Articles by Stephen Ottley

Whoever said ‘you can never have too much choice’ clearly never saw the Australian new car market in 2025. The country is being inundated with not only new models, but seemingly new brands every month.In 2025 alone we’ve had the introduction of Cadillac, Deepal, Geely, GMC, Jaecoo, Leapmotor, Omoda and Xpeng to our roads. These join other relatively new arrivals which include (but aren’t limited to) BYD, Chery, Chevrolet, Cupra, JAC and Zeekr, with more reportedly on the way.While competition is great, and certainly there are many very likeable cars from most of these brands, I’m starting to feel like we’ve reached breaking point in Australia. We buy just over one million new cars each year, and that number won’t rise sharply anytime soon, so each new brand only splits the market into even smaller pieces.When you factor in Toyota accounts for around 20 per cent of the market each year, and that too doesn’t look like changing anytime soon, then you have nearly 70 brands fighting over 80 per cent of what’s left. While there’s certainly some major positives to this booming industry, namely the increased competition, especially the brands from China, have slowed down the dramatic price rises we’ve seen post-pandemic. The market was already headed that way before 2020, with many brands working out it makes better financial sense to sell fewer cars but at a higher profit than it does to sell lots of cars for less margin. Without question, a major factor in the growth of Chinese cars in Australia is thanks to the highly competitive pricing strategy brands like MG, GWM, BYD and others have engaged in.These new brands do give choice, but the downside of so much choice is it makes it harder for you, the new car customer, to know what to buy. Obviously we do our best here at CarsGuide to keep you informed, but frankly there are so many new brands - both those with history and reputation and those without - that buying is simply getting more and more complicated.One of the biggest challenges with new brands, as in brands with no history in developed car markets, is that a new model that seems solid and good value now may age terribly and give you no-end of problems. Or, alternatively, it could be great and problem-free - but it’s an expensive gamble to find out.But the cold, hard fact remains, the new car market is only so big and unless all brands not named Toyota prepare for a smaller market share, then not all will survive in all likelihood. In recent years Holden has gone, so too has Chrysler and Citroen, and there are seemingly several more hanging on with shrinking sales numbers. That will almost certainly leave customers facing an uncertain future for parts, servicing, etc, not to mention it will likely tank resale value. So, yes, choice is great, but too much choice can ultimately make life harder for everyone involved. Because at what point do we stop - 80 brands? 100? It may sound silly but at the rate some of these newer brands are multiplying with spin-offs and sister-brands, there appears to be no end in sight - and that’s not necessarily good news…

What is dual-clutch transmission?

Can you drive a manual car with an automatic license in Australia?Like Ford vs Holden, the debate between manual vs automatic was once a great divide in Australia. But in recent years more and more people have chosen to skip learning how to drive and change gears themselves, and opted for an automatic-only license. But what exactly are the rules around it in each Australian state and territory? In this article we’ll break down the key questions, like, ‘do you need a manual license?’ And find out ‘can you drive manual on full license?’ The rules are fairly straightforward, but it is important to know exactly what they are before you get behind the wheel.Naturally, if you break rules the penalty for driving manual on auto license can be significant but it varies from state-to-state and will be determined by the individual circumstances, but expect both a fine and demerit points. If you decide to get your New South Wales provisional P1 driver’s license in an automatic-equipped car you cannot drive a manual unless you are being supervised by someone with an unrestricted license.  Alternatively, you can wait until you get your P2 or unrestricted license, at which point you are free to drive either an automatic or manual vehicle. If that’s taking too long, your final option is to sit your P1 test again but do so in a vehicle equipped with a manual gearbox.In Victoria an automatic-only license is known as an ‘A condition’ license and is valid during your probationary period. Once you complete your probationary period, you are free to drive a manual vehicle without any further testing.Things are slightly stricter in Queensland, with anyone wanting to drive a manual transmission vehicle needing to pass a specific test, even if they have their open license. To achieve this you will need to learn with supervision from someone with an open license or when you are a learner with L plates displayed.South Australia has a simple approach - your driver’s license (not your provisional license) allows you to drive either type of transmission. Western Australia follows a similar strategy to Queensland, with a clear difference between a manual (C class) and automatic (C-A class) licence. In order to drive a manual you must pass the specific practical test, even if you have your full licence.Tasmania has some of the strictest practices in this regard, with drivers on an automatic licence required to spend at least three years (without any suspensions or disqualifications) before they are allowed to drive a manual without any additional testing.Even if you have your full licence, to practice driving a manual vehicle on an automatic licence you will need to display an L plate, be restricted to 90km/h and be accompanied by a qualified manual driver.However, if you need to drive a manual sooner than three years, you will need to pass a driving assessment in a manual vehicle.The nation’s capital is another to take a firmer stance. It’s automatic only until you pass a specific manual test regardless of what licence you have.In the Northern Territory you are able to drive a manual vehicle on your provisional automatic licence, provided you are supervised by a manual-licence holder. You can choose to take a manual driving test during your 12-month probationary licence period, or when you graduate to your full licence the restriction is removed anyway.

