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Sharply-priced deals can be the best way for buyers to get into a new car in Australia. Car sales are surging, with June 2026 an all-time monthly Australian record. Brands continue to put enticing deals on the table, even for their most popular models.From SUVs to utes and hybrid to electric, there are plenty of cars on offer at a cut price. Here are some of the best ones we’ve found. Ford is currently offering $3000 off and five free general services on select Ranger ute and Everest SUV models until the 30th of September. The 2.0-litre diesel Ranger XLT 2WD top-spec dual-cab model is now available from $49,990, before on-road costs. The V6-powered Wildtrak grade of the 4WD dual-cab pick-up is available from $72,090.The 4WD XLS and XLT cab-chassis grades start from $55,450 and $63,590, respectively, as part of the offer. Two grades of the V6 Everest SUV are also eligible for the $3000 discount, with the Sport starting from $73,990, while the Tremor starts from $76,990. These deals are only available on the Blue Oval’s MY26.5 stock.Peugeot is offering some serious discounts on its hybrid SUVs as it parts ways with its local distributor Inchcape. The 2008 compact SUV is available on a drive-away offer of $39,990, with it previously on sale from $42,990, before on-road costs. The mid-sized 3008 starts from $48,990, drive-away, down from $52,990 (before on-road costs). Peugeot’s 5008 large SUV has a drive-away price of $48,990, contrasting its $52,990, before on-road costs, price tag. Leapmotor has put a series of sharp deals on the table for its electrified SUV range until September 30. The mid-sizer C10 range-extender hybrid has a $42,990 drive-away offer, with a $3000 cash-back offer reducing that price to $38,990. The car normally retails from $43,888, before on-road costs. EV versions of the C10 are also available on a drive-away deal of $47,990, with an additional $3000 cash back decreasing the price to $44,990. This is a sizeable discount on the $45,888 before on-road costs starting price. The smaller B10 EV is available from $38,990, drive-away, down from $43,888 (before on-road costs).BYD continues to add competitive deals across its line-up in Australia. Shark 6 cab-chassis and Premium examples are available with a $2500 cash-back until July 31. This reduces before on-road costs pricing on the cab-chassis price to $52,500, and $60,500 on the Premium. The cash-back offer extends to its Sealion 5, Sealion 6 and Sealion 7 SUV range, with the Atto 3 electric SUV eligible for a $2000 cash back. Chery similarly has $2000 cash-back offers on most of its range including the Tiggo 4, Tiggo 7, Tiggo 8 and Tiggo 9 SUVs. This deal is only available until 31 August on cars built in 2025.Nissan has slashed the price of its Navara ute range until August 31. There are heavy discounts on lower grade Navara units, with the base car available from $49,990 (drive-away), down from $53,348, before on-road costs. The range-topping Navara Pro-4X ute is just $63,990, drive-away, compared to its original $68,418, before on-road costs pricing. Existing Nissan customers are also eligible for a $2000 loyalty bonus. 

Australia’s most treacherous car crash site has been identified through analysis of close to 400,000 insurance claims lodged across the country in 2025.The 2026 AAMI Crash Index highlights Springvale Road in Glen Waverley, Victoria as “Australia’s No.1 crash hotspot” at the same time calling out mornings and Fridays as “peak prang periods nationally”.Victoria, more specifically Melbourne, accounted for nine of the national top 10 sites listed, with Pennant Hills Road, Carlingford in Sydney’s north-west the only outlier.The index analysed more than 394,000 motor insurance claims lodged across Australia between January 1 and December 31, 2025. And the data has highlighted clear similarities across these high frequency crash locations: busy arterial roads, traffic lights, major intersections, shopping precincts, car parks and heavy stop-start traffic.In announcing the results AAMI said, “These are roads where congestion, merging traffic, turning vehicles and momentary lapses in concentration create the perfect conditions for everyday driving mistakes.”And tellingly, Springvale Road, Glen Waverley has knocked off Plenty Road, Bundoora in Melbourne’s north-east as Australia’s No.1 crash hotspot for the first time in eight years.Unsurprisingly, nose-to-tail impacts remain the most common type of collision, followed by failure to give way and collisions with stationary objects.While Melbourne dominated the national Top 10, the rest of the country didn't receive a free pass, with the following locations having the dubious honour of topping their home state or territory.Melbourne: Accounts for nine of the national Top 10.Sydney: Pennant Hills Road in Carlingford ranked ninth nationally.Brisbane: Mains Road, Sunnybank.Perth: Albany Highway, Cannington.Adelaide: North East Road, Modbury.Hobart: Sandy Bay Road, Sandy Bay.Canberra: Hindmarsh Drive, Phillip. Darwin: Trower Road, Casuarina. AAMI cites bad habits like following too closely, braking late, misjudging turns and failing to anticipate changing traffic conditions as common precursors to a sheet metal interface.Announcing the index results AAMI Motor Prevention Manager Mary Kennedy said, “The hotspots topping our list all share similar traits — heavy traffic, multiple lanes, traffic lights, major intersections, shopping precincts and constant turning movements, where even a momentary lapse in concentration can lead to a crash.“Mornings and Fridays are peak prang periods nationally, when school pick-ups, commuters, shoppers and heavy traffic all converge. It is a timely reminder to slow down mentally as much as physically, stay patient and avoid distractions.“Whether you are driving through Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Hobart, Canberra or Darwin, the message is the same: leave a safe gap, look further ahead, take extra care at intersections and avoid rushing through busy traffic,” she said.

