SUV

Nissan has confirmed the new-generation X-Trail mid-size SUV will launch locally late next year. This means that the Australian launch of the new-generation Nissan X-Trail will follow about 12 months after the US launch of the Rogue, which is the same car but with a different name. “This current generation that we’re in, I think we were two model years after the launch of the first left-hand drive ,” said Nissan Australian Managing Director Steve Milette to CarsGuide. “With the way the platform principles are now working at the global level from a product development , between the first left-hand drive and first right-hand drive, it’s been condensed quite significantly. “It’ll be a year or less, which is good news.” In contrast Nissan has taken more than two years to bring the Patrol to Australia after it went on sale in left-hand drive markets. Nissan already offers one e-Power hybrid-only model in Australia, the Qashqai small SUV, and it’s unclear whether the brand will expand this to include the X-Trail to further reduce the fleet CO2 emissions. “It’s a possibility,” said Milette when posed with the question. “I can’t confirm that that is definitely going to happen, but we know that the hybrid market has expanded globally, but especially here. “I would say even in our current-generation X-Trail, we’ve gone from very low percentages to now 33 per cent is e-Power, and by the end of December, it’ll be closer to 50 per cent.” At this stage Nissan Australia hasn’t confirmed the local specifications for the next-generation X-Trail, however the new US-specification Rogue gives an indication of what to expect. There’s a new e-Power hybrid powertrain that’s claimed to be quieter and more efficient. The dual-motor, all-wheel drive e-Power is also 11kW more powerful than the current version, with a total system output of 168kW. A 1.5-litre turbocharged three-cylinder petrol engine will also be offered as a pure-combustion engine option in the US. A version of this engine is already offered in the outgoing model. In addition to the e-Power hybrid all-wheel drive, the current, outgoing X-Trail is offered with a 2.5-litre naturally aspirated four-cylinder petrol engine in Australia, as well as a new front-wheel drive e-Power hybrid powertrain. Nissan Corporate Executive of Family, Products & Components Strategy Richard Candler previously told CarsGuide there is a “very large amount of new”, despite still being underpinned by an iteration of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance CMF-CD platform the current model rides on, For example, the structure is claimed to be completely different and much stiffer than before. Additionally, there is a fresh design and a reworked strut front, multi-link rear suspension set-up with a wider track width. All Rogue trims feature 90-degree opening doors, LED headlights, dual 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster and touchscreen multimedia system (14.3-inch on higher grades), a wireless charger, 64-colour interior ambient lighting, as well as multi-zone climate control.

The Mercedes-Benz GLB is back for its second generation and this time it’s available with either a mild-hybrid or battery electric powertrain. It’s also packed with new tech. Is the EV the pick of the line-up?