Porsche has officially cancelled its plans to take the majority of its line-up electric by the end of the decade. It comes amid a slower than expected transition to electric vehicles, but leaves the brand in a difficult financial position, which will result in the loss of 4000 jobs by the end of the decade.Speaking at its Annual General Meeting for investors this week, Porsche management put a positive spin on what is a very difficult situation. Having previously announced that the 718, Cayenne and a new three-row SUV would all join the Macan with electric powertrains, leaving only the 911 with an internal combustion engine, Porsche is now making major changes.It said it would be a “significantly longer transition phase globally, on the journey to electric mobility” which has meant its plans to go majority electric simply are no longer viable. Instead, the company said it “intends to strategically reposition its battery activities” and will offer more models with internal combustion engines and plug-in hybrid powertrains in the short and mid-term.“The world has changed,” said Porsche CEO, Dr Oliver Blume. “We are experiencing a fierce storm. But we are doing everything we can to counteract them. We are resolutely investing in the future. In challenging times we are continuing to develop Porsche with a precise focus. This requires more resources in the short term, but it will make our company even more profitable in the long term. We accept the challenge. We have a plan. We are acting. And we’re not wasting any time.”Unfortunately this dramatic change of plan will come at a cost. The company confirmed it will cut around 3,900 jobs by 2029 in order to save costs in the long-term, but as Blume acknowledged this will have a negative impact on the company’s finances as it pays those workers out.This news comes just days after reports that the new, all-electric 718 Cayman and Boxster will be delayed until 2027 after the collapse of Porsche’s battery supplier for the sports car. Swedish company Northvolt was due to be a key part of the project filed for bankruptcy.Porsche is also dealing with declining sales in China, which was a key market, especially for its electric vehicles. In December last year it announced it would take the surprise step of actually closing a significant number of its dealerships as it consolidates its Chinese operations.This all indicates that the next generation Cayenne and the planned three-row SUV will now likely have plug-in hybrid powertrains, while rumours remain that both the new Macan and the upcoming 718 range will be reverse-engineered to accept internal combustion engines.Despite all this, Porsche Chairman, Dr Wolfgang Porsche is determined to see his family’s company through the difficult times.“The situation in the automotive industry remains challenging, and Porsche is not immune to this,” Dr Porsche said. “At the same time, our brand continues to have great appeal. We are all called upon to successfully master the challenges ahead.”

Tesla may grab lots of headlines - for better or worse - but there is another electric car company on the rise. We headed to Los Angeles to drive the Rivian R1S, an all-electric premium SUV designed to take on the best from Audi, BMW and more.Is it the next big thing in electric vehicles? And would it suit Australia? We have the answers...

Australia and America used to be close allies on the automotive front, but it seems time is increasing the distance between the two countries.

Like music and fashion, the types of cars we drive tend to evolve with each generation. We are currently living in the age of the SUV, but for much of the 20th century, Australians loved the sedan.

