Exclusive interviews, analysis, investigations and commentary to better understand the Australian automotive market.
Stephen Lester is committing Cox Automotive's Australian arm to purpose-built sites in three capitals on leases that run a decade or more. The wager poured into the concrete is that scale, technology, and data still beat doing it yourself.
A throwaway remark about door latches on an American industry podcast sent me looking for the real source of China's cost-and-speed advantage. The answer is structural, transferable, and mostly ignored by the carmakers it threatens most.
When Brent crude spiked 50 percent in a month and Australia's EV order book lurched, BYD didn't queue for a shipping slot. It redirected a vessel, unlocked production, and had nearly 5,000 cars heading for Melbourne within weeks. Stephen Collins, BYD Australia's chief operating officer, explains how the machine actually works.
Long warranties have become the new battleground in Australian new-car marketing. But the 5+X structures now dominating the market rest on a specific legal architecture — and misreading it carries real compliance risk for dealers and OEMs alike.
Ferrari unveiled the Luce in Rome on 25 May 2026 — its first fully electric car, its first five-seater, and the most commercially significant model decision Maranello has made in decades. Here is the full industry briefing: the engineering, the design controversy, the commercial logic, and what it means for the Australian market.
Delta and NHP are about to install Australia's first DC kerbside pole-mounted charger in Sydney, the first of its kind anywhere in the world. The economics work without a government grant. The question is whether the auto industry will wake up to what that means.
Quad Lock looked like it arrived overnight. It didn't. CEO Andrew Poole, motorsport chief Dom Storey, and marketing lead Quyen Ly take TheAutoExec inside the 13-year build — and explain what the automotive industry's dealer networks, OEM marketers, and accessory retailers might actually take from the model.
Four peak bodies, one Budget, and a clear verdict: welcome, but not enough. TheAutoExec maps the industry's response to the Chalmers Budget across EVs, fuel security, road user charging, and the tax reform that keeps getting deferred.
Josh Blanksby didn't come to Motorsport Australia from motor racing roots. That, it turns out, might be exactly what the organisation needed.
Most new-entrant EV brands treat social media as a strategy. Andrew Stamatakis spent four years at Hyundai and Genesis watching exactly where that leads. Now at Zeekr Australia, he's spending real money across real channels – and the brand's sales figures are already making the argument for him.
The FBT taper has drawn a new line at $75,000 and in doing so, put a brighter spotlight on the tax that sits above it. BMW Group Australia and Polestar Australia both told TheAutoExec the Luxury Car Tax has no defensible policy purpose left, and the new cap makes that problem harder to ignore.
Frank Li didn't come to Australia to compete with BYD and MG. He came to take on BMW, Lexus and Audi — and April's VFACTS numbers suggest he's not bluffing. Inside the strategy, the dealer network, and the NVES credit bank that gives Zeekr room no premium-only rival can match.
Volume brands and the novated lease industry have called the three-phase FBT wind-back sensible. Polestar disagrees, branding the changes premature and revealing what Treasury told OEMs to do about the new $75,000 cap.
Cadillac's Melbourne and Brisbane expansion will use authorised franchised dealers with consistent MSRP across all sales channels. Managing director Jess Bala told TheAutoExec the mix will continue to evolve as demand and economics develop – a signal that the Experience Centre model isn't frozen either.
Battery electric vehicles share hit 16.4 percent in April and earned its coverage. But add plug-in hybrids and non-plug hybrids to the picture, and 46 percent of new vehicles sold last month had some form of electric drive. That's the electrification story few have clocked — and for the industry, it's arguably more important than the BEV figure alone.
The full FBT exemption that’s underwritten the EV salary-packaging boom since 2022 is on borrowed time. May 5, 2026, joint announcement from Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Energy Minister Chris Bowen sets out a three-phase taper, ultimately landing on a permanent 25 per cent FBT discount from 2029. Existing leases are grandfathered. Here’s what dealers, OEMs, fleet operators and salary-packagers need to know.
Kia and News.com.au swept the major categories as the Newspress Australia Awards moved to Melbourne for their third year, with around 200 of the automotive industry's most influential journalists, executives, and PR professionals gathering at Zinc at Federation Square to celebrate the best in automotive media.
Join thousands of automotive industry professionals who start their day with TheAutoExec.