The first series Mazda RX-7 was a milestone car for both Mazda and the general car buying public.

Launched in 1978 it was a key car in changing the public’s perception of Japanese car manufacturers from builders of cheap bargain boxes to builders of quality affordable and accessible performance cars for the everyman. For Mazda it basically saved them.

Before the RX-7, Mazda were having a difficult time in the American market as their whole strategy was tied to the Wankel rotary engine _ which had built a reputation for a poor fuel economy to power ratio. Fuel economy was coming to the fore as a priority for the buying public. The early 70s was a time of OPEC-introduced fuel shortages and the start of stringent emission controls.

Mazda required a breakthrough car, and with the RX-7 they got it 100 per cent right. It was a significant hit in both the American and Australian markets. Leading motoring journalists were unanimous in their praise for the revolutionary sportscar. The RX-7 won numerous awards and was named by Road and Track magazine in their 10 Best Cars for a Changed World and 10 Best Cars of the 80s lists. It also made Car and Driver’s list of Top 10 cars five times.

RX-7 development commenced in 1975 at the instruction of Mazda board member Sinpei Hanoka. The brief was for a small lightweight two-seater sportscar with a chassis specifically designed around the compact Wankel engine. This project would be Mazda’s third attempt at a halo sportscar. The first was the Cosmo, was a limited production hand built classic. The second was a failed attempt to build a two-seater from a shared sedan chassis, a project that was abandoned in 1973.

In March 1978 the production RX-7 was introduced to the international motoring press at Hiroshama, Japan. It was a hit and press coverage was full of praise for Mazda.

The advance press and excellent coverage in Australian magazines converted into sales for Mazda here. Australian, along with America, seemed to like everything about the car. Curiously, it was not as successful in England or the rest of Europe.

Drivers loved its road manners and performance. Handling was universally praised and few significant problems were ever reported. In September 1982, Road and Track surveyed 200 owners and their summation was “when it comes to performance, handling and reliability, the RX7 offers more fun per dollar than any other sportscar”. The same holds true today, with current market prices between $5,000-15, 000.

The RX-7 also had a very successful race career here with Allan Moffat.  In 1982 he won the Lakeside and Surfers Paradise rounds of the Australian Endurance Championship. In 1983 he won the Calder Park, Wanneroo, Surfers and Oran Park to take the Championship. He also won the Sandown 500 race and got two thirds and a second in the Bathurst 1000 between 1982 and 1984.

Mazda RX-7 1st Generation

Built: 1979 to 1985
No. Built: 471,018

Series 1 – 1979-80
Series 2 – 1981-83
Series 3 – 1984-85

Engine: 12a - 1.1L, 2 rotor 109 kW naturally aspirated

Transmission(s): 4-speed automatic, 5-speed manual

Dimensions

Wheelbase: 2420 mm
Length: 4285 mm
Width: 1689 mm
Height: 1260 mm
Curb weight: 1,191 kg - 1,393 kg

Fuel consumption (city) - 13 km/litre
Fuel consumption (highway) - 8 km/litre

That's because, if you want to establish some street credibility in the Australian market you need a halo car, preferably a coupe. So after eight years of battling to re-establish its local identity, Renault Australia finally has a car that could pitch the brand into the mainstream, the Megane coupe.

The company's managing director, Rudi Koenig, this week confirmed that the coupe would join the line-up around June next year with a hatch and sedan to follow. Koenig believes the new-generation Megane has the potential to be a volume player. It wants to start with the coupe to establish some credibility and recognition, much like the impact the Koleos has had among buyers, he says

The Megane will be pitched as a volume seller with keen pricing to attack the dominant Japanese players. "We will clearly be concentrating on these Japanese rivals," he says. That means pricing could start around $22,000 for an entry hatch, rising to VW Golf GTi territory for the performance-oriented coupe.
"Megane will be a car in both hatch and sedan form that will be very important for us," he says.

"The small car segment is vital and it's the segment that produces the highest volume selling cars. "We have to succeed in that segment."

Renault could have introduced the European-built Megane sooner but it would have had a premium European price. "In that segment, let's face it, we are the weakest because our previous model's shape wasn't accepted in the market," Koenig says. "The new Megane has a mature, sporty shape that has global appeal."

The coupe will be sourced from France. It has taken a long time to secure the new Megane because Koenig wanted the "international" version of the hatch and sedan, which will be built in both Turkey and South Korea.
"The basic design and DNA will be maintained but some features will be specific to Australia," he says.

Renault Australia is now working out potential sourcing and has several options. It can import the hatch and sedan from Turkey or from its Renault-Samsung affiliate in South Korea.

"That will be decided before the end of this year," he says. "That's one of the pressing issues I will be discussing with Paris."

The sedan and hatch may even end up coming from different plants and could have different names.
"That's to be sorted out," he says. "But we are determined to bring in a car that gives us a competitive edge, either in the vehicle itself or value proposition."

The range-topping coupe arrives first, closely followed by a hatch and sedan by the end of 2010. In Europe the coupe is available with three petrol engines and three dCi turbo-diesel engines. Renault Australia is expected to go for one or two highly specified models.

At the top-end the choices are a six-speed manual 134kW/300Nm 2.0-litre TCe petrol turbo or a 104kW/195Nm normally aspirated petrol four with CVT transmission, as well as a 96kW/300Nm 1.9-litre dCi with a six-speed manual.

In Europe the even the entry model gets 16-inch alloys, air conditioning, electronic stability control with anti-skid regulation and understeer control, six airbags, electric heated body coloured door mirrors, cruise control and electric windows.

It's not even looking to get its first model certified for road use.

But there is plenty of passion behind the Hyper Pro Racer and the head of the company believes it will be a winner with a range of people looking to put some enjoyment into their weekends and driving.

He is Jon Crooke, a one-time Australian Formula 2 and Peter Brock co- driver, who turned to computer simulators after racing and has now moved onto something bigger and more real