Affordable cars from China have overrun the Australian market, forcing once favourites from Japan out of the top-10, and putting pressure on the rest hailing from South Korea to Europe.Yet amongst this, one Indian manufacturer is hoping to ride the affordable Chinese wave as an alternative.Mahindra has had a resurgence in Australia, releasing an array of surprisingly competitive new products as part of a renewed global push toward a wider audience.The car we’ve nabbed for this long-term test, the oddly-named XUV 3X0 is the brand’s latest.It’s a crossover SUV which represents the entry-point to the Mahindra line-up, starting from a very keen $23,990, drive-away.As rival Chinese brand Chery might know, though, just being affordable isn’t enough. The cars have to be good, too.Does the XUV 3X0 have what it takes or will you be wishing you spent a little more? Read on to see what I found in my first month.Okay, let’s set the scene before we get into impressions. You can have one of these from the aforementioned starting price, but the one we have is top of the two-variant range, the AX7L, which is priced at $26,990, drive-away.For exactly the same money, you could get into the best selling Chery Tiggo 4, also in top-spec Ultimate form, with the larger MG ZS Turbo (basic Vibe form, $25,990, drive-away), and Haval Jolion (basic Premium form, $26,990, drive-away) also options.If you’re looking for something from a longer established brand, your options include the ageing Hyundai Venue (auto - $25,750, before on-roads) or the Suzuki Fronx ($28,990, before on-roads), both of which are more size-appropriate in this city crossover space.So your choices are a larger, better equipped car from China, an older car from Korea, or a more expensive car from Japan.Some food for thought is the equipment list, which stays just on the right side of good, with a few omissions.The 3X0 ticks all the key boxes - 17-inch alloys, LED headlights, synthetic leather interior trim, dual 10.25-inch screens for the digital dash and the multimedia touchscreen, wireless phone connectivity and charging, as well as a panoramic sunroof, 360-degree parking camera, and Harman Kardon premium audio on this top-spec one.It might not have a few luxuries such as heated and power adjusting seats like a high-spec Tiggo 4 for example, but for a small basic car it feels the part.Looking at the 3X0 from the outside, I’m pretty impressed with its sharp design. From a brand once known for its particularly hideous takes on the standard SUV archetypes, the 3X0 is maybe its best looking car yet, featuring sharp contemporary headlight designs, a cohesive design front to rear (the larger Scorpio is yet to feel so tidy), angular design motifs with some nice highlight detailing and trendy touches like the two-tone roof and diamond-cut alloys.You could hardly tell from the outside that the 3X0 is an older Korean car underneath. Yep, that’s right, the 3X0 can trace its underpinnings back to the SsangYong Tivoli thanks to the South Korean automaker’s time being owned by Mahindra.It’s much more obvious inside, where some switchgear is identical to the SsangYong, while other bits, like the lower portion of the centre console also share a familiarity.The digital dash and multimedia touchscreen, however, feel much more modern, giving the cabin an up-to-date touch courtesy of Mahindra’s latest software, which is easy to use.Aesthetically, the screens are pretty much the only thing keeping the 3X0’s interior in this decade, with old-school plastics and too much of the much-maligned piano black cladding the dash, but there’s something refreshing about the simplicity of it all.Those paying attention would have noticed the glorious abundance of buttons and dials making everything in this car easy to control and proving you can still build an affordable car without hiding all the climate functions in touchscreen sub-menus.My initial impression continues behind the wheel where the 3X0 feels like a car from 10 years ago but somehow in a good way.Let me explain. Too many compact SUVs in this class are dynamically a mess and dull to steer thanks to their continuously variable transmissions (CVTs), or are otherwise unintuitive in daily traffic thanks to fuel-saving dual-clutch automatics.Generally, you have to splash for something more expensive or to a hybrid to make many options in this class nice to drive.Not so in the 3X0. Don’t get me wrong, this car isn’t particularly special in what it offers, but it’s the refreshingly straightforward combination of a gruff little 1.2-litre turbocharged three-cylinder engine (82kW/200Nm) and a real old-school six-speed automatic transmission which makes it a surprising pleasure to steer.Its relative light weight and firm suspension keep it tidy in the corners, while little boosts of turbo surge are enough to put a smile on your face without getting out of sorts.Even the steering is a straightforward power assisted set-up without an annoying amount of artificial software weighting as in some of its Chinese rivals.I even found myself not needing to scroll through a bunch of sub-menus to turn off the usual array of poorly-calibrated safety systems. The 3X0 either doesn’t