James Cleary
James Cleary is Deputy Editor at CarsGuide, covering how new vehicles, technologies and brands change the car market rather than just reporting launches. He brings more than four decades of work across automotive editorial, marketing, product planning and creative advertising into clear, practical coverage for everyday drivers and industry readers. At CarsGuide he writes news, analysis, reviews and expert advice, with a workload that spans electric vehicles, sales trends, future models and consumer guidance. He has been part of the CarsGuide team for around a decade and combines that editorial role with sub-editing and broader content production responsibilities. Alongside his work at CarsGuide he has written for national and international outlets including Wheels, Drive, Carsales, Motor and Top Gear Australia on everything from new product assessment to industry analysis and expert advice.
Electric car wave and vehicle-to-grid tech
Cleary is a consistent voice on electric vehicles, treating them as part of a wider shift in how people power and use their cars rather than a niche topic.
His coverage of the 2026 Tesla Model Y sets that SUV within the broader “electric car wave”, weighing its position against rivals like the Kia EV5 and Toyota bZ4X and focusing on what the sales lead means for the segment. He follows up with more granular pieces on the Tesla Model Y’s day-to-day usability, including stories on accessories that address recurring owner complaints and add sought-after features, particularly in comparison to emerging competitors such as the Zeekr 7X. On the technology side he highlights how models like the 2026 Hyundai Ioniq 9 can accelerate adoption of vehicle-to-grid systems, spelling out how bidirectional charging changes the relationship between cars, homes and the wider energy grid.
He also tracks strategic decisions by manufacturers like Stellantis to remove petrol and hybrid options from parts of their range, linking those calls to the pace of electrification and the options that will be available to buyers. Across these stories his tone is explanatory and comparative, aimed at helping readers understand not just what an EV is, but how it fits into the evolving landscape of charging, infrastructure and model choice, including practical guides on how to charge an electric car.
Chinese brands on the Aussie new car sales charts
A major strand of Cleary’s work follows the rapid rise of Chinese carmakers, especially their push into SUVs, electric vehicles and utes. In his analysis of Chery’s Tiggo 4, Tiggo 7 and Tiggo 8, he frames the brand as a “sleeping giant” that has shifted from outsider to top-10 establishment by putting record numbers on local new-car sales charts. He looks at higher-end offerings such as the MG IM LS9 as well, positioning that opulent three-row SUV as a “Range Rover beater” and exploring what its design, specification and pricing say about how Chinese brands are moving upmarket.
Pre-launch coverage of vehicles like the 2027 GWM Ora 7 mid-size SUV examines how these cars are set up to tackle rivals from established players such as Geely, using future model details to map out likely competitive dynamics.
His reporting on Hyundai’s ladder-frame 4WD and ute onslaught, and on BYD’s presence in that mix, shows the connection between Chinese and Korean entrants, traditional 4WD stalwarts and an evolving field of off-road and work-focused vehicles. Together these pieces mark him out as someone who treats Chinese brands as central actors in the market, tracking their impact on sales, positioning and segment expectations rather than treating them as background noise.
Market winners: Toyota, BYD and Tesla
Cleary regularly steps back from individual models to write about brand-level performance and market structure.
His work on Toyota, BYD and Tesla in 2026 looks beyond headline sales wins to identify which newcomers are shooting up the charts and how the established leaders respond. In features such as his “Forget BYD, Toyota proves it is still the king” piece he uses sales data to show why Toyota remains the best-selling car brand, setting that dominance against the noise surrounding new electric challengers.
When he writes about the 2026 Tesla Model Y’s status as the number one EV, he connects that title to the broader “electric car wave” and the performance of direct rivals, treating sales figures as one part of a wider story about product appeal and infrastructure. He also applies a similar data-driven lens to safety, for example identifying the 10 worst roads in Australia for car accidents and comparing how different cities feature in that list. Across this market work he tends to link numbers back to real-world implications, explaining what leadership, rapid growth or poor safety outcomes mean for brands, policymakers and drivers.