How confidently can you drive on hardened snow, or in icy conditions? And what about electric vehicles (EVs)? Are they better or worse? The answers very much depend on the model of vehicle in question, as well as the level of advanced driver assistance technologies (ADAS) fitted. That’s because modern vehicles are immeasurably better at steering and braking control on very low grip surfaces, and are able to react far quicker than a human ever can. A high-grip or sticky road (usually dry and warm) has a high mu (denoted by the Greek letter m), while low mu represents a low-grip, low-friction surface like ice, snow or on a wet steel plate. Before the advent of safety aids like traction control, electronic stability control (ESC), anti-lock brakes, ADAS and all-wheel drive (AWD), vehicles in low mu situations required exceptional driving skills just to keep it from veering off uncontrollably into the scenery. Basically, the driver would often become the passenger. Now, in concert with advances in tyres and chassis engineering tuning, an electronic driving mode can be chosen according to the prevailing environment and conditions, for far-safer travel. It’s all the difference between progress and ploughing into something. Just as importantly, there are degrees of electronic intervention to allow for a variety of different ways to travel over low-mu surfaces, according to the level of driver skill. Here’s where Skoda steps into the picture. To demonstrate just how far modern vehicles have come, the Volkswagen Group brand organised a demonstration for a small number of Australian motoring media on a special closed circuit on an ice field in New Zealand. To keep it interesting, both vehicle types were performance-orientated grades of popular family-sized AWD SUVs that people might reasonably be expected to drive up to snowy regions during a ski season. Or navigate an ice-storm in on a freezing night on the other side of the globe. You never know. In this case, they were the 2026 Skoda Kodiaq RS 4x4 from $70,590 (all prices are before on-road costs) and a 2026 Skoda Enyaq RS 4x4 from $76,590 – with the latter being the go-faster EV version that is also known as the vRS in other markets. They wore winter tyres, a common addition in Europe, North America and other cold-climate regions, but not so in Australia due to our temperate climate. Several revealing demonstrations were prepared, and all on ice that looked like soft snow due to flurries but, in reality, revealed a mu surface as slippery as you’ll ever likely to experience out in the real world. Here we were shown the most basic level of ice-driving car control: attempting a low-speed cornering manoeuvre, without spearing off into a snowbank, and with limited ESC intervention. This introduced us to the three basic rules we would always have to adhere to: easing in intricate steering inputs, precise throttle control and very gentle tapping of the brake pedal, to allow momentum and the laws of physics to take the vehicle through the turn. Super difficult to achieve at first, and barely at walking pace initially, the speed was increased slowly over repeated exercises, until the balance and behaviour of driver and vehicle were in unison with the road and environmental conditions being negotiated. During these, we learned to importance of understanding and controlling ice-driving understeer (where the vehicle’s front wheels lose grip and then ploughs ahead whilst cornering regardless of steering angle) and ice-driving oversteer (where the rear wheels lose grip and the vehicle’s tail slides out to eventually spin out of control). After that, there was more of the same, but this time with a series of road twists and sharp turns combined with long straight pathways, with the goal of inducing controllable oversteer where possible in order to achieve the smoothest and cleanest route through a particular driving course. Note that understeer in such conditions is never desirable as it impedes progress. Sounds fun, is cool, but not as easy as the professionals on hand make it look. Especially at higher speeds Here’s the exception to the general rule of gently-gently car control. Sat in the Enyaq RS with nothing but icy snow behind, we were instructed to straighten the wheel, select reverse and floor the throttle, before tugging the wheel left or right once reaching 60km/h, then tapping the brake as the vehicle spins around 180 degrees backwards and slows to a momentary halt, before selecting drive and powering forward. The aim here is for a seamless transition turning the car from reverse to forward in a rapid getaway situation, as per every action movie involving a heist of some sort ever made. This was the highlight of the day. After countless exercises learning to control a vehicle better on ice than we ever thought possible thanks to the advances in electronic technologies like ADAS, we were driven to another location with two Skodas with all electronic systems switched off and instructed to temporarily forget about everything we had learned that day about smart, safe yet speedy ice driving. No ESC. No traction. No ADAS. And no safety net. Instead, we were told to drive around a point in the centre of a large field, but in a constant oversteer motion where the rear was sliding out to help pivot the vehicle around. In other words, we were told to drift our hearts out! With a cool and collected professional our only safety net in the seat next to us, the only instruction was full throttle and eyes fixed on the centre point. Doing that, with foot planted firmly down on the accelerator, resulted in a long, continuous circular drifting, yet within a chosen path and without losing control. This was the culmination of very particular steering and throttle inputs, designed to create spectacular drifting manoeuvres. Since these instructions require to do the very opposite of the extremely precise steering and throttle inputs that are the core of safe modern-vehicle ice-driving techniques, we do not recommend you try this on public roads. But, in the off-chance you have a private circuit away from danger for you or any other road user, it might be the most fun you’ll ever have on ice. And the Skodas behaved exactly as instructed, without missing a beat.