have them, or they’re not annoying enough to warrant turning off.In a way, this is a brand new car for someone who wants an old car. Tired of the annoyances of many modern vehicles, the 3X0 is a fun, basic little car to hop into as a palette cleanser.Our little crossover isn’t doing so great on the fuel consumption front. According to my calculations (which I had to do because the computer only shows the consumption in km/L rather than L/100km), the 3X0 is drinking around 7.4L/100km which is too high for such a compact unit.Perhaps it's the fact I drive it a little more aggressively than I would otherwise, as I try to push the turbo surge and resulting fun out of the meagre 82kW on offer, but it’s still a number I’d expect to see out of an older non-turbo model.One cost of having a six-speed auto, it seems, is driving style will weigh more heavily on how much fuel you use.It’s also a bit of bill shock having to refuel this car sooner than expected and during a fuel crisis. The roughly 450km travelled on my first tank of fuel cost me a whopping $61.33 at the pump, three times what it might cost me to travel the same distance in a larger EV.Next month we’ll talk about practicality, some quirks I’ve found and see if we can drill down on that fuel consumption a little more.Acquired: June 2026Distance travelled this month: 446kmOdometer: 6880kmAverage fuel consumption this month: 7.4L/100km

Although it was never a huge seller, the GM2 (Honda’s in-house code) Honda City four-door sedan was eventually replaced by the GM6 model, and with that update came a bigger car in pretty much every direction, further differentiating the City from the more popular Honda Jazz hatchback.The GM6 City was both longer and taller than the car it replaced and, crucially, there was an extra 50mm in the wheelbase, giving both a larger cabin and more boot space. Clearly, Honda had worked out that City buyers were a pragmatic bunch.Mechanically, not much had changed, though, and the 1.5-litre four-cylinder engine with its fairly meagre 88kW remained the only choice. You could still get a five-speed manual, but only in the entry-level version, and just about everybody who bought a City brand new specified the continuously variable transmission (CVT) anyway.Trim levels were also unchanged with the VTi the base version and the VTi-L for those who had a bit more to spend. The VTi-L step-up got you paddle shifters for the CVT (an affectation, to be sure) a leather-clad steering wheel, better stereo and 16-inch alloy wheels. Curiously, the VTi had simple, steel wheels of 15 inches.Generally, yes. Even though the City is built in Thailand and not Honda’s home-base of Japan, quality seems pretty good. You also get Honda’s engineering flair in the case of the zingy little engine with its variable valve timing and great fuel economy. But that doesn’t mean the City will appeal to keener drivers out there; the suspension is too soft and the steering too slow for that.If you don’t need the arguably more versatile packaging of a hatchback, then the City’s roomy interior and boot makes plenty of sense.Just bear in mind that `good’ doesn’t mean sexy.But in this case it does mean safe and the City scored the maximum five stars for safety in local independent testing.Like the vast majority of Hondas built anywhere in the world, the City seems to be pretty robust and able to go the distance. That, however, is on the proviso that it’s been maintained, but that goes for any make and model.Overall, instances of major failures and owner complaints are few and far between.Probably the most common problem exhibited by the Honda City is a CVT that shudders on take-off or slips or jerks when the driver applies a load to the driveline. The good news is that, unlike many CVTs from other makers, the Honda’s unit is a lot stronger (possibly due to the fact that Honda makes its own CVT to its own standards) and problems like these are often fixed with a change of transmission fluid to replace the old, dirty fluid.The exception is the model year 2014 City, a batch of which was fitted with an incorrect shaft within the transmission. Under high loads, this shaft could sheer off, leaving the vehicle with either no drive at all, or locked front wheels. A Honda dealer can check the VIN of a particular City and know whether it was affected by this.Most experts reckon the CVT fluid should be changed every 50,000km to keep everything running smoothly and reduce wear to a minimum.The exception to this good track record will be the City that has been neglected in regards to its routine maintenance. The complex little engine uses a maze of tiny oilways to power its variable valve timing and lift function (which gives the engine its sparkle). But if regular servicing has been missed, these oilways can soon fill up with sludge and dirt, at which point the engine can’t perform properly.The City also uses a timing chain, so that component should last the life of the car and not need periodic replacement like a toothed rubber belt in many other makes and models.The City GM6 was recalled twice, the first for that CVT with the dodgy internal shaft that could fail at any time. The other recall was for a batch