What new car brands coming to Australia are the CarExpert team excited about?

2025 will be a year of change for the Australian automotive industry, with at least 10 new brands arriving on local shores, joining the approximately 50 already in showrooms.

While there are some players returning after a long hiatus from the local market – such as Cadillac and Foton – most will be making their debut in Australia and fighting to stay alive in our ultra-competitive market.

The ten brands that will appear here are:

• Cadillac
• Deep
• Photon
• GAC/Aion
• Geely
• Jaecoo
• Jump motor
• Skywell
• Xpeng
• Zeekr

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With these 10 brands in mind, we’ve shared our thoughts on what we’re excited to see – and how they’ll stack up against existing competition.

William Stopford: Cadillac and Deepal

Of more than half a dozen brands poised to launch in Australia or hit the market in 2025, Cadillac came tantalizingly, frustratingly close to coming to Australia almost a decade ago, with parent company General Motors pulled the plug at the eleventh hour and diverted vehicles destined for their destination. off our coasts.

I wonder how the CTS would have fared here, because despite its more luxurious nature, this V6-powered, rear-wheel drive sedan might have been a hard sell on paper over a Holden Calais.

This time Cadillac is launching the Lyriq electric SUV. It undercuts similarly sized German rivals, but whether it undercuts enough for a new brand in Australia remains to be seen.

Having driven a US-spec version, I was impressed with the comfort and styling, although it wasn’t perfect. But as someone who has followed the brand closely for more than two decades, it’s exciting to see it finally get there, even if GM’s talk of selling in “exclusive volumes” feels appropriately conservative.

As for the bevy of Chinese brands coming here, I’m most curious about Deepal. Although this brand is still young in China and unknown here, it is part of the Chinese car giant Changan, one of the four largest car manufacturers there. It also has the backing of Subaru distributor Inchcape.

Okay, that didn’t help Citroen, but competitive pricing (albeit high service prices) plus attractive styling for the brand’s debut model, the Tesla Model Y-rivaling S07, helped Deepal stand out from the crowd… even if the technical specs were the rating power and DC charging speed are nothing to write home about.

Deepal has also hinted that it will bring the E07 here, this ute-cum-SUV that is one of the most fascinating designs to come out of China and is far more interesting than the often boring transport pods produced on the market.

James Wong: None

The list of brands coming to Australia did little to excite me, and I could barely tell you which upcoming models belong to which brand.

I’m all for more consumer choice, but the influx of Chinese brands, all with models with different combinations of numbers and letters, is all a bit meh.

And yes, I know Cadillac is there, but none of its icons are coming here, so I’ll leave the excitement to Will.

Paul Maric: Zeekr

I had the chance to drive the new 009 as part of the drag racing series we filmed and it’s incredible what an expensive Chinese car looks like.

Normally Chinese cars are associated with cheaper vehicles and value for money, but for more expensive vehicles like the 009 you literally get everything, even the kitchen sink.

Brands from Chinese manufacturers are now well regarded in Australia and I think we will see a shift of punters being more willing to spend more money on luxury brands from China.

Jack Quick: Zeekr

I really don’t want to say anything because all these brands coming to Australia are pretty much the same.

However, if I really had to choose, I would have to choose Zeekr. I was the one who broke the news that this brand was coming to Australia earlier this year.

The Zeekr

I also can’t wait to experience the Zeekr 009 people mover as it seems like the kind of car I would love to be driven. Stay up to date with the AutoExpert YouTube channel because something special is coming.

Jordan Mulach: Cadillac

The pain of choosing is real.

I legitimately had to type this out three times because I got confused about which new Chinese EV specialist brand was which, so I’m just going to say Cadillac – but more for what it could deliver than what it definitely will deliver.

When I hear Cadillac, I don’t think of electric SUVs or even tall ships with fins, I think of the Escalade. Unfortunately, the Caddy will be electric-only in Australia, which feels like a missed opportunity if the Lyriq could offset the Escalade-V’s emissions.

I’d also like to see the Blackwing models here, but there’s probably a snowball’s chance in that.

Josh Nevett: Jaecoo

Look, I’m not jumping up and down with excitement over the confirmed arrivals, but Jaecoo is my pick.

The Chinese brand, owned by Chery, will launch next year with the J7, a luxury sleek mid-size SUV. It’s the promise of a premium product that piques my interest – Chery is one of the best in the business when it comes to producing a stylish cabin on a budget, so I can’t wait to see what Jaecoo does with a little more money in cash the cat.

Beyond the showroom appeal, Jaecoo also cites big numbers for the J7 PHEV, including an EV range of 90 kilometers on the WLTP cycle, and a combined driving range of 1,200 kilometers. That will undoubtedly make rivals including Toyota, Mitsubishi and BYD nervous.

The J7 PHEV will join the standard petrol J7, which will also arrive in Australia in the first quarter of 2025.

Max Davies: GAC Aion

To be honest, I’m not really excited about the new brands making their way to Australia.

All but one are Chinese brands competing with themselves, and almost all of them are launching an electric SUV of some kind – in some cases initially with just one model. Not very inspiring, if you ask me.

But if I had to pick one, I’d probably say GAC Aion is the only brand that could stand a chance of living up to my already low expectations.

The interesting thing about that is that the choice was really driven by the cars they could bring to Australia. Only two Aion cars would join the brand in the launch Down Under, another mid-size electric SUV (Aion V) and the somewhat interesting-looking electric UT hatch.

The latter of the two certainly caught my attention, partly because it could be a nice little hatch, but mainly because it could actually be a viable competitor to the GWM Ora and MG 4. I think the cute appearance is one of the best is features in that respect, but of course the price will be decisive.

Its 1500kg curb weight doesn’t seem ridiculous (especially in the context of the almost two-ton Cupra Born), while 100kW of power with a 600km range could make it a pretty versatile little runaround.

But beyond that, we’ve seen some other Aion models that look really cool, like the Hyper SSR and even the Hyper – but of course there’s no concrete word on whether they’ll appear here.

Maybe my skepticism will prove wrong, but until one of these brands can bring something to Australia that’s legitimately different and make a concrete claim in our crowded market, I’ll probably pass on most of them.