It’s been a busy year in the CarExpert newsroom, thanks to the influx of new auto brands reaching Australia, the reveal of the Kia Tasman ute, the launch of the BYD Shark 6 ute, and confirmation of Toyota joining the Supercars Championship, just to name a few of the big things that happened in 2024.
This year we also saw everything from drivers crashing on the Adelaide O-Bahn to Citroen pulling out of the local market.
But none of our news articles relating to those subjects captured the hearts and minds of enough of our readers to make the Top 5 list of our most-read news content this year.
Below are the highest-rating news articles written by our team in 2024.
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Toyota announcing it would finally go Supercars racing was huge news… for those who cared
1. Australia’s reborn car industry expands with new factory
While many see the last Holden being built in October 2017 as the moment Australia’s automotive industry died, other players continue to keep niches within the local auto trade alive – and arguably none have done so better than Walkinshaw Automotive.
The former maker of Holden Special Vehicles has adapted to challenges and opportunities in the local market, and in July it announced it was building a new factory in Dandenong South to ‘remanufacture’ vehicles from “some of the largest automotive Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) for the Australian market”.
Walkinshaw has been flat-out converting American pickups from left- to right-hand drive in Melbourne since 2016, starting with Ram and later expanding to the Chevrolet Silverado and now the Toyota Tundra.
It has also developed a range of smaller dual-cab off-road utes for brands including Isuzu, Mitsubishi and Volkswagen, and its New Age caravan brand has been a success too. Walkinshaw will also start racing V8-powered Toyota Supras in the Australian Supercars Championship from 2026, switching from its current contract with Ford.
Within the factory, different brands will have their conversion operations handled in separate and secure areas, while the 100,000-metre facility will also continue to handle engineering and manufacturing work for other companies.
2. The Australian city with the worst traffic isn’t Sydney or Melbourne
Complaining about traffic is an Australian pastime, but a congestion study found that residents of one city have the right to whinge more than most.
According to the 2023 INRIX Global Traffic Scorecard, Brisbane was the most traffic-congested city in Australia, and the 12th worst in the world.
It found that, on average, Brisbane drivers are losing 74 hours due to traffic delays every year – a 10 per cent increase on the same report a year prior.
For context, Melbourne ranked second, with drivers losing 62 hours due to traffic delays, while Sydney came in third (53 hours) and Perth ranked fourth (42 hours).
A further study by the RACQ found the Pacific Motorway connecting Brisbane with the Gold Coast to be the most congested road in the state.
The Bruce Highway was listed as the second most congested road, followed by the Centenary Motorway. The Gateway Motorway sat in fourth place.
Maybe that’s why Queensland politicians have made 50-cent public transport fares a permanent fixture.
3. Another automotive icon files for bankruptcy
2024 was the year of bankruptcy for a number of automotive companies, either those directly involved in the industry or adjacent to it.
Seat supplier Recaro and wheel specialist BBS filed for insolvency in Germany earlier this year, citing financial hardship with their European operations. These bankruptcies didn’t affect their global operations, however, and Recaro was recently purchased by an Italian supply firm.
However, automotive lifestyle brand Hoonigan – founded by the late Ken Block – also filed for bankruptcy in September.
In a bid to trade on Hoonigan’s popularity, Wheel Pros – a company that owned a number of car wheel brands, and was itself owned by private equity firm Clearlake Capital – merged with the brand in September 2021.
Mr Block was tragically killed in a snowmobile accident in January 2023, and subsequent changes to how Hoonigan’s management ran led to a number of high-profile departures from its popular YouTube channel.
Amid rising costs for its core wheel brands – which include American Racing, TSW, Rotiform and KMC – Wheel Pros rebranded as Hoonigan in October last year.
In a media statement, Hoonigan announced it aims to raise US$570 million (A$857 million) in capital as a part of its Restructuring Support Agreement, which hopes to erase US$1.2 billion (A$1.8 billion) in debt.
4. Thieves causing new problem at public EV charging stations
Copper theft is common enough to be a problem in most countries, and electric vehicle (EV) charging companies in the US have been facing downtime due to the crime this year.
In July, Automotive News reported 129 charging cables were stolen from Electrify America charging stations in the first five months of this year, more than in the entire 2023 calendar year (125).
According to Electrify America, cut cables cost US$2000 to US$4000 (~A$3000-$6000) to replace, potentially crippling the smaller startup.
The US state of Washington has become a hotspot for the theft of copper from EV charging cables, with 89 cables cut from Electrify America locations there between January 1 and July 11.
John Sullivan, CEO of Chargefox, told CarExpert the issue is far less prevalent in Australia, saying: “We see very little vandalism and copper theft is almost non-existent”.
Should copper theft become more common here, it would inconvenience EV owners that have already been impacted by Telstra and Optus outages, and unreliable Tritium chargers.
As experts point out, hacking off EV charging cables with saws to get the copper inside is a fool’s errand.
“The copper is encased in serious insulation, so you don’t actually get raw copper from the cable,” chief legal and public affairs officer at Flo EV Charging, Travis Allan, told Automotive News.
“It is completely Sisyphean to try to get money out of coated, small wires,” he added, noting the danger of handling said high-voltage electrical cables.
5. 2025 Toyota LandCruiser Prado price and specs
The new Toyota Prado 250 Series was unveiled in August 2023, but Australian pricing wasn’t announced until eight months later in May 2024, when our price and spec news article for the all-new off-road SUV was published.
Perhaps it was the fact the new Prado would command price hikes of at least $9600 that made this by far our most widely read news article announcing the pricing of an incoming vehicle.
Either way, the price increases haven’t stopped Australians from snapping up the first new Prado in 15 years in their droves, since the new 250 Series will this year reclaim the large SUV sales crown it lost to the Ford Everest in 2023.
This is despite the new model being powered by a carryover engine (except for its mild-hybrid system), even if its new eight-speed automatic transmission is better on- and off-road, and it’s boxy retro design looks very cool.
First local deliveries of the new Prado have now begun, and a number of aftermarket accessories are already available for it.
Which was your favourite news article of 2024? Tell us in the comments below