of cars built across 2019 and 2020, in which the electric fuel pump could suddenly die, leaving you stranded wherever that failure occurred.You can search for more recall data at: https://www.vehiclerecalls.gov.au/That 2014 batch of Citys with the iffy shaft in their CVT are the ones to avoid now. Although if the car has been fixed as part of the associated safety recall, then the modified City should be just as robust as any other City. But if the City you’re looking at is a manual-transmission car, disregard the above as it was only the CVT that was affected.Beyond that, buy on condition and service history rather than build date.The majority of Citys have never strayed too far from the, er, city. Nor have they been embraced by couriers and Uber drivers, so you don’t see too many with a lot of kilometres on board.That said, there’s absolutely no reason to think that a well-serviced City won’t push through the 200,000km mark with lots of life left in it. In any case, a high percentage of Citys for sale right now have less than 100,000km on their odometers, suggesting lots of reliable motoring still to be had.We’d often advise against the version of any car with a CVT, but the Honda’s in-house CVT seems a lot better than most of the rest out there. So there’s no problem with a City with two pedals if that makes life easier. It will certainly make the car a lot easier to unload come trade-in time, too.And since the price difference between the VTi and the ritzier VTi-L version is a lot less now than when the car was brand new, there seems little reason not to opt for the more luxurious latter variant as a second-hand buy.Prices for early GM6 Citys start at around the $9000 or $10,000 mark, but they’ll nearly always be high-mileage cars (say, 160,000km or more, if that bothers you).Prices top out at closer to mid-to-high teens and for that, you’ll be buying a low-kilometre car in excellent condition. Just don’t forget to check the service history.Even though the City was not a huge seller here, parts and servicing are no problem. You can tap into the Honda dealer network and pay a little more, but the popularity of the Honda brand means there’s a huge aftermarket and enthusiast scene for the brand.Global popularity for Honda products generally means there’s also a healthy online marketplace for sourcing spare parts, service items and accessories.The City sales story is one of steadily falling volumes as the years have passed. Although the car sold a few thousand units in its first year or two of sales, buy the end of 2019, that figure had fallen to just over 600 sales for the year.That’s not a judgment on the Honda, but the reality of the small sedan market in this country as we shifted to hatchbacks and, notably, SUVs.

If you can’t beat them, join them. Volkswagen has long resisted the urge to add conventional, Toyota-style hybrid power to its cars, but not anymore.The German maker is rapidly expanding its petrol-electric range, diversifying from the petrol, plug-in hybrid and fully-electric options currently available.Now it has revealed European prices for the VW Golf hatchback and T-Roc SUV hybrids, which would rival the popular Toyota Corolla and Corolla Cross.Prices start at €41,400 ($67,000) for the Golf and €44,470 ($72,000) for the T-Roc. Both models are only available in the top-spec R-Line specification, and represent about a €4000 ($6500) premium over the petrol models.Petrol R-Line versions cost about $50,000 before on-road costs in Australia, so a hybrid version could cost about $60,000 on the road in Australia. That would put it about $20,000 more than the cheapest equivalent Toyota hybrids.Volkswagen Australia has previously been unable to confirm if the hybrid Golf and T-Roc will arrive in Australia, but the company said it is always evaluating opportunities for our market.The hybrid Golf and T-Roc combine a tried-and-tested 1.5-litre turbocharged petrol engine, two electric motors and a 1.6kWh battery.VW claims this set-up produces 125kW/309Nm, a jump of 15kW/59kW over the petrol Golf’s 110kW/250Nm max outputs.It also uses about 4.6-litres per 100km of fuel, which is slightly more than Toyota's claim.Hybrid options are becoming increasingly important to brands in Australia as purely petrol powered vehicles are starting to fall foul of Australia’s New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES).The NVES levels fines against carmakers for every gram of CO2 a sold vehicle emits over a certain threshold. This threshold gets lower every year until 2030.The fines can be offset by sales of EVs and plug-in hybrids.Purely petrol cars will soon become prohibitively expensive, with hybrids also attracting moderate fines in the coming years.The NVES is also putting Australia at the front of the queue for international brands to get low emissions or electric vehicles.Volkswagen Australia for years struggled to get its electric cars sold in Europe and other parts of the world, as our market wasn’t considered an emissions critical one that needed these vehicles. This is no longer the case.All this works in favour of Volkswagen bringing its latest hybrid, plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles here.

