Articles by Byron Mathioudakis

Are you an owner/driver of an Isuzu N Series, Fuso Canter or Hino 300 small truck? Then this might be for you, because Ford is banking on breaking into the light duty (LD) truck class with something completely different to the cab-over chassis norm with the coming Ranger Super Duty.

The entire world might still be completely in love with SUVs and utes, but the traditional passenger car is far from over, be it sedans, wagons, coupes or convertibles. Here is a list of 2025's more-promising newcomers, and all without a hint of crossover or truck between them!

Hyundai is about to move to a seven-year/unlimited kilometre warranty in Australia, up from its existing five-year/unlimited kilometre item.

In the premium sedan market, the sleeker your style, the stronger your sales are. Redesigned for 2025, the BMW 2 Series Gran Coupe steps up with a new look, significantly more equipment and substantial chassis upgrades. Prices either slide a little or leap up, depending on grade, but the result is a compact four-door sports sedan with family friendly packaging as well as very on-brand performance.

Where on earth is the Toyota Tacoma for Australia?Designed and developed expressly for the North American market, the series has served for over 30 years as the slightly larger and more comfortable cousin to the venerable Toyota HiLux.In fact, the two medium-sized utes were closely related until very recently, even as the Tacoma grew larger and more sophisticated over three generations, where it became the best-selling vehicle in its pick-up segment in the United States – a position held since 2004.Unveiled in 2023, the latest version prompted a high level of anticipation from industry analysts, since it was also expected to become the replacement for the eighth-gen HiLux, which celebrates its 10 anniversary this month.After all, the Tacoma’s timing was spot-on, with the newly-redesigned Ford Ranger ending the Toyota ute’s seven-year reign at the top of the Australian sales charts that same year (and hit number one again in 2024).It doesn’t take too much to figure out why people remain excited about the prospect of a HiLux-badged Tacoma for our market.Key attributes include a formidable presence brought about by its chunky styling, a vast array of grades including a Raptor-aping TRD Pro, huge interior space, sizeable load area, massive step up in safety technology and the availability of a hybrid powertrain option.The Tacoma trails Australia’s 3500kg braked towing capacity maximum yardstick by around 500kg, based on corresponding Canadian figures.That would probably change for our market, especially when you consider that today’s Tacoma is based on the same Toyota New Global Architecture – Frame (TNGA-F) body-on-frame “truck” platform that also underpins the J300 LandCruiser and J250 Prado 4WD SUVs.It is that connection that prompted much speculation over when – rather than if – the Tacoma would arrive in Australia, albeit wearing HiLux badges and possibly having Thai sourcing. After all, if they’re that closely related, wouldn’t they have interchangeable parts with models already offered in this market?As it turns out, Toyota will instead offer three distinctly different medium-sized utes – and it seems Australia will again miss out on the Tacoma after all… or at least, for now.Though unconfirmed officially, we hear from an internal source that a facelifted version of the existing, decade-old Mk8 HiLux will spearhead Toyota’s fight against the Ranger, BYD Shark 6 and co. from next year in Australia.About the only part of the Tacoma – which will remain North American only for the time being – we may see is a variation of its 2.4-litre i-Force turbo-petrol/electric hybrid powertrain, as it has been rumoured to be added to the HiLux facelift, as Toyota Australia starts its move away from diesel.Finally, as outlined previously, Europe, Japan and other lower-carbon regions are set to score the production version of the EPU (Electric Pick-Up) Concept Ute electric vehicle from the 2023 Tokyo Mobility show, though that’s also mooted for Australia too, as a flagship HiLux EV.So, what’s holding the Tacoma back for us?Mainly, it is only produced in Mexico, with annual capacity of around 250,000. And that’s about how many are soaked up in North America alone.Secondly – and this is a major reason – the Tacoma is only currently manufactured in left-hand drive (LHD) guise. And changing that makes no business sense.Typically, engineering for right-hand drive (RHD) in any vehicle program can add hundreds of millions of dollars to costs, and that appears not to have happened in this case. And it's not likely to in the future.Why? Even if Toyota could sell over 50,000 utes annually to match HiLux’s efforts last year in Australia – and that would possibly make us the fictional RHD Tacoma's largest market globally – that’s not nearly enough production volume to recoup development costs.That was reportedly one of the driving forces behind General Motors killing Holden barely two years after local manufacturing ceased in 2017, as there just wasn’t enough volume to justify the expense of changing LHD vehicles over to RHD for Australia. Even for a colossus like Toyota.Additionally, while the UK is another big RHD ute market for the brand, shifting around 30,000 HiLuxes last year, that's still not enough volume, while the vast majority of South African and Thai ute sales - the two remaining big RHD countries – are for more-affordable and lower-spec models. And cheap is not what any TNGA-F vehicle is designed to be.That’s probably the reason why the Tacoma is not earmarked to be built in Thailand, for now anyway. The existing HiLux fills that role far better.Thirdly, should it be green lit for RHD, the Tacoma would also be too expensive even in Australia, anyway, given its Mexican sourcing.This means the cheapest grade would probably cost a lot more than the current most expensive HiLux out of Thailand does. Which, by the way, is also where the Ranger, Isuzu D-Max, Mazda BT-50, Nissan Navara and Mitsubishi Triton also hail from, while the Shark 6, GWM Cannon, LDV Terron 9 and others from China cost even less for what they offer.Tacoma would have no hope matching their prices. The upshot here is that achieving something close to the current HiLux's 50,000 sales annually in Australia would be wildly optimistic as a result.Lastly, with Tacoma sales in the first quarter of 2025 up nearly 180 per cent year-on-year in the USA, there is no incentive for Toyota to compromise production capacity to accommodate the relatively small volume required for Australia.Of course, this could change with the US federal government’s tariffs on non-US made products, that might lead to big price increases for the Tacoma in its main market.While still highly unlikely, that might open the door for RHD exports should US Tacoma sales consequently collapse, though these are still early days.That’s a long shot, and it’s fair to assume that the only way Australians might be able to buy a reasonably-priced Tacoma is if Toyota decides to add production to Thailand, or some other lower-cost base than Mexico. Or follow the larger Tundra ute’s example by having it remanufactured from LHD to RHD in Melbourne.So, no Tacoma-based HiLux, then.Which is a shame, as a ute version of the latest Prado – which what the latest, N400 model essentially is, complete with an i-Force petrol-electric hybrid powertrain – would sound like the HiLux that Toyota should be offering to its fanatically loyal Australian customer base.Do you agree?

