Australia’s most popular cars and their missing years

We often have to wait a while for vehicles revealed overseas to find their way to Australia.

For every vehicle like the first-generation Kia Niro, which arrived just a year before the replacement deadline, there are many vehicles that we ended up missing out on entire generations.

In some cases, that’s because the car is only designed for other markets or isn’t made with right-hand drive. In other cases, it was because the company’s local department couldn’t find a place for the vehicle.

In this article, we’ll look at some examples of how we missed out on a generation of best-selling cars… when it finally arrived.

Ford Everest

Ford has provided the Everest Moutain in Australia since 2015 as its popular wagon version forest ranger ute. Before that, the Blue Oval brand offered the Raider from 1991 to 1996, a modified Mazda Proceed Marvie and thus a carriage version of the Ford Courier/Mazda B-Series twins.

But there’s one missing link here, and that’s the first-generation Everest. Offered between 2003 and 2015, the Everest – known in some markets as the Endeavor – is a Ranger-based SUV designed for Southeast Asian markets.

Unveiled at the 2003 Bangkok auto show, the Everest cost $100 million to build. Produced in Thailand and assembled from CKD imported parts in India and Vietnam, Everest retains the styling of the classic 1998 car from the B-pillar to the front but combines The rear of the car has a wagon style with a third row of seats.

However, it retains the Ranger’s rear axle and direct leaf springs, unlike the second-generation Everest that upgraded to coil springs. Overall, it measures 4958mm long, 1805mm wide and 1835mm tall on a 2860mm wheelbase.

Engines include a 2.6-liter naturally aspirated four-cylinder petrol engine and a 2.5-liter turbo-diesel four-cylinder, with a choice of rear- or four-wheel drive with a low-range transmission with can choose.

The Everest has received several upgrades along the way, usually to align it visually with the relevant Ranger. It never got here, though – Ford had the US-sourced Explorer and then the Territory to offer buyers looking for a three-row SUV.

With local production discontinued, Ford Australia needed an alternative to the Territory and therefore developed the second generation Everest, which continues to be manufactured in Thailand but is now exported here.

Volkswagen tires

Before caddy Is one Golf-Van-derived, it’s a Golf-derived ute.

Known as the Rabbit Pickup in the US, where the Golf was built and sold as the Rabbit, the compact ute was introduced in 1979 and provided a 1.83m-long bed.

As an automotive-derived ute, it has little direct competition beyond the Subaru Brat (aka Brumby); The Dodge Rampage/Plymouth Scamp wouldn’t appear until the 1980s.

The Pennsylvania-built Rabbit pickup gave birth to Caddy in 1982, built in Sarajevo until 1992 when war broke out; it is also made in South Africa, where the cupcakes are very popular.

Notably, it continued to be produced in South Africa until 2007. Even more remarkably, it outlasted the Mk1 Golf-based Citi Golf, which was finally discontinued in 2009.

Volkswagen says the first-generation Caddy has sold 207,000 vehicles worldwide.

Confusingly, the second-generation Caddy in Europe is really two separate models, both just improvements of existing vehicles in the Volkswagen Group empire.

The new Caddy ute, introduced in 1996, was a Skoda Felicia Utility with the Volkswagen badge affixed to it and sourced from the same Czech factory as the Skoda.

The other Caddy is an oval van, made in Spain. This is a modified SEAT Inca, a van version of the SEAT Cordoba and similar in style to the Combo derived from Holden Barina/Opel Corsa.

The Volkswagen brand has also renamed the Cordoba sedan and wagon as T-shirt in Europe, and Ibiza hatched into Polo Playa in South Africa.

The new truck spawned a passenger variant in 1997, competing with the likes of the Citroen Berlingo Multispace. In total, the various second-generation Caddy models along with their SEAT and Skoda cousins ​​achieved sales of 520,000 units.

With the third generation Caddy, introduced in 2003, the car was once again based on the Golf. Production moved to Poland and exports began to Australia.

Toyota Camry

Firstly Toyota Camry introduced here in 1983 as an imported front-wheel drive five-door hatchback, sold alongside the more conservative rear-wheel drive Corona. This was the first generation of the Camry and entered production in 1982, with other markets also receiving a four-door sedan.

However, this is not the first car to use the Camry name. This model predates the short-lived Celica Camry sedan, introduced in 1980 and sold exclusively in Japan.