The GAC Aion UT is the first GAC I’ve ever driven, so I went into this review not really knowing what to expect. Sort of like walking through a room in the dark, in a house that isn’t yours.It was full of discovery but without all the falling over and toe stubbing. First, what is the Aion UT? It's a fully electric small hatch that almost crosses into SUV territory with its slightly elevated ride height.At 4270mm long it’s a similar length to the BYD Dolphin, but shorter than an MG4 Urban, but it does match the MG's price at $31,990 before on-road costs. That’s for the entry grade Premium Aion UT tested here. The price is impressive. It’s an electric car for the same money as a petrol car of a similar size, like a Honda HR-V.The Premium grade has an almost identical features list to the top grade luxury, from powered and heated front seats to a 14.6-inch touchscreen. All it misses out on really, is ventilated seats, wireless phone charging and a power tailgate. The Aion UT is not just an affordable small car, it’s more practical than many larger vehicles thanks to clever storage andplenty of cabin space. The UT’s 2750mm wheelbase is on the longer side for cars this small and that’s a good thing for occupant space and excellent rear legroom is the result. Rear headroom is more than adequate too, thanks to a tall and flat roofline.Storage is outstanding with a deep centre console bin and an area underneath for bags. There’s even a hatch under the dash that opens to reveal a netted pocket. There are door pockets, cupholders and a phone tray up front that doubles as a wireless charger if you stump up the extra $4000 for the Luxury grade.The 321-litre boot isn’t enormous but it's large for a car this size with enough space for a week’s worth of shopping for my family of four or a couple of smaller luggage bags.The main practicality downside is the lack of physical buttons in the cabin for functions such as climate control and media. There are none at all apart from on the steering wheel and the window switches.Instead, all controls are accessed through the central touchscreen and not only is that more awkward to use but it's a safety concern. A driver could easily be distracted just trying to turn the cabin temperature down.We lived with the Aion UT for a week doing what families do: from school runs and weekend sports to grocery shopping and family visits. This is a front-wheel-drive electric car with a 60kWh battery and 150kW/210Nm motor. That battery size is good for 430km of driving range (WLTP) according to GAC and after 250km in one week there was 170km left, making that claim accurate. Our average energy consumption was 15.6kWh/100km according to the trip computer, which is less than the official 16.4kWh/100km.In the city and urban areas where we live the UT shines with brisk acceleration, its quiet and smooth nature, good visibility and small size. On motorways, as we found during a trip to a regional area, the UT feels slightly vulnerable among the trucks and the stability was tested in the windy, rainy weather. There were times I wished we were in something larger and higher up.The driving position is let down by the steering wheel's lack of reach adjustment. I got around this by adjusting my seat, although it's not ideal.Also not ideal is a persistent driver alert system that reminds you to slow down and avoid distraction. It activates far too easily and interferes with concentration while driving. It’s not just the driver being hassled either. My front passenger was told on one occasion not to put her feet on the dashboard even though they weren’t - she had her legs crossed and this seemed to trigger the system.Finally the styling of the Aion UT isn’t appealing to me. GAC boasts that the little electric car was penned at its Milan design centre, but Chinese rivals like Zeekr and BYD have much more interesting and beautiful creations.