New model reviews: Alfa Romeo Junior and rivals
Alongside news and analysis, Cleary continues to produce detailed new-car reviews with an emphasis on usability and context. In his review of the Alfa Romeo Junior 2026 Ibrida, he combines a clear numeric score with specifics on fuel economy, real-world consumption over mixed driving and the official combined-cycle figures.
He uses pricing information to show how the different variants sit within the range, highlighting the spread from the lowest manufacturer’s suggested retail price to the highest-spec version.
The review sets the Junior against direct competitors such as the Toyota Corolla Cross, making it clear how the Alfa’s hybrid powertrain, packaging and price compare for buyers cross-shopping in that part of the market. This kind of structured, comparative review sits alongside his broader portfolio of new product assessment, feature writing and expert advice, giving readers both the big-picture context and the detail needed to make a decision about a specific car.
4 more automobile journalists.
Aditya Nadkarni
Aditya Nadkarni turns new model launches and first drive reviews into clear, buyer-facing information, with a strong focus on detail and incremental updates. He is principal correspondent at CarWale, where he covers passenger vehicles with an emphasis on launch news, facelifts and road-test impressions for mainstream and premium cars. His core news work tracks new introductions and lifecycle updates, explaining what changes, when the car goes on sale, and how each variant is configured. He writes “variants explained” pieces and structured first drive reviews that link driving impressions to a model’s place in the market and its recent update or launch. His reporting is factual, methodical and model-specific, avoiding broad commentary and treating even minor tweaks and new features as news. His bylines also appear at Mobility Outlook and CarTrade, with the same detail-first style.
Alexis Hooi
Alexis Hooi reports on how China’s partnerships in electric vehicles, green technology, tourism and agriculture reshape markets and communities, with a focus on Australia and the wider Asia-Pacific. He writes for China Daily, drawing on experience as a national news page editor, columnist and long-form reporter, and earlier work in other media and organizations. His beat covers Chinese EVs in Australia, green transition projects, innovation hubs, wine, geothermal energy and agricultural cooperation, treating each sector as a lens on China–Oceania economic ties and sustainable growth. He follows concrete outcomes like shifts in car choices, visitor numbers, exports and investment, and reports through project-focused stories and personality-driven features. He also covers culture and identity, diaspora roots, tourism flows, animal attractions and commentary on perception and language, grounding China–Australia relations in everyday experiences.
Antonina Joson
Antonina Joson covers how Southeast Asia’s car markets and fleet decisions respond to new technologies, environmental pressures, and policy shifts. She writes for AfMA, focusing on the automobile sector and its implications for fleets and mobility services, and works as a communications officer with a background in writing, digital marketing, and content creation. Her reporting tracks month‑to‑month changes in car sales in Indonesia, Thailand, and Singapore, linking sales data, segment performance, and national policy to corporate strategy. She reports on electric vehicles as strategic assets tied to air quality, energy policy, and industrial ambitions, and follows regional moves such as XPENG’s entry into Indonesia and calls for Toyota to shift production. She also covers safety campaigns, mobility platforms, online marketplaces, book recommendations for fleet professionals, and contributes to FleetDrive advertising and content planning, bringing a commercial, cross‑industry perspective to fleet‑focused coverage.
Aranya Mondal
Aranya Mondal is a business and technical writer who edits and writes analytical coverage of the global aluminium industry for AL Circle, with a through-line of connecting trade patterns and supply risks to aluminium competitiveness. She focuses on aluminium trade flows, bauxite diplomacy, tariffs, scrap imports and strategic materials adjacent to aluminium such as gallium. Her beat spans scrap, recycling and the shift from linear to circular aluminium markets, alumina and aluminium production trends, regional vulnerabilities and project developments, as well as automotive and mobility uses of aluminium including product launches like the Anytec A28-T boat. She works mainly on long-form explainers and recurring formats such as weekly sustainability recaps, using clear language, trade data and value-chain context to unpack production, policy and energy trends for an industry audience.