The affordable electric vehicles coming to Australian roads
New legislation for vehicle emissions and a perfect storm of tariff considerations mean that while other markets are putting up barriers of entry to Chinese brands, Australia is about to see a boom in the number of brands from China, as well an increase in cars sourced from China but sold under existing 'non-Chinese' nameplates.
What it means for consumers is more choice - not that Australians are short of options now.
For a market of about 1.2 million new vehicle sales a year, including trucks, there are 71 brands currently vying for their piece of the pie.
It has been called 'the most competitive market on the planet' and it's about to get even more feisty as brands fight for sales and consumer relevance.
In large part what is driving this is a Federal government efficiency scheme that will come into play soon.
The new vehicle efficiency standard (NVES) is the single largest change to the way car brands will do business in our market since importing cars began many decades ago.
Tougher emission targets
The regulations aim to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from new light-duty vehicles including cars, SUVs and vans, by setting annual emissions targets starting in 2025.
It gets tougher as the years go on, meaning there is a chance that in the wake of new brands arriving, some existing marques that cannot adapt to the regulations may pack up shop and leave our market.
Diesel utes and 4x4s will continue to sell in large numbers for some time, but more choices will be on offer for those who are looking for electric or electrified (hybrid and plug-in hybrid) vehicles.
New brands on the way
There are some big personalities about to arrive at the party. Geely - the parent company of Volvo, Polestar, Lotus and part-owner of Smart - is in charge of a lot of them.
The youth-focused EV brand Zeekr is due here within months. First will be the Zeekr X, a small SUV that shares its underpinnings and powertrain with the Volvo EX30. It will be followed by the Zeekr 009 luxury people-mover van.
The 7X midsize SUV is also expected.
Geely is also involved with the EV brand Radar, which offers the fully electric RD6 dual-cab ute. There are other EV utes in the market, but this one is more of a compact pick-up truck for families.
Geely itself may set up here in mid-2025 with a number of SUV models - not just full EVs but also plug-in hybrids.
Newcomer XPeng is set to offer a number of full-EV SUVs before the end of this year. The first will be the G6, a Tesla Model Y-sized vehicle with up to 570km of claimed driving range.
Other brands destined to make their mark include NIO, Aion, GAC Motor, Changan and Skywell.
One returning brand is Smart, which previously offered the Fortwo, Roadster and Forfour but disappeared from our market in March 2015.
"The Smart current and future product line-up, with its German design, perfectly complements our existing offerings and delivers zero tailpipe emissions," says John Good, managing director of LSH Auto Australia, which is the business behind the brand's imminent relaunch in our market with the #1 and #3 models.
"This makes the range perfect for people seeking smaller vehicles, without having to compromise on technical refinement, performance flexibility or luxury."
Line-ups to be expanded
MG Motor is one of the fully fledged Chinese brands already here, offering a diverse range of fully electric models, plug-in hybrid vehicles and, in recent times, petrol-electric (plugless) hybrids.
The new-generation replacement for the big-selling petrol-only MG 3 includes petrol and hybrid options, and the brand's midsize SUV, the MG HS, is about to be revamped with an all-new design and hybrid options as a core part of the range.
"We are serious about our commitment to support the NVES and, once again, MG is putting customers first by ensuring everyone can access a wide range of affordable low- and zero-emission vehicles," says a MG Motor spokesperson.
"Our range is evolving to have a hybrid variant in each segment so customers have a choice between EV and hybrid if they're not quite ready to make the switch yet."
Fellow Chinese maker GWM has launched hybrid versions of its Tank 300 and Tank 500 off-road hybrid SUVs. GWM also oversees Haval, which has just launched a new Jolion hybrid line-up.
Another success story is Chery Motor. It already offers a number of products across its petrol SUV ranges, but the business is expanding to include an electric version of its Omoda 5 compact crossover.
More diversification is imminent, too, with or without the pressures of NVES.
"Our product strategy was in place prior to the legislation coming into effect," says Tim Krieger, head of PR for Chery Motor Australia.
"We're focused on providing our customers with powertrain-agnostic options - if they want internal combustion engines, if they want plug-in or if they want EVs - we will be able to offer them all."
Chery will soon launch another sub-brand, Jaecoo, which will share tech and powertrains with the existing Tiggo and Omoda model lines.
Established players Kia and Hyundai - which have been in the top five for sales in Australia in recent years - are also boosting the number of hybrids available.
Hyundai has just added the Tucson hybrid, while the Santa Fe large SUV now also has hybrid across the range.
The smaller Kona SUV has hybrid, petrol and electric models.
Kia has Niro, Sportage, Sorento and Carnival hybrids, and is going through an EV evolution, with the existing Niro, EV6 and EV9 SUVs to be joined by the Chinese-sourced EV5, a model that is expected to be a 'sweet spot' option for family buyers on a more realistic budget.
Toyota already has a rich mix of hybrid EV models. In fact, it recently dumped the non-hybrid versions of the Yaris, Yaris Cross SUV, Corolla, Corolla Cross SUV, RAV4 and Kluger seven-seater, while the new-gen C-HR and Camry were both available globally purely as HEV models.
This year the brand added its first EV, the bZ4X, but hybrid sales for Toyota account for almost 50% of its totals.
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