You may or may not know Australia was the first export market for the world’s best ever selling car.The vehicle in question is the Toyota Corolla and this was the first country to receive exports when 15 examples of the first-gen E10 model were shipped here in November 1966, just a month after it was revealed in Japan.During the 1966 Tokyo Motor Show (October 26 to November 8) Toyota had pulled the covers off the diminutive two-door, 1.1-litre city car which over the next six decades and 12 generations would go on to comprehensively out-sell automotive icons like the Ford Model T, VW Beetle and original Mini.So, yep, the Corolla turns the big six-oh this year and Australia was a VIP guest at its first party.Less than a year after the original E10 series debuted, a four-door sedan and wagon type van joined the initial line-up and the Corolla die was cast, the newcomer quickly building its reputation as an affordable, versatile and economical small car, initially going into bat against the similarly-sized, not to mention similar-looking, Datsun (Datto) 1000 and Subaru 1000.Another Aussie milestone for Corolla was assembly of the E10 in Port Melbourne, the first manufacturing site for the model outside Japan. Toyota Australia went on to build more than 666,000 Corollas across its Port Melbourne, Dandenong and Altona plants.    Only four years later, in 1970, the chubbier E20 Corolla was introduced, retaining the original’s front-engine, rear-wheel drive configuration but with more capacity, power and weight.The alpha-numeric model code convention continued in 1975 with the E30 / E50 ‘rolla, still rear-drive with later versions powered by a 1.3-litre four and the choice of manual shift or ‘ToyoGlide’ three-speed auto. The third-gen E40 / E60 Sprinter variants were JDM (Japanese Domestic Market) and (other) selected export markets only. A more mature E70 Corolla arrived in 1981 with a new coil-spring, five-link rear suspension, but still rear-wheel drive, with a relatively conservative appearance. A clear ‘white goods’ Toyota period.The E80 kicked off the front-wheel drive Corolla era in 1985 and the ground-breaking E90 became a hugely popular small car option in Australia from 1989, bringing more contemporary looks and the availability of 16-valve, twin-cam engines (anyone remember ‘The O2 Advantage’ slogan?), especially the high-performance ‘4A-GE’.The E100 from 1994 looked more like a substantial E90 upgrade than a new-generation model but the E110 in 1998 was a clear design departure with a distinctive quad headlight face morphing into a wide-eyed, dual-headlight expression following a facelift.In 2001, the now imported E120 ushered in a sturdier, high-waisted look for the ninth-generation, with sedans, wagons and hatchbacks available. The E140/E150 continued that design theme from 2006 to the E170 sedan and E180 hatch launched here in 2014.The Corolla reached a million Australian sales, in September 2007. And for completists, the E160 (Corolla Axio sedan and Fielder wagon) was never officially sold in Australia. Which brings us to the current 12-generation E210. Launched in 2018 it’s the longest-running Corolla model and has proved a huge success.It’s brought back hot hatch performance with GR and soon-to-arrive GRMN variants and looks set to soldier on until the 13th-generation Corolla arrives later this year, with (surprise, surprise) late October a short odds favourite for launch timing. Speaking of hot hatches, in terms of motorsport the Corolla has done everything from Bathurst (its first success was a Class A victory in 1968) to the World Rally Championship as well as multiple Australian Rally Championships (at the hands of Neal Bates and Coral Taylor) and a multitude of other competition appearances around the globe.It’s recently spawned the Corolla Cross SUV as well as a host of other variants throughout its life (AE86 anyone?). And the Corolla shows no sign of slowing down with efficient hybrid powertrains keeping it relevant with sales numbers continuing to tick over locally.Last year, 18,968 new Corollas found homes in Australia, and with another 6277 sold to the end of May this year it remains the country’s best-selling small car by a comfortable margin.   Toyota has all but confirmed the next-gen Corolla will be available with hybrid, plug-in hybrid, pure electric and possibly hydrogen fuel cell powertrain options.Speaking at the showing of a Corolla Concept at last year’s Japan Mobility Show, Toyota President & CEO Koji Sato said despite the new powertrain options, the Corolla must remain a car for “everyone”. “Whether it's a battery EV, plug-in hybrid, hybrid, or internal combustion engine vehicle - whatever the power source - let's make good-looking cars that everyone will want to drive,” Sato-san said. Hear, hear to that. But facing more challenges than ever before in its 60 years, the 13th-generation Toyota Corolla will possibly be the most important for the world’s biggest carmaker. Bring on the birthday party.

Facing intense competition from emerging Chinese brands, the impact of US tariffs and increased manufacturing costs in Europe, the Volkswagen Group’s current financial trauma is well documented with a minimum cut of 50,000 jobs (likely 100,000) by 2030 and closure of four production plants in Germany already flagged.And now, as part of its Future Plan presentation, the Group’s executive board has said, “The (group) model lineup will be gradually concentrated on the most attractive market segments and streamlined by up to 50 percent; offering complexity will be reduced by up to 75 percent.”Which means key models currently sold by brands including Audi, Cupra, Skoda, Porsche and VW are set for early discontinuation, the latest by 2030, with the number of available options slashed by three quarters and annual production capacity dropping from 10 to nine million vehicles.Question is, which models are headed for the chop first and German publication Bild believes it has the inside scoop with a "concrete list” of 10 cars headed for extinction.Here’s the Bild VW Group product hit list.Audi: The Q5 Sportback and Q6 e-tron Sportback are unlikely to be replaced. And interestingly, even though the Porsche Taycan is marked for extinction (see below) its Audi e-tron GT twin under the skin isn’t.Cupra: The list marks the Cupra Raval (which hasn't even launched in Australia yet) as headed for the exit after a single generation.Porsche: In unsurprising news the underperforming Taycan is set to retire after the current model reaches the end of the road and the internal-combustion (ICE) Cayenne Coupe is gawn.Sadly for sports car devotees Bild’s mail is that even though Porsche’s ‘strategic realignment’ from late last year pointed to internal combustion power for flagship versions of the 718 Boxster and Cayman, that plan is kaput with the roadster and coupe again lining up as EV only.Skoda: The Bild report puts the Skoda Fabia small car on the chopping block, although there’s no mention of its closely-related Seat Ibiza and VW Polo siblings.Volkswagen: The Jetta compact sedan, now primarily sold in North America, and the Taos crossover-style SUV, currently offered in global markets including North America, South America and Russia (and marketed as the Tharu in China) look unlikely to make a next-gen iteration.No mention of Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini or Seat although Bentley has already shelved its plan to go pure-electric by 2035 and Lambo’s put production of its first EV firmly on the back burner.Bild estimates VW Group savings of up to €6.5 billion (~$10.7 billion) by 2031 by finishing up these 10 cars but even that’s far from a 50 per cent reduction in the across-the-board model count.Stay tuned for more VW Group model obituaries surely coming soon.