In September 2022, Ford CEO told me directly that the Bronco would be coming to Australia. We, as a nation, have waited patiently, but the time is right for the brand’s most adventurous SUV to join the local line-up, complimenting the Ranger and Everest it’s so closely related to.And this isn’t just the pipe dream of one motoring journalist, there are several key events that appear to be lining up in favour of the Bronco making its way to Australia within the next few years. But first, a quick history lesson. I was fortunate enough to catch Farley directly at the reveal of the new-generation Mustang in Detroit and ask him directly about the chances of the Bronco and its Bronco Sport small SUV namesake making Australian showrooms. This is what he said.“We can do Bronco and Bronco Sport for the globe for sure,” Farley told me. “But we have, like, a year or two order bank so we have a lot of work to do on our capacity before we can even consider something like that.”He added: “Of course it can be engineered , just like Mustang, but you have to invest in the capacity and it’s like the first or second inning of building up the Bronco line-up. It’s a whole family, we’ve just come out with the Heritage, we’ve got Everglades, there’s going to be a lot of iterations so just give us some time.”That was nearly three years ago and in that time much of what he said has come to pass, unsurprisingly. Ford has continued to roll out special editions of the Bronco in the US market, the latest being the Stroppe and Free Wheeling versions. This has helped keep interest high in the US and therefore, as Farley referenced, it has meant international expansion is a lower priority.As we’ve previously reported, Ford opened a second Bronco production line in China last year, a joint-venture with Jangling Motors, which leaves the Michigan, USA plant free to focus on feeding the hungry American market. While Ford Australia has made no official comment on the Chinese factory being able to supply Bronco here, it does clear some notable hurdles. The biggest one is the cost of both production and shipping, with China being significantly cheaper than America in both aspects.There’s also the on-going trade war between China and the USA, which effectively rules out any chance the Chinese factory could supply Broncos back to America. This, theoretically, leaves the door open for Australia and its SUV-loving market to take pole position for a future Chinese-built, right-hand drive Bronco.Given the Bronco has been on sale in the US for more than five years, having been revealed in 2020, it is approaching a likely mid-life update. This would be the ideal opportunity for Ford to make good on Farley’s promise and introduce the Bronco to Australia.Given the success of the Ranger and Everest, which share the same underpinnings as the Bronco, it would likely be a welcome addition to Australian customers. Ford officials have previously indicated that the modest sales of the Jeep Wrangler (the closest direct rival to the Bronco) have been a cause of concern, but given the relative success of Ford’s Ranger ute to Jeep’s Gladiator, that is a spurious comparison.Should the Chinese plan get the green light, it’s likely the Bronco could be in Australian showrooms by 2027, given the time needed to finish development of the right-hand drive version and Ford Australia’s focus on launching the Ranger Super Duty in 2026.And while there’s no official comment from Ford to back any of this up, Farley’s commitment as the big boss says all signs point to the Bronco hitting Australian roads and trials eventually.

I put my life in the hands of a computer, trusting it to drive me at speed, in traffic on the mean streets of Los Angeles.Spoiler alert: I survived.There’s been a lot of talk about self-driving cars for more than a decade. Elon Musk has been publicly promising ‘full self-driving’ since at least 2015 but it’s yet to become a reality for Tesla. However, there is one company that isn’t just talking about it, it has more than 1000 driverless cars already on the road and chauffeuring the general public around in heavy traffic.That company is Waymo, which began life as the Google self-driving cars project but evolved to become its own entity, but still part of Alphabet Inc. that owns the search engine. The change of name came in 2016 and was a significant milestone for the project as it represented the shift from research and development to being a commercial business.The company also spent from 2009 (when Google first began the project) until 2020 developing the technology before it allowed members of the public to ride inside the cars and went fully commercial. The initial test period was in Phoenix, Arizona, but since then Waymo has expanded to Los Angeles, San Francisco and Austin.Fast forward to last week and a trip to Los Angeles as the Waymo One, which is a Jaguar I-Pace retrofitted with an array of technology, are a common sight on the streets. The white cars with the awkward looking add-ons drive around a specific region of the city, broadly speaking between Santa Monica and Hollywood, and navigate through regular traffic.Having been a long-time self-driving car skeptic, my initial reaction to seeing these cars was shock and concern. But as more and more of them appeared and seemingly negotiated LA traffic with confidence I became intrigued and in the name of journalism I decided to risk my life and go for a ride.Waymo operates as a robotaxi, so you book a ride just like you would an Uber, Didi or any app-based ride company. Simply download the app to your phone, add your credit card details and order a car — without a driver — to come and pick you up. Speaking of credit cards, interestingly, despite the expense Waymo has gone through developing this technology, I noticed that it was a much cheaper service than its rivals with a human driver. My approximately 10 minute ride cost just over US$11, while the equivalent Uber was closer to US$20.This does raise the human cost of driverless cars. There are tens of thousands of Australians currently earning a living either driving a taxi or working for a ride-sharing company. Replacing them with computers may be safer and cheaper, but it raises moral and ethical questions that we need to ask about how our society will be shaped by technology, in particular automation. But that’s a much longer story…Getting back to my first-hand experience with the Waymo One, what puts my mind at ease is just how much technology the company has added to the car. The sleek lines of the Jaguar are ruined by Waymo’s volume of cameras, sensors and other technology that is clearly needed to make this concept safe. In particular, Waymo has added both radar (radio detection and ranging) and lidar (light detection and ranging) rather than relying solely on cameras and sensors like Tesla prefers.There are a few small differences between Waymo and the other ride-sharing app, namely that you need to give it permission to connect to your Bluetooth, because it uses that to connect your phone to the car so you can open the doors.You identify your particular Waymo from the dozens you might see in any area with your initials displayed on the roof panel. When it pulled up, my car safely found a parking spot a few metres from where I was standing, the app prompts you to open the doors and climb in. Jumping into the passenger seat and being greeted by an empty driver’s seat is an unnerving experience the first time.The infotainment system gives you a brief introduction and explanation and then the car simply pulls away and gets the journey started. It doesn’t take long for any early nerves to settle as the Waymo One drives with more smoothness and confidence than many human equivalents can manage. It can not only stop, turn and go without missing a beat, it can also give someone hopping out of their car a wide berth, carefully merge into fast-flowing traffic and negotiate tricky spots. In short, this driverless car drives like a human. It doesn’t take long for our journey to end, with the infotainment screen telling us what to expect when the Waymo One pulls over, but it’s a short trip that left a big impression on me. Certainly my skepticism around the moral and ethical questions this technology raises remain, but I now have more confidence and belief in the technology.Thankfully, we’re probably still a few years away from having to deal with these questions in Australia, but make no mistake, the future is coming and we’ll eventually have to work out who we want taking the wheel…