Geely is considering introducing a cheaper SUV to Australia, in the shape of the Cityray.

Geely is contemplating adding the Geome supermini/crossover electric vehicle to take on the BYD Dolphin and Hyundai Inster EVs in Australia, as well hybrids like the Toyota Yaris Cross and Subaru Crosstrek. If given the go-ahead, the keenly-priced, Kia Stonic-sized five-door Geome could land here with a mid-to-high $20,000 price tag, which could make it Australia’s cheapest new EV yet.

Will the Geely Starship 7 be the brand’s second model for Australia? Essentially a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) version of the company’s EX5 EV released in the beginning of this year, the five-seater mid-sized SUV could arrive before the end of 2025, opening up the brand to a much wider audience. If given the green light, it would directly target the popular BYD Sealion 6 and Mitsubishi

Hot on the heels of the Ford Ranger Super Duty, is a Super Duty version of the Everest in the pipeline?With the upcoming GMC Yukon Denali the new SUV towing champion in Australia at 3628kg – pipping out the Toyota LandCruiser, Isuzu MU-X, Ineos Grenadier, Toyota Prado and regular Everest amongst others by just 128kg – a new high watermark has been set.In contrast, the newly-announced Ranger Super Duty breaks new ground among medium-sized utes by offering a 4500kg braked towing capacity, suggesting that an Everest Super Duty may have the might to approach that, given its kinship to the Ranger.When asked if a more rugged, go-anywhere workhorse version of the Everest was under consideration, Ford Australia President and CEO Andrew Birkic did not dismiss the notion.“I don't think we've done that yet,” he told the media at Ford Australia’s Centennial anniversary in Melbourne earlier this month.“But you never say never.”Other Ford engineers were less forthcoming, but suggested that the Everest’s transformation from ride/handling/refinement-focused family SUV to a Super Duty-style 4x4 workhorse would be an “extremely challenging” task.While both the Ranger and Everest share the same T6.2 ladder-frame platform, they differ in the mid and rear chassis sections, chiefly to accommodate the latter’s second and third row occupant structures, as well as its coil-sprung rear suspension set-up.With beefier springs and dampers, as well as a solid-axle leaf-sprung rear suspension design out back, the Ranger was already better suited for its transformation to Super Duty compared to the Everest.It’s also worth keeping in mind that a large portion of the Ranger Super Duty’s expected consumer base will be from the emergency services, forestry, mining and agricultural sectors, necessitating the ute’s cab-chassis flexibility.Still, Ford is in the business of making money in Australia, and so if there is demand for an Everest Super Duty, it will investigate that from a business case perspective.Obviously, being the first ex-factory mid-sized ute of its type anywhere in the world to offer a 4500kg braked towing capacity, even the Blue Oval bosses have no real idea how the market will react to it.Finally, at the same Ford Centenary event, Ford Motor Company Chief Executive, William Clay Ford Jr., did extol the Australian-based T6.2 team’s unique capabilities and talents, so who knows what may come next?“We have so much opportunity in front of us, and you know, we've made Australia a Centre of Excellence for Ford,” the brand’s global number one exec said.“They've done a great job. Just look at the sales results of Ranger and Everest… and Ranger is now (sold in) 180 different countries, which is incredible.“So, yeah, this is a great team here, and they will have opportunity in the future.“This is a unique market, as you know, better than I do, in terms of the requirements, and that's why it's interesting. On Super Duty, there was a real hesitance in Dearborn to put the Super Duty name on something other than the F-Series (full-sized truck).“But (Ford Australia) convinced the management team, us, to extend the Super Duty, because they knew the engineering team here, but as importantly, the kind of duty cycles you have here really warranted the Super Duty name.”

With the eagerly-anticipated Ford Ranger plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) finally hitting showrooms in the middle of this year to give the BYD Shark 6 PHEV a run for its money, is that where this level of electrification development stops on the T6.2 platform?