-only driving range of 430km, with a combined driving range of 1585km. Both of these figures have been calculated using the more generous CLTC system. The all-electric variant also has dual motors, which produce a total of 270kW, along with a driving range of 750km (CLTC) from its 110kWh battery pack.  All variants of the GX have all-wheel drive. The GX utilises an 800-volt platform to facilitate a 10-80 per cent charge in under 12 minutes for the large SUV, according to XPeng. There is plenty of lavish luxury on the inside of the GX, with the usual large digital driver display and central touchscreen combo, accompanied by a 21.4-inch TV-like rear screen.Additionally, there is a panoramic head-up display spanning the width of the front windscreen. All seats are wrapped in Nappa leather, with plenty of electric adjustment options, as well as heated and ventilated functionality. The GX has been priced from just under 400,000 yuan, which is around A$80,000, but expect it to be around $100,000 if it ever makes it to the Australian market. 

Toyota has lifted the lid on a new Yaris Cross with a fresh design that should breathe life into the ageing light SUV.However it looks like we won't see this update Down Under according to a Toyota Australia spokesperson."We are always reviewing opportunities to enhance our local line up, however, at this time, there are no current plans to introduce the updated European variant of the Yaris Cross in Australia."The facelift for the UK and European spec Yaris Cross introduces a new front-end design with a honeycomb mesh grille finished in the body colour, integrated into the front bumper.New LED headlight and daytime running light signatures also feature, as does a lower black cladding section, giving the light SUV a more modern look than the current Australian-spec model.Fresh 17 and 18-inch wheel designs and two new paint options - Precious Bronze with black roof and pillars as well as Persian Salt - are also available.Changes are more subtle inside where the Yaris Cross gains platinum coloured door trim and new sports seats on some grades.No changes have been made under the skin. It retains Toyota’s 1.5-litre petrol-electric hybrid powertrain outputting 96kW/185Nm for a 10.7-second 0-100km/h time.The Australian Yaris Cross also uses a 1.5-litre hybrid setup but it has a lower system output of 85kW and 141Nm.Toyota launched the Yaris Cross in late 2020 as a rival to the Mazda CX-3, Nissan Juke and Ford Puma.It was last updated for Australia midway through last year, gaining additional safety tech and some comfort features.Sales of the Yaris Cross are down by 18.5 per cent in the first quarter of the year, but Toyota has still managed to sell 2456 examples.It is running second in the light SUV sales segment behind the ageing Mazda CX-3 (3489), but it is ahead of the Suzuki Jimny 4x4 (1958), Koia Stonic (1437) and Hyundai Venue (1352).

Leapmotor has detailed its D19 large SUV, a battery-electric (BEV) and extended-range hybrid (EREV) the Chinese maker is positioning in the domestic market as its “flagship luxury SUV”, the latter version fitted with what is claimed to be the world’s largest EREV battery.With a maximum 80.3kWh capacity, the D19 EREV is able to cover up to 500km (CLTC) in pure-EV mode.Measuring just over 5.2 metres long, a fraction under 2.0m wide and close to 1.8m tall with a 3110mm wheelbase, the six- and seven-seat D19 is a potential challenger to the likes of the BYD Sealion 8, Chery Tiggo 8, Hyundai Santa Fe, Kia Sorento, Mazda CX-80, Omoda 9, Skoda Kodiaq and Toyota Kluger.The D19 EREV is a 300kW dual-motor AWD with a 1.5-litre turbo-petrol engine operating purely as a generator to charge one of two (CATL-sourced) battery options - 63.7kWh and 80.3kWh.The car’s 800-volt electric architecture means it can be charged from 30 to 80 per cent in a claimed 15 minutes.Offered in (410kW) two- and (540kW) three-motor variants, the D19 BEV runs a 1000V system and also offers two battery options - 99.6kWh and 115 kWh. Range varies from 620km to 720km (CLTC) and claimed 0-100km/h acceleration in the tri-motor version is “under three seconds”.Included features across the seven-model range (three EREV grades and four BEVs) include 21-inch rims, a 17.3-inch central media screen, 10.25-inch digital driver’s display, a 21.4-inch entertainment screen (with 6.0-inch control screen) for second- and third-row passengers, dual glass sunroofs, 23-speaker audio, an oxygen generation system (!) and an 8.1-litre fridge. ‘Digital Clock’ megapixel DLP projector headlights incorporate one million pixels and are able to project complex welcome animations (including a swimming whale) in front of the car, while a ‘Happy Pixels’ interactive screen at the rear not only incorporates the full-width tail-lights but can be set to deliver animations or a battery charge read-out.Soft-close doors, multi-way power seat adjustment, semi-aniline leather upholstery, wood grain trims, configurable ambient lighting and “velvet ceiling material” are part of a premium interior treatment.All D19 versions boast 337 litres of boot space with all seats upright and up to 2677 litres with the second and third rows folded in seven-seat models. A 176-litre front trunk includes a 220V outlet. Active crash-avoidance tech includes “28 assisted driving sensors” (including a Lidar on the roof) and autonomous emergency braking (AEB) operating between four and 150km/h.Suspension is alloy dual-wishbone at the front and five links at the rear with ‘Dual-cavity’ air-suspension providing continuously variable damping.Chinese-market D19 pricing ranges from ¥219,800 (~$45,000) for the entry-level 400 Premium Edition EREV to ¥269,800 (~$55,000) for the 680 Tri Motor Performance Edition BEV.Leapmotor’s local line-up currently consists of the pure-electric B10 small SUV and C10 BEV and plug-in hybrid medium SUV. And when contacted for comment on the D19’s potential for the local market a Stellantis Australia spokesperson told CarsGuide the newcomer is “on its radar” adding the brand will be “able to hopefully confirm new product in the near future.” 

Initially a 1.6-litre four-cylinder plug-in hybrid, Peugeot's 408 is now a 1.2-litre, three-cylinder mild 'plug-less' hybrid with $10K slashed off its price tag and fuel economy to frighten the mainstream medium SUV players it now competes with. We spent a week behind the wheel to see if the new package gives this niche player more market bite.

The Subaru Crosstrek rivals the likes of the Honda HR-V, Hyundai Kona, Mazda CX-30 and Toyota Corolla Cross, but there are areas where it's better and some where it's not. We investigate the fuel efficiency, practicality, driveability and value-for-money of this small SUV.

Cupra is the Volkswagen Group's charismatic Spanish brand and the Terramar is a category-busting compact crossover-style SUV with plug-in petrol-electric hybrid power. Does it do enough to capture your attention ahead of well-specified and sharply-priced options from China, Japan and Europe?

The Cadillac Lyriq is a stylish contender in Australia's luxury EV SUV market but does this handsome American represent a genuine alternative to prestige European marques in this space?