Toyota has a well-established Japanese dealer network with separate channels. Until 2020, only certain Toyota vehicles will be sold in each channel, and for many vehicles, Toyota typically creates subtly different versions for distribution across each dealer channel.

For example, while we get Cressida here, Japanese customers have this option along with subtly different Chaser and Cresta relationships.

Therefore, the Celica Camry is merely a version of the mid-size sedan Carina for Toyota Corolla Store dealers in the land of the rising sun.

It is sold alongside the two-door Celica which, despite being mechanically related, looks quite different. It also offers these dealers a larger sedan than the Corolla for sale.

Celica Camry is almost no different from Carina in appearance, perhaps most easily recognizable is the special T on the grille. The range includes 1.6-, 1.8- and 2.0-liter four-cylinder engines, and most models have a direct rear axle.

Higher-end variants like the 2000GT sports an upgrade to a four-wheel independent suspension with a semi-traction swingarm setup at the rear.

The Celica Camry is actually an interim model, with the Camry replacing it at Toyota Corolla Store dealerships. True to form, Toyota is also introducing a slightly improved version of the new front-wheel drive model called the Vista, which will be offered through Vista dealers.

To date, this is the only generation of Celica ever offered with four doors.

Lexus ES

While Lexus ES Not in the top 10 best-selling vehicles in Australia, it is one of the more popular vehicles in its segment. It’s the second car to be launched locally by the brand and still has a mostly consistent presence in Lexus showrooms in Australia, but we’ve missed a few generations.

While the ES debuted locally in 1992, nameplates first appeared in the US in 1989 with the ES250.

Lexus was developed with the US market in mind, with the LS400 designed to compete with the best luxury cars from Germany. But Toyota clearly didn’t want to present the brand with just one model, so the LS was bundled with the ES250, a version of the Toyota Camry Prominent for the Japanese market.

The SC coupe, known as the Toyota Soarer in Japan, was born in 1991.

Nissan did the same with Infiniti, which also debuted in 1989 with a specially designed flagship sedan (Q45) that was supplemented with a number of more affordable models. But like the Infiniti M30 (a Nissan Leopard in Japan), the Lexus ES250 is an older car.

The V20-series Toyota Camry and its derivatives entered production in 1986, so the ES250 is a vehicle that’s already halfway through its life. It also doesn’t look as comfortable as a Camry, and is the only front-wheel drive Lexus.

It is at least based on the unique “hardtop” sedan body style not offered by the Toyota brand in the US and the four-cylinder that precedes the standard 116 kW 2.5-liter V6 combined with five-speed manual or four-speed automatic transmission.

It’s about $3000 cheaper than the Legend Acura (née Honda), although it’s $5000 more expensive than the Camry V6. U.S. buyers received a full range of electrical accessories, additional mufflers, and real bird’s-eye maple trim, plus the Lexus dealership experience, but that’s a hefty premium for the price. with a car that is essentially mechanically identical. The more expensive LS400 ended up outselling it by a 2-to-1 ratio.

The second-generation ES will stick with the Camry’s mechanical and front-wheel drive, but it’s styling is significantly different from the more affordable Toyota version; it was sold under the name Windom in Japan, where Lexus would not exist as a separate brand until 2005.

We got every generation of the ES up to the fifth generation in 2006. Sales of the rather oddly styled fourth-generation model dwindled down in Australia, and the fifth-generation model was ultimately only sold. produced with left-hand drive.

Lexus has clearly envisioned that they have the IS and GS covered sedan bases at this end of the market; The ES, unlike those, is front-wheel drive and is more comfort-focused, taken from the Toyota Camry and aimed primarily at the US market.

The fifth-generation ES used a more powerful 203 kW 3.5-liter V6, although a 2.4-liter four-cylinder was offered in some Asian markets. This is the first generation ES to feature features like adaptive cruise control, a panoramic sunroof and rain-sensing wipers, among others.

The ES is Lexus’ second best-selling vehicle globally, and Lexus decided to reverse course with the sixth generation and build it once again in right-hand drive. Currently sharing its platform with the Toyota Avalon, the ES has returned to Australia and offers an available hybrid powertrain.

Lexus currently uses the seventh-generation ES, which, following the global discontinuation of GS production and the IS’s local expulsion due to stricter safety standards, is currently the brand’s only LS sub-sedan locally. direction.