Tessa403
25-04-2007, 08:25 AM
Wheels Febuary 1986!
MITSUBISHI'S MAGNA is the 1985 Car Of
The Year, most prestigious award for automotive excellence in Australia.
Now in its 23rd year, and the longest running award of its type in the world, the WHEELS COTY has gone to a mainstream sedan that is both innovative in design and execution and yet surely the most significant new car released in Australia in years.
The Magna creates, in one brilliant move, a new class of car that bridges the gap between the traditional Australian six cylinder family sedans and the four cylinder medium models.
That it manages to offer the best of both worlds, within a package that has sent rival manufacturers back to the drawing boards, only confirms the impact this car will have on the local scene until well into the 1990's.
Equally important, Mitsubishi has been able to price the car so competitively that it is undoubtedly the best value for money on the entire market. Bar none. The achievement is spectacular, just as much as the effect on the opposition is devastating.
Only one car came close to equaling the Magna on the Australian motoring scene in 1985. Toyota's superb new Celica is so vastly superior to any previous Celica that it is hard to believe it came from the same company, let alone the same engineering team. But the two-plus-two coupe Celica coupe is of limited importance compared to the significance of the Magna. So, despite its magnificent chassis and engine and breathtakingly original body, Toyota's best effort in years is still overshadowed by the new four door sedan from Mitsubishi.
It took no more than a brief turn at the wheel to realise that the Magna was going to cause the four other local car makers real problems although (and they are the first to admit it) all four under-estimated the car. The embattled Mitsubishi, they believed, didn't have the resources in money or people to come up with a true class leader that would not only take over from the declining Sigma but even reach up to steal sales away from the Commodore and Falcon.
By combining the improved performance and economy of the now most impressive Astron II 2.6 litre four cylinder engine with a wider body that made the car effectively more roomy than a Commodore, and with the balance, poise and finesse of the better European medium Sized/.ed sedans, Mitsubishi's small team of engineers has produced a world-beater. Comparisons with the Audi 100 are indeed valid.
The three-tiered range of sedans (wagon versions will be released late this year) gives a broad spread of models that is logically spaced to ensure the widest possible market coverage. Even the base GLX is well specified, because all Magnas come with the 2.6 litre engine, four wheel disc brakes and five speed gearbox as standard equipment. A poverty model is not listed. Mode'1 for model the Magna offers more features at a lower price than any of its rivals.
With its attractive, modern and clean styling it is not surprising that sales have exceeded Mitsubishi's expectations. The company set a target of 22,000 Magnas for '85 but, by working almost every other Saturday and improving general efficiency, the Adelaide plant has been able to crank out almost 30,000 and expects to sell around 38,000 in 1986.
The plant was capable of 260 cars a day during '85 but will reach 300 a day during '86. These figures include around 11,000 Colts and 12,000 Sigmas although when the Magna wagon arrives sales of the Sigma — the wagon version of which now accounts for more than 50 percent of total Sigma sales — are expected to slow quickly.
Mitsubishi believes the extreme buoyancy of the new car market in '85 protected the Commodore and Falcon from the full force of the Magna and it sees '86 as the year both will suffer as the effect of the Federal Government's tax on company cars begins to hit home. The Magna is the logical step for the fleets to take in moving away from the traditional six cylinder cars. It is, as drivers of company cars will discover, n down which the Sigma was during the rush cylinder cars in '79 and '80. No, fleet experience has shown the Magna up in a most favourable light.
Mitsubishi's product planning department thinking about a replacement for the GJ Sigma months before that car was finally released, 1982. The intention was to repeat the success
Sigma with a car which was a more efficiency and which offered substantially more interior room and boot space. The target release date for the car given the code name GL (as a logical carry-over Sigma code) was April 1986.
High on the list of priorities was the ability three adults across the back seat with adequate excessive leg room and an overall feeling of ': spaciousness. The planners wanted improved} performance and fuel economy (hence the need the weight down), greater levels of comfort, serviceability and quietness and an ability to to at least match the towing ability of the GJ Sigma.
