2004 in Review

How else do you describe the goings on in boardrooms of car manufacturers, forecourts of dealership, minds of consumers and the very roads of this great country this year? As the pace of technology, hurricanes of change the see-sawing balance between the haves and have-nots swept through Australia's automotive world, it took a calm mind to sit back and work out what exactly was going on. Unfortunately, almost everyone was too busy selling cars.

That's right. Despite a topsy-turvy world in which a new Ford wagon outsold the well-established Mitsubishi Magna in its first month and Holden stuck a new engine in its Commodore but nobody noticed, 2004 still managed to creep towards the magic million in terms of car sales.

As ever, there were winners and there were losers. Mitsubishi's parent company dithered about deciding whether to secure the future of its Australian off-shoot, DaimlerChrysler withdrew funds and, catching a whiff of impending disaster, customers deserted the Magna and leaped into Camrys. Audi and Peugeot launched an onslaught of new product and watched sales stagnate. Jaguar managed the same result, but without actually bringing out a new car. Daewoo simply disappeared.

The Toyota juggernaut rolled on with its marketing machine placing Australian bums into everything from Klugers to Echoes, Prados and even 1000 Prius econo-cars. Holden dominated the sales of large cars with its Commodore (and dozens of variants) but managed to avoid launching a decent off-roader and neatly achieved negative growth. Ford invested heavily in the new Territory, but forgot to update any aspect of the Falcon apart from the badge.

Turmoil on the tarmac? You'd better believe it. Here's an - admittedly highly selective - review of the highs and lows of another 12 months of Aussie automotive history.

Where have all the cars gone?

At the risk of sounding negative, isn't it about time someone pointed out 2004 wasn't exactly a year when the Australian car-buyer was deluged with new product at the affordable end of the scale?

Two major releases stood out: the VZ Commodore with its brand new V6 engine - but barely changed sheetmetal and the same four-speed auto and V8 - and the Territory, which in many eyes struggled to fit the standard definition of "car". Certainly, the dictionary mentions nothing about two-tonne kerb weights, 4WD and a lack of off-road ability. Toyota, Nissan, Hyundai and Mitsubishi failed to deliver anything significant, although the Mazda3 was one notable new volume-seller. Except the Mazda factory forgot to build enough.

Pick one major launch for the year, however, and the Territory was it. Anticipation would have been at fever level if Ford hadn't blown its load about 12 months earlier and steadily trickled details of its new SUV-cum-MPV-cum-WMD to eager media. Reviews ranged from euphoric praise of the Territory's on-road manners and handy interior features, to comparisons with a council grader when it was taken outback (notably by CarPoint) and discovered to have the ground clearance of a Lamborghini Gallardo.

That didn't harm sales, however, with Ford crowing that the Territory was Australia's best-selling SUV. Toyota, miffed, pointed out that as more than half of Territorys sold didn't have 4WD, how could it be an SUV? The rest of Australia wondered what the hell an SUV was meant to be anyway.

Interestingly, Toyota itself didn't manage to escape controversy in 2004. Its major product launch was of an MP3 player in most models, which it described as some kind of first. Hyundai, miffed, pointed out it had been specifying MP3-enabled stereos for some time. Most Avalon buyers, aged mainly in their late 80s and early 90s, wondered what the hell an MP3 was and turned off their hearing aids.

Despite all this turmoil, manufacturers and importers managed to unite behind a single purpose handed to them by state governments who proposed the innovative safety strategy of limiting car speedometers – note, not the cars themselves - to 130km/h. Envisaging the embarrassment of becoming world pariahs with another ridiculous ADR requirement, the FCAI was almost forced to take a stand. Before that momentous occasion was reached, however, Federal Transport Minister (and suspected car enthusiast) John Anderson vetoed the move. State Premiers returned to collecting speed camera revenue or, in the case of Victoria's Steve Bracks, calibrating the cameras themselves.

But back to the cars. Other notable releases during the year included:

New Holden Astra. A svelte and slick Euro hatch that nevertheless used most of the underpinnings (engines, transmissions, suspension) of the old Astra. Just to underline the theory that too much conservatism is never enough, Holden re-named the old Astra the "classic" Astra, and continued to sell it alongside.

BMW X3. Riding high on the success of the X5, which continued to sell in huge numbers and lead the luxury SUV market segment, BMW figured a smaller and cheaper version would also sell its socks off. However, the Bavarians didn't figure on Australians failing to fully accept a vehicle that rode harshly, looked more cross-breed than cross-over, and was priced barely cheaper than its bigger brother. At last sighting, the X3 was selling less than half the rampant X5's numbers.

Porsche 911. Smarting from criticism about last year's Cayenne, which many people said didn't look like a real Porsche, the 911 stuck to its guns by looking like nothing else. In fact, it looked almost exactly like the old 911 with round headlights. Not the old-old 911 that had round headlights anyway, but the last one, which was really a 996. If you understand that, you're probably a Porsche customer.

Volkswagen Golf. Volkswagen thought it had precisely nailed the Australian penchant for large cars with big engines by releasing the Phaeton. Unfortunately it was priced roughly $170,000 over what families could afford, Volkswagen forgot to advertise it and none were sold. After careful thought, it decided to blitzkrieg the market with the Golf, the world's most popular car, available here with four engine varieties, three transmissions and uncountable trim levels. At least it kept customers' minds off the Renault Megane and Peugeot 307, which apparently wasn't a difficult task.

Pagani Zonda. If you see one, make a wish.

Volvo S40/V50. Forget the fact this was basically one car with two different names. The shocking thing was, this Volvo was also a bloody decent drive. Did we mention 2004 was a confusing year?

Saab. No new product news to report from Saab this year, apart from surrendering its independence to Holden.

Ford Falcon MkII. Standard cruise control found its way onto the award-winning BA Falcon, but little else apart from a six-speed manual gearbox on XR6 Turbo and XR8 models. FPV released the Typhoon which unleashed a wave of publicity, mainly among radio shock-jocks for its anti-social levels of performance and also among the motoring press for its suspect clutch.

Other notable events

The retirement of Holden's Peter Hanenberger in 2003 presaged a mass walk-out of management head-honchos. At time of writing, Ford, Nissan, Audi, HSV, Volkswagen, Hyundai, Mazda and others had replaced or were due to replace MDs in 2004.

Ford public relations experts kept stiff upper-lips after transporting helicopter loads of Australian media to New Zealand to test its new Territory, only to have plans bushwhacked by global warming. A trip to the snow to test traction and stability systems turned into more of a mud wallow. Those still interested went back a month later for possibly the last Territory launch of the year.

Rover spent many hundreds of pounds re-engineering the 75 to take a Ford V8 engine and rear-drive. Despite a Falcon having more capacity, more cams, more valves, more power and about half the price tag, the British company expected healthy sales. Last time we checked, Rover itself had been sold to a Chinese company.

Aussie F1 legend - or occasional point-scorer anyway - Mark Webber managed to delay announcing his decision to drive for Williams in 2005 until he was sure everyone already knew about it. Nevertheless, Jaguar was so shocked it closed down, only to be bought by Red Bull. No bull.