In late February 2026, the US and Israel launched joint air strikes on Iran. Within days, tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz ,a narrow waterway between Iran and Oman ,had ground to a near halt. Within weeks, petrol prices at the bowser in Sydney had surged past 225 cents per litre, diesel was above $3.00 in some states, and the Australian Government had slashed the fuel excise by 50 per cent to try to take the edge off. What happened in a stretch of ocean halfway aro

Filling up your car has never felt quite as painful as it does in 2026. By April, regular unleaded across Sydney hit over 225 cents per litre, diesel surged past $3.00 in some states, and the Australian Government moved to cut fuel excise by 50 per cent just to take the edge off. If you're not using some kind of price-tracking tool right now, you're almost certainly overpaying ,sometimes by 20 to 40 cents per litre compared to what someone a kilometre down the road is paying.

If you're still buying engine lubricants one bottle at a time from a retail shelf, you're paying more than you need to. It's one of those costs that creeps up quietly ,a few dollars here, a few dollars there ,until you sit down one day and realise how much your workshop, fleet, or even home garage is spending on something that's genuinely easy to buy smarter. In Australia, there's a well-developed network of bulk lubricant suppliers covering everything from 20-litre cubes to

Walk into any car dealership strip in Australia right now and you'll notice something that would have seemed impossible five years ago. Tucked between the Toyotas and the Mazda's, there's a Chinese brand with a showroom full of electric cars, a queue of curious buyers, and a price list that makes the competition look expensive. The brand only arrived here in November 2022 with a single model. By March 2026, it was the third-best-selling car brand in the entire country ,not j

A few years ago, this was a much easier question to answer. There were only a handful of electric vehicles available in Australia, the charging network was patchy, and most buyers were choosing between a Tesla or waiting. Fast forward to April 2026, and the landscape looks almost unrecognisable. In March alone, electric cars hit a record 14.6% of all new vehicle sales , the highest monthly share ever recorded. There are now over 50 models available from more than 20 brands, s

A few years ago, this comparison would have seemed a bit cheeky ,comparing a relatively unknown Chinese brand against the company that essentially created the modern EV market. But the automotive landscape looks very different in 2026. The Chinese brand outsold its American rival globally in 2025. It's the sixth-best-selling car brand in Australia overall. And at car shows and EV events around the country, it's the one generating the most conversation. So is it actually bette

You'd be forgiven for thinking a company that sold 4.6 million cars in a single year, outsold Tesla globally, and is now the eighth-best-selling brand in Australia couldn't possibly be in trouble. And in many ways, you'd be right , this is still a formidably large and well-resourced company. But behind the impressive headline numbers, there are some genuine challenges that deserve a closer look, particularly if you're an Aussie driver who either owns one of these cars or is t

Walk into any car dealership strip in Sydney or Melbourne right now and you'll find them. The Shark. The Sealion. The Atto. They're on billboards, in fleet yards, and increasingly in driveways across the country. The brand behind them has gone from being an unknown quantity in 2022 to the eighth-best-selling car brand in Australia by the end of 2025 , a rise that's left a lot of people asking the obvious question: who actually runs this show? The answer is less complicated th

You've probably seen one on the road by now. Maybe you've considered buying one. The cars are everywhere ,from suburban driveways in Brisbane to company fleets in Melbourne ,and the question comes up constantly: who exactly is behind all of this? Is it a Chinese government operation? A private company? Does Warren Buffett still own a chunk of it? The answers are more interesting than most people expect. The short version: BYD is a publicly listed, privately founded Chinese co