MITSUBISHI'S MAGNA is the 1985 Car Of
The Year, most prestigious award for automotive excellence in Australia.
Now in its 23rd year, and the longest running award of its type in the world, the WHEELS COTY has gone to a mainstream sedan that is both innovative in design and execution and yet surely the most significant new car released in Australia in years.
The Magna creates, in one brilliant move, a new class of car that bridges the gap between the traditional Australian six cylinder family sedans and the four cylinder medium models.
That it manages to offer the best of both worlds, within a package that has sent rival manufacturers back to the drawing boards, only confirms the impact this car will have on the local scene until well into the 1990's.
Equally important, Mitsubishi has been able to price the car so competitively that it is undoubtedly the best value for money on the entire market. Bar none. The achievement is spectacular, just as much as the effect on the opposition is devastating.
Only one car came close to equaling the Magna on the Australian motoring scene in 1985. Toyota's superb new Celica is so vastly superior to any previous Celica that it is hard to believe it came from the same company, let alone the same engineering team. But the two-plus-two coupe Celica coupe is of limited importance compared to the significance of the Magna. So, despite its magnificent chassis and engine and breathtakingly original body, Toyota's best effort in years is still overshadowed by the new four door sedan from Mitsubishi.
It took no more than a brief turn at the wheel to realise that the Magna was going to cause the four other local car makers real problems although (and they are the first to admit it) all four under-estimated the car. The embattled Mitsubishi, they believed, didn't have the resources in money or people to come up with a true class leader that would not only take over from the declining Sigma but even reach up to steal sales away from the Commodore and Falcon.
By combining the improved performance and economy of the now most impressive Astron II 2.6 litre four cylinder engine with a wider body that made the car effectively more roomy than a Commodore, and with the balance, poise and finesse of the better European medium Sized/.ed sedans, Mitsubishi's small team of engineers has produced a world-beater. Comparisons with the Audi 100 are indeed valid.
The three-tiered range of sedans (wagon versions will be released late this year) gives a broad spread of models that is logically spaced to ensure the widest possible market coverage. Even the base GLX is well specified, because all Magnas come with the 2.6 litre engine, four wheel disc brakes and five speed gearbox as standard equipment. A poverty model is not listed. Mode'1 for model the Magna offers more features at a lower price than any of its rivals.
With its attractive, modern and clean styling it is not surprising that sales have exceeded Mitsubishi's expectations. The company set a target of 22,000 Magnas for '85 but, by working almost every other Saturday and improving general efficiency, the Adelaide plant has been able to crank out almost 30,000 and expects to sell around 38,000 in 1986.
The plant was capable of 260 cars a day during '85 but will reach 300 a day during '86. These figures include around 11,000 Colts and 12,000 Sigmas although when the Magna wagon arrives sales of the Sigma — the wagon version of which now accounts for more than 50 percent of total Sigma sales — are expected to slow quickly.
Mitsubishi believes the extreme buoyancy of the new car market in '85 protected the Commodore and Falcon from the full force of the Magna and it sees '86 as the year both will suffer as the effect of the Federal Government's tax on company cars begins to hit home. The Magna is the logical step for the fleets to take in moving away from the traditional six cylinder cars. It is, as drivers of company cars will discover, n down which the Sigma was during the rush cylinder cars in '79 and '80. No, fleet experience has shown the Magna up in a most favourable light.
Mitsubishi's product planning department thinking about a replacement for the GJ Sigma months before that car was finally released, 1982. The intention was to repeat the success
Sigma with a car which was a more efficiency and which offered substantially more interior room and boot space. The target release date for the car given the code name GL (as a logical carry-over Sigma code) was April 1986.
High on the list of priorities was the ability three adults across the back seat with adequate excessive leg room and an overall feeling of ': spaciousness. The planners wanted improved} performance and fuel economy (hence the need the weight down), greater levels of comfort, serviceability and quietness and an ability to to at least match the towing ability of the GJ Sigma.