Toyota and Ford dominate the Australian sales charts and are enjoying similar sales success around the world. So it should come as no surprise that both have a key trait in common, but what that trait is will shock you.I recently attended a motor race at California’s Laguna Seca Raceway, which was hosting the new Ford Mustang Challenge. This is a low-level, almost grassroots racing series designed to appeal to up and coming young racers looking to prove a point and older, gentleman drivers looking to indulge their passion for speed.It’s not a big time category, so much so the races were the first of the day, meaning an early start for all involved. So it shocked me when, as the cars rolled onto the track, I noticed one of the most powerful men in the automotive world smack bang in the middle of this amateur racing series.Jim Farley is the President and CEO of the Ford Motor Company Monday to Friday, but this weekend he was simply the driver of the #17 Ford Mustang. Meanwhile, over at Toyota, company Chairman Akio Toyoda is just as likely to be found behind the wheel of a race or rally car as he is behind a desk.He began racing alongside Toyota’s famous test driver, Hiromu Haruse, and established a skunk works within the massive company in 2007 to indulge in their passion for racing. Since then that project, Team Gazoo, has evolved into the Japanese company’s international performance brand - Gazoo Racing.Motor racing and performance cars are not everyone’s cup of tea, but as both companies have demonstrated, when the leader of a brand loves those things and is passionate about cars, as Farley and Toyoda clearly are, then it has a positive impact on the brand overall.Under Farley’s rule, Ford has implemented a ‘no boring cars’ philosophy and reinvested or revived iconic models like the Mustang and Bronco.It has expanded its electric vehicle range using its most famous nameplates, Mustang and F-150, too. And it has also pushed the limits of what it can do as a brand, with the supercar-rivalling Mustang GTD inspired directly from the brand’s racing car of the same name.Toyoda’s influence on the company his grandfather started is arguably even greater. During his time as President and CEO (positions he stepped down from in 2023), Toyoda oversaw a radical transformation of the company.In Toyota’s own words (via the story on Haruse’s influence on Toyoda) it’s strategy “was centred less on making good cars and more on making cars that sold well and were easy to manufacture”.Toyoda changed that, demanding that all Toyota vehicles be more exciting and engaging to drive, inspired by his own experiences racing for Team Gazoo under the pseudonym ‘Moziro’.This was a bold strategy, as it required major changes and big investment to improve what were already usually best-selling models, but the end result is Toyota has not only maintained its advantage in most areas but actually extended it.As many brands have found over the years, and not just in the automotive world, having a passionate and engaged leader is a big advantage. And while it’s not a negative that other car company CEOs may go off and play golf on their free weekends, it’s no coincidence that the brand’s led by the bosses that hit the racetrack instead are the ones leading the sales race.