Volkswagen is about to make some big changes that could have knock-on effects for Australia.The brand is planning to cut up to half of its line-up across its brands.Auto News reports as many as 75 models could be ditched, which would reduce VW Group’s capacity from 10 million vehicle to nine million."The global situation has continued to deteriorate over the past twelve months," Volkswagen Chief Executive Officer Oliver Blume said. "That is why we are ​acting now."There is no news yet on what models will be under threat, but Australia is unlikely to be immune from these changes.A spokesperson for Volkswagen Australia said this news will have no immediate impact on the local branch."As a next step, we will work closely with our headquarters in Wolfsburg, Germany, to assess what adjustments – if any – may be needed at the local level," they said.Audi, Bentley, Cupra, Lamborghini, Porsche and Skoda, as well as Volkswagen, all fall under the VW Group name, and the brand has a significant presence in Australia. VW alone has amassed more than 12,000 sales in Australia, but that figure represents a 16. per cent decline compared to June 2025.VW Group sales are declining globally as the brand grapples with soaring costs, including US tariffs, and increasingly competitive Chinese competition. Its profit margins were sliced in half between 2021 and 2025, according to Auto News.  Auto News is also reporting four German VW Group factories are in danger of seeing their doors closed for good, which are plants in Hanover, Emden, Zwickau and Neckarsulm.The brand is also planning to cut up to 100,000 jobs as part of its down-sizing. The proposed moves were subject to heavy protests from workers late last week.VW Group has deepened its ties to China recently, with CEO Blume suggesting the brand could export its China-only models to other markets. This could help cut down the costs for the brand to import cars to Australia. European-built models are often more expensive to produce and import than ones from China.

We are living in an unprecedented era of automotive innovation and change that is constantly reshaping what and how we drive.For that we should be grateful, since the ongoing electrification of everyday cars, SUVs and utes means we have cleaner air, quieter streets, safer vehicles that are cheaper to run and less reliance on petrol stations.But in Australia, we’ve also lost as well as gained due to this relentless march of progress.For proof, look at any new-car guide from 10 years ago. What’s gone is shocking.Here are seven reasons why motoring in 2016 was better than it is today.In 2016, Australians could buy a handful of new small cars costing under $20,000 when converted to today’s money.Sure, we’d steer clear of the Mitsubishi Mirage from $11,990 and Holden Barina Spark from $12,890, but the Suzuki Celerio from $12,990, Nissan Micra from $13,490 and Honda Jazz VTi, Hyundai Accent Active, Mazda 2 Neo and Toyota Yaris Ascent from $14,990 apiece back then all offered comfortable, capable and reliable transport for not much money.But the only new car under $20,000 in 2026 is the Kia Picanto Sport manual from $19,190 (all prices are before on-road costs unless otherwise stated), though the MG 3 Vibe from $21,990 drive-away is actually marginally cheaper in some states after taxes.Plus, all the old entry-level small cars have vanished from Australia except for the Mazda2 (which is essentially exactly the same car) and Yaris (one generation newer), coming in at a rude $27,290 and $29,190 respectively today.It’s worth noting that a number of light SUVs do cost less than the cheapest back in 2016 (Mazda CX-3 Neo manual from $19,990, or nearly $28K today), including the Chery Tiggo 4, MG ZS, Hyundai Venue, Mahindra XUV 3XO, GAC Emzoom, Jaecoo J5 and Haval Jolion, but still cost more than the aforementioned small cars did a decade ago.At the start of 2016, there were 36 small cars of Toyota Corolla size available in Australia; that number has halved today. And they’re hanging around a lot longer than before.Toyota recently announced that it was extending the lifespan of most models from seven to nine years.We’d already noticed. The current Corolla launched in 2018 and is still going. The previous one was done in six years, while four years was common before that.Meanwhile, the Mazda 2, CX-3 and Mazda 3 arrived in 2014, 2015 and 2019 respectively and are still on-going. The Hyundai i30 hatch surfaced in 2017. As did the existing Volkswagen Polo. And even today’s VW Golf 8.5 is a reskin of the 2012 Mk7.What’s happened? Buyers have abandoned passenger cars for SUVs, so carmakers have been forced to keep their models in production longer for a better return on investment. Or, as in Ford’s case with the Fiesta, Focus and Mondeo, they drop