THIS MOTORING YEAR 2016: Biggest surprise
Surprise, surprise Renault-Nissan kingpin adds another brand to his ever growing empireIn late October, 2016, Nissan took control of Mitsubishi, acquiring a 34 per cent share of the Japanese car-maker. Not only did that reinforce Renault-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn’s position as one of the most influential automotive executives on the planet, it meant that the combined operations joined the 10 million car club -- alongside Toyota and Volkswagen.
And if we're lucky we'll see a new Lancer EVO R37 GT-R mash-up. Oh the glory!
On one hand the acquisition of the company famous for the heroic Mitsubishi Lancer EVO rally-bred road rockets was a surprise. But it's ironic – and less surprising – that the company which dobbed in Mitsubishi for cheating emissions, Nissan, then swooped in and took control.
Ghosn said: "What we see today is low hanging fruit, and it's already massive." Ah Ghosn… Ever the smiling – and opportunistic – assassin.
The result of the acquisition means that the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi triumvirate has the potential to be one of the world's top electric vehicle manufacturers, with the three companies combined already offering both plug-in hybrid and pure EVs.
Mitsubishi, Nissan and Renault have individually been pushing the electric cause in a big way but are yet to truly penetrate the mainstream with an EV "killer app". But with the brain-boxes from all three companies now able to share research and development, the group is well placed to capitalise on global car markets going green.
Porsche Panamera
I feel it's my duty to make two more mentions for surprise of the year in 2016, the first being the Porsche Panamera. Simply put, it's no longer an automotive snot globule. In June 2016, Porsche proved that with some clever sculpting it could transform a front-engined sea cucumber into an athletic go-getter.
Ford Focus RS
And lastly the curious case of the Ford Focus RS. I remember driving it at the global launch in Spain in late January 2016, thinking "this is off its chops". It was, and still is, and although it didn’t arrive in time to compete in Australia's Best Driver's Car in 2016, it annihilated the Audi RS 3 and Mercedes-AMG A45 in our three-way hot hatch shootout. Bravo, Ford, bravo.
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