While the future of the current Toyota Kluger remains uncertain, the Japanese carmaker has confirmed the Kluger nameplate will carry over. “Firstly with regard to nameplate of Kluger, we will continue,” said Toyota Australia Vice President National Sales, Marketing and Franchise Operations John Pappas to CarsGuide. “So, we have no plan on discontinuing the Kluger nameplate. “Regarding the BEV … right now we have nothing to confirm or announce on that BEV, but … Kluger will continue.” The current-generation Toyota Kluger (Highlander in other markets) has been produced in the USA since 2019. Reports from the US indicate that production of the current Kluger will finish up before the end of 2026. It’s unclear if this is just for US-specification Highlander models or globally. The outgoing Kluger/Highlander will be replaced by a new, all-electric model called the Highlander BEV. If it launches locally it will likely be called the Kluger BEV as Hyundai owns the trademark for the name ‘Highlander’. The Highlander BEV is set to launch in the US in 2027. At this stage it’s unclear whether a local launch will happen, but this is a potential way for the Kluger name to carry on in Australia. Toyota already offers the larger Grand Highlander that’s built on the same TNGA-K platform as the regular Kluger. Right-hand drive production for this model has never been confirmed. While Toyota Australia hasn’t confirmed the launch of the Highlander/Kluger BEV, Lexus has just announced it is launching the new TZ in 2027. The Lexus TZ is based on the same TNGA-K EV platform as the Kluger BEV. There’s also a Subaru version of this car called the Getaway, but for now this is only confirmed for North America. In the US, the new Kluger BEV will be available with two electric motor configurations, as well as two battery packs. A single-motor, front-wheel drive version produces 164kW, whereas a dual-motor, all-wheel drive set-up has a total system output of 252kW. A 95.8kWh lithium-ion battery will be available first, with a smaller 77kWh unit to be offered later. If Toyota did bring the new electric version of the Highlander to Australia and badge it as the Kluger, it would be the Japanese brand’s largest EV to date. Beyond the related Lexus TX, key rivals that are large three-row electric SUVs include the Kia EV9, Hyundai Ioniq 9, Tesla Model Y L, Cadillac Vistiq and the Volvo EX90. There’s also the new Mercedes-Benz GLB, which offers both an electric powertrain and three rows of seating, but it’s a considerably smaller vehicle. Toyota has been ramping up its EV sales thanks to the addition of the bZ4X Touring and it’s aiming to have 30 per cent of its overall local sales be EVs, PHEVs and FCEVs by the end of 2030.

Isuzu says it will look to trade emissions credits with other manufacturers and attempt to share the extra cost between dealers, its local head office and its international HQ to keep selling the diesel D-Max and MU-X in Australia without jacking up prices. The brand is in a tough spot when it comes to the federal government's New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES) in Australia, with two models sharing diesel engines, and no form of electrification either here or coming in the immediate future. But it also says the segments it competes in – namely the ute and off-road SUV spaces – aren’t embracing electrification, even if it had powertrains to offer. That leaves it with little option but to buy credits from other lower-emitting manufacturers. Part of the government’s NVES policy is that manufacturers who exceed their fleet emission target end in credit, while those who miss theirs end with a deficit, but brands can trade to balance their ledgers. “The strategy is that we’ll do everything we can to make the impact as low as possible on the end user,”  says  Rod Caldwell, Executive General Manager - MD Office and Internal Audit Office. “If that means we need to buy credits, we're not saying that we won't do that. "If that means that it protects the consumer from any excessive price increases or whatever, but it gives them the lowest impact, then that's what we'll do. Some brands say they won't, we're saying that's an option we will seriously consider.” Caldwell says the brand would attempt to share any cost increases across the vehicle suppliers, rather than pass them onto the customer, though he concedes that might not be entirely possible. “We're trying to trim expenses at the same time, and we've got a number of parties involved in our process,” he says. “We've got the manufacturer, we've got our owner, we've got us. So we’ve all got a job to do to make sure that the customer doesn't have to wear the brunt of it.  “We want to minimise the impact. We will have to absorb some, the factory will have to absorb some. At the end of the day, the factory is the one responsible for the penalty, not us, but we've got to come to an arrangement on how we share this burden. “It's not going to be long term. We are going to have new technology in the future, for sure.”

The new BMW iX3 is the first production model to arrive on BMW’s new Neue Klasse EV architecture. Has BMW actually managed to make its next generation of EVs feel like a proper Bimmer?