them altogether, relying on utes and SUVs instead.In 2016, buyers could purchase a new large, rear-wheel-drive family car designed, developed and built in Australia, like the Ford Falcon or Holden Commodore from under $50,000 in today’s money, or the slightly-smaller, front-drive Toyota Camry-based Aurion as a locally-made alternative.Along with the Skoda Superb that is the only one left standing in 2026, all were defined by their size, space and power.Too large for you? There were another 16 mid-sized sedans that offered almost as much, for a little less. Camry, Honda Accord and Hyundai Sonata are the only names that are hanging on today.Chrysler, meanwhile, imported the 300 series, while in the upper-large segment, the Holden Caprice faced the Hyundai Genesis and, from the following year, the woefully underrated Kia Stinger. Such sedans are now history.Likewise, consumers can no-longer buy a monocoque-bodied workhorse/weekend-plaything ute as defined by the Holden and Ford Falcon utes, though the KGM Musso EV is the start of something new.And there’s more. Where have all the coupes gone since 2016? There were nearly 30 under $100,000. Why are there only four convertibles left under $100K? And from a dozen people movers under $60,000, that number has also plummeted to four, losing icons like Tarago, Odyssey and Stavic along the way.All have been replaced by dozens of EVs in hatchback, liftback/sedan or SUVs of differing sizes, with sleek, homogenised silhouettes, screen-heavy dashboards featuring minimised buttons, silent electric powertrains and every shade of white through black, or silvery blues, greens and browns.Just remember: 20 years ago, your Commodore could be had as a sedan, wagon, Monaro coupe, Adventra crossover wagon, ute, cab-chassis, Crewman dual-cab ute and long-wheelbase Statesman or Caprice, in regular or HSV performance upgrade guises, some with all-wheel drive and all with V8 options to the standard V6, with the latter also offering a liquid petroleum gas alternative. Today Holden is history.Besides the locally-designed and developed Falcon and Commodore, we also had the Falcon-derived Ford Territory to call Australia’s Own (and only-ever) SUV.These vehicles, along with the T6 ute-based Ford Ranger, Ford Everest and Mazda BT-50 made in Thailand and elsewhere, were created and engineered across this country, and were thus better-suited to our environment than their imported alternatives.And many supported Australian suppliers as a result. Most of all that has now since also gone.This one’s heartbreaking for car enthusiasts – or those who want to feel more connected with their vehicle.In 2016, we counted over 170 different makes and models available with a manual gearbox. Today that number is down to around 30 and falling.Both tallies include everything from Morgans to Mahindra Pik-Ups.Earlier we said the least expensive Toyota today – the Yaris – started from nearly twice as much as the 2016 Ascent manual’s $14,990. At least it’s a much better model than back then. And hybrid to boot.But that’s nothing compared to how much the least-expensive new Ford costs today.The 2016 Fiesta Ambiente kicked off from $15,825 (about $21,300 in 2026), while its cheapest passenger vehicle equivalent today is the Everest Active 4WD SUV from $58,990.And if it’s a non-commercial vehicle-based Blue Oval product you desire, that would be the Mustang Mach-E Select from $65,990.The proliferation of touchscreens, with their distracting sub-menus and absorption of buttons that would previously have controlled the climate system, drive modes, side mirrors or even the glove box, has been so widespread – and we have Tesla to thank for starting this craze – that independent safety organisations like EuroNCAP now penalise new vehicles it tests that do not offer clear and unimpeded access to important functions.You wouldn’t read a book whilst driving along a highway. Staring at a screen instead of the road is much the same thing.The 2026 Toyota RAV4, meanwhile, scores highly for its user interface but then drops the ball with an infuriating trigger-happy and never-ending driver-distraction warning. No thanks.Countless other new vehicles suffer from advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) interference technologies. Designed to help, they also serve to harass and annoy the driver, leading to greater fatigue and further risk of distraction.Stupid electronic door handles that just do not work intuitively are another sore point, as is the deletion of a spare wheel because the electrification technology takes precedence over personal security when stranded with a blowout far away from home.Thoughtless excuses to help carmakers save money, this is not progress but the devolution of the car we never saw coming back in 2016.