The cars revealed in 2024 we wish would come to Australia

Loads of cars were revealed in 2024, and many of them seem very interesting to us. or signup to continue reading Unfortunately a lot of those cars likely won't be coming to Australia, which means we'll be left to admire from afar as buyers in other markets get to enjoy them. For that reason, we've asked the team to list the cars revealed in 2024 they wish would come here.

For context, here's just a handful of the cars we had to choose from: I'd love to see the new sold in Australia, even if there's little chance of that happening any time soon. The old Panda was one of Europe's most popular models in the 12-plus years it was on sale there, where the boxy but practical city car remains one of the most common sights on the road. It never emulated that success here, where the old Panda was axed in 2015 after just two years of slow sales, and where consumer trends continue to trail behind Europe by decades, as evidenced by the relatively recent popularity of adventure motorcycles.



But the fourth-generation Panda is a very different thing. It's morphed into the SUV shape that Aussies love so much, it looks great, and it will be available in Europe with both mild-hybrid petrol and full-electric power. If Stellantis could land it here at a sensible price, the sexy new small SUV may well entice a relatively large number of Aussies back to a struggling Italian brand that (excluding Fiat Professional's ) will soon offer only the , which will attract a little over 500 buyers Down Under this year.

Would love to see this in Australia. I know Infiniti is no longer in Australia, but perhaps it could make a comeback as a more premium version of the ? Either way – by the time the Patrol launches in Australia we're likely to be living on Mars and driving flying cars – that's how far away it feels! It genuinely pains me to see the state of Ford Australia's lineup – sure the and are excellent relative to their respective segments, but they aren't cars I'd actually buy for myself. Call me boring or overly pragmatic, but it seems like a shot in the foot that Ford has removed itself from the most hotly contested and highest volume segment in Australia, despite having a .

The in its most recent form was a plain if quite likeable thing, and offered enough goodness as well as niche factor against the ever-growing carpark of , , and . We also never got the Escape Hybrid in Australia, which claimed to offer 1000 kilometres between fills, and conceptually offers much of the same stuff the RAV4 and Sportage offer particularly in their hybrid forms. Ford's European products were severely underrated and under-appreciated in Australia, and it's a crying shame they're now all axed from our market.

Given I'm a current-model owner, I think it's insane there isn't a similarly priced rival on sale in Australia. I mean the is its closest rival, but at basically $90k in Rubicon guise, you can basically get three Jimnys for that price. Although Mahindra has tried its hardest to bring the Thar body-on-frame off-roader to Australia, legal roadblocks thanks to Jeep have stopped it from actually happening.

If it did come to Australia it would definitely gain a cult following because it's renowned for being ultra-capable off-road, just like the Jimny. The is also more practical, like the Jimny XL. Most notably, the Mahindra Thar Roxx, unlike the Jimny, is available with more powerful engines.

From a 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol, to a 2.2-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel, you're spoiled for choice.

I'll be honest: I like the , and am very keen to drive an Australian-spec one, but this is the car I really wish General Motors' luxury brand had launched here with. Actually, I wish it had launched here 20 years ago with its ancestor, the first-generation CTS-V. Ever since then, Cadillac has been building sports sedans that are critically acclaimed (try over a dozen appearances on ) and stylish.

Well, almost all of them have been stylish. The current CT5, launched in 2019, had some awkward design details and a so-so interior, but the has given the car a more high-tech-looking cabin and a bolder, more Cadillac-like front-end. Cadillac has pushed the V-Series nameplate down a bit and elevated the new V Blackwing nameplate, so the CT5-V isn't as wild as CTS-Vs of yore.

You still get a twin-turbocharged 3.0-litre V6 engine producing 265kW of power and 549Nm of torque, however, mated to a 10-speed automatic and available with rear- or all-wheel drive. The CT5-V Blackwing sticks with a supercharged 6.

2-litre V8 engine producing 491kW and 893Nm. It's rear-wheel drive only and comes with either a 10-speed auto or an actual, bonafide six-speed manual, something its German rivals have largely given up on. We don't know how much longer the CT5 or its smaller CT4 sibling will be around for, but they're expected to be replaced by electric models at some point.

As a last hurrah for combustion-powered Cadillac sports sedans, the updated CT5-V and CT5-V Blackwing are hugely desirable. I just wish they'd come here..

. Lobo, Lobo, bring us the ! Imagine if Ford had built a ute on the Territory. Would it have been more successful than the Holden Crewman? We'll never know.

However, the Maverick Lobo is perhaps the closest thing we'll get to finding out. It's a crying shame we don't get the Maverick here, as it would more than suit the needs of most ute buyers, without all the downfalls that the still-brilliant Ranger has. Not only does the Lobo look tough, it's also got retuned suspension and steering, dual-piston front brake calipers borrowed from the , and torque vectoring via a twin-clutch rear drive unit.

Ford can't make them in right-hand drive, which feels like a missed opportunity. As an owner of a classic Toyota Celica, it would be rude to ignore its similarly aged Honda Prelude rival. Having been fortunate enough to have driven a third-generation Prelude, I've realised there's something quite special about those two-door Japanese sports cars that was seemingly lost when each model trickled out of production in the early 2000s.

Of course the lived on to somewhat fill the gap and the / twins were born as the most directly indirect successors yet, but none of these have quite the same charm. Naturally then, you could understand an enthusiast's excitement for the new Prelude. It was revealed in seemingly production-ready , but given its production guise was both I'm considering it a 2024 reveal.

That means it fits the criteria for this list, and I can assure you I'm excited to see just how it turns out when it hits the market in a year or two. We know that it'll be a sporty-ish two-door car, and that it'll likely be using a similar hybrid powertrain to that found in today's Civic, and unfortunately . What we don't know is how it'll drive, or how much it could cost.

It's expected to enter production in 2025 ahead of its market debut in 2026, when it'll only be sold in Europe and the US to begin with. Honda hasn't explicitly ruled it out for Australia, but at the same time there has been no word on when or if it'll show up in local showrooms. Hopefully the new Integra, another vehicle that dusts off one of Honda's historically sporty nameplates, isn't indicative of what we can expect.

That car is quite the departure from what it used to be and it's only sold in North America under the Acura marque, which means we'll likely never see Honda bring one to Australia. Time will tell, but I'm sure the Prelude would be a welcome addition to the local lineup even if it is a low-volume model. Maybe if it'll convince Honda to send its rival global.

Chevrolet really knocked it out of the park with the . It's everything we've come to expect from the Corvette nameplate – a big V8, supercar looks, and a sports car sticker price – but this time around Chevrolet has given us a little more. All versions of the C8 boast a pseudo-premium interior, and the track-focused Z06 both goes and sounds like a Ferrari with its flat-plane crank V8.

Speaking of flat-plane crank V8s, it's a real shame we won't get the chance to drive the new king of Corvettes – the C8 ZR1. Essentially a Z06 on steroids, the ZR1 packs a twin-turbocharged version of the 5.5-litre lump found in its little brother, good for 783kW (1064 hp) of power and 1123Nm of torque.

That's 318kW and 528Nm more than the Z06. Then there's all the aero, carbon fibre and other go-fast bits. The new ZR1 is a loud and proud hypercar slayer, almost certainly for a fraction of the price.

Just not for us...

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