Volkswagen finally has the firepower to take on China, with its new ID.Tiguan electric SUV. The new ID.Tiguan will replace the current ID.4 and ID.5, which are currently still on sale in Australia. Both have been met with lukewarm success and have been comprehensively outsold by the Tesla Model Y, Zeekr 7X, Geely EX5 and more. The mid-size electric SUV moves to the company’s upgraded electric car platform, dubbed MEB+. This brings a number of updates including faster charging capabilities, better batteries and more efficient electric motors. The new ID.Tiguan brings more road presence than the outgoing ID.4 and ID.5. It looks less like it was designed to impress a wind tunnel and more to look good in a driveway. It has chunkier styling with a more boxy silhouette, with broad haunches and a blocky rear end. Sharp LED lights joined by a light bar that runs the length of the bonnet gives it a modern EV feel. There are just enough body creases to give it some visual appeal, along with various alloy wheel designs. Inside is where the magic really happens. Buttons, glorious buttons, have made a return to a Volkswagen interior. There are physical controls for climate functions underneath the central multimedia display, and the steering wheel has plenty of real buttons, not haptic feedback touch controls of cars past. This doesn’t mean the ID.Tiguan is old-school. The ID.Tiguan can come with three screens, including a 15-inch central multimedia screen, 10-inch driver display and a 12-inch front seat passenger screen. This means the screens run the length of the entire dashboard. It appears the austerity years that ripped out the high-end feel of Volkswagen interiors might be over, with the ID.Tiguan looking plush and comfortable inside. The ID.Tiguan is available in three layouts: two single-motor, rear-wheel drive and one dual-motor all-wheel drive. The base rear-wheel-drive version uses a 140kW motor and 58kWh battery delivering a WLTP range of up to 450km. A beefier 210kW rear-wheel drive version is paired with a 77kWh battery that provides a driving range up to 600km. The range is topped off with a 220kW all-wheel-drive version that uses the same 77kWh battery to push the car up to 560km. The bigger batteries can accept up to 165kW of DC power and the smaller version up to 105kW. All can absorb 11kW from an AC connector. The ID.Tiguan can even tow, with the smaller battery version capable of pulling up to 1800kg and the others can shift 2000kg. Volkswagen Australia has not confirmed if the ID.Tiguan will be sold in Australia, but it is almost certain it will arrive here to replace the ID.4 and ID.5. Pre-sales start in select European countries this month, but Australia is usually a decent chunk behind the continent. Volkswagen has just announced a series of substantial updates for the ID.4 and ID.5 in Australia, which will likely point to it being on sale for another year at least. So, expect it to arrive towards the end of 2027 at the earliest. In Germany it starts at the equivalent of about $68,000.

An unknown brand specialising in hybrid and electric vehicles (EVs) from China will arrive in Australia next year to take on BYD, Chery, GAC, Geely, Haval, MG and others. This may sound like every other Tuesday, nowadays, but the difference here is that the latest nameplate arrival, Nevo, will represent Changan Automobile – the state-owned carmaker that has been making vehicles in China since 1959. And that’s the longest of the lot. According to Changan Australia Head of Brand and Marketing Andrew Haurissa Nevo is now locked in for our market. “The first one (after luxury brand Avatr) will be a Nevo vehicle,” he revealed. “Whether it comes here as Nevo or Changan Nevo, that’s yet to be confirmed.” While only existing since 2023 in its home market as a Qiyuan, Nevo has been a runaway success, and so will be set up as the public-facing mainstream entity, likely in lieu of the Changan brand in Australia, at least for the time being. Which Nevo arrives first is not yet clear. It is believed that the Q05 small SUV hybrid and the Q06 mid-sized SUV EV with range-extender EV option may be at the head of the queue. Taking a page out of the Geely EX5 playbook, these should give Changan Automobile two strong players in the $30,000 to $50,000 price range, capitalising on the booming electrification growth areas in Australia, to put it in the thick of the action. Interestingly, Australians already have been exposed to Changan and Nevo models already. The Mazda 6e and CX-6e EV sedan and SUV are part of a joint-venture project using two respective Deepal models as a base - the L07 and S07 respectively. Plus, there is the E07 Multitruck, the strange SUV/pick-up truck mash-up EV marketed in Australia by Subaru importer Inchcape as a Deepal, alongside the more-conventional S07 mid-sized SUV coupe sibling that isn’t sold as a Nevo in China. Here’s how the strategy should play out in Australia. Nevo will sit at the bottom of the rung under the Changan Automobile parent-company umbrella, coming in after Avatr launches in the first half of next year, as the flagship luxury brand. To that end, the latter will take on BYD’s Denza, Geely’s Zeekr, MG’s IM and GWM’s Wey models, beginning with the Zeekr 7X-chasing 07L large-sized premium SUV EV, followed by the 06T sports wagon/crossover EV due towards the end of 2027. If that seems like a big gap, in China, Deepal is the premium brand positioned in between. Right now, there’s no talk about Changan Australia taking over Deepal distribution from Inchcape, but that may change once the contract ends in the future. “Some products coming from the Nevo stable might seem better than Deepal, but from a brand hierarchy perspective, Deepal sits above Nevo,” Haurissa revealed. “In Australia, we are quite unique in that we will be managing both (Nevo and Avatr together). “However, the brands will sit quite separately. They’re structured separately now, but they are conforming in the back end. “Think of how Volkswagen (and Skoda, Cupra, Audi) and Porsche are. Similarly, we will have a joint back end to support the brands, but will be marketed very differently.”

Australia’s obsession with ride and handling is proving a secret weapon for one Chinese car maker, with Australian preferences and know-how set to be exported to the world. That’s the word from GWM, who took tuning its cars for Australian conditions so seriously that it took a near-12 month residency at Lang Lang (Holden’s old proving ground), and recruited Holden tuning ace Rob Trubiani to lead its local ride and handling program. What began as essentially tuning the components supplied by China has evolved into something far more in-depth for Trubiani and his team, who says he’s been overwhelmed by the response to his feedback from GWM’s global HQ. “They're very receptive to the stuff that we're doing, and they've been very positive about it,” Trubiani says. “We can tweak the components that we've got, but we're also now having input into changing stuff if we want to. “It's not that we're doing it right and they’re not. Each market is different. That's what drives our changes, right, our market is different to the China market, which is different to other regions. “We are developing the car for our market specifically, but I've also got a lot of experience in global tuning work and global development from my past days. So, we can leverage that experience.” It’s a thought echoed by GWM Chief Operating Officer, John Kett, who says the local engineering work has been so well received it is now being folded into the manufacturing process, meaning cars arrive in Australia with Trubiani’s tuning requirements baked in. “We're getting further and further up the engineering supply chain, meaning we'll get to the point where many of them now just come straight out of the chute ready to go,” Kett says. Trubiani is now influencing global supply chain choices for future products, with the models now just destined for Australia, but potentially for several global markets, too. "There are cars that Rob has already driven six, eight, 12 months before they're due to be released in China," says GWM Head Of Marketing & Communication, Steve Maciver. "And he said, 'no, this isn't, we need this, we need that'. The supply chain in those cars, Rob is influencing. "Brazil has expressed an interest in taking it. (And) once we did Tech Day last year, we had Pakistan, we had Russia, we had a few other markets looking at what Rob's doing. We certainly know from the Head Office R&D and engineering perspective, they're very, very keen on what Rob's doing. "Rob's probably giving a Western view to a company that's got global ambitions."

The Mazda CX-6e Azami tops the electric SUV range in Australia, listing at $56,990. That’s only three grand more than the GT($53,990), but that’s because you don’t get a whole bunch more stuff. Both models get the following as standard: LED lights Panoramic glass roof Black Maztech trim Heated and ventilated front seats A massive 26.45-inch multimedia screen Head-up display Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto 21-speaker stereo You do get bigger 21-inch alloys on the Azami, which we like, and digital wing mirrors, which we don’t, so we think the cheaper GT is the better bang-for-bucks purchase here.   There’s a single motor at the rear axle, making 190kW and 290Nm, while its 78kWh LFP battery, producing a WLTP driving range of up to 484kms. The CX-6e is covered by Mazda’s five-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty, which is a little underwhelming by today’s standards, though the battery is covered for eight years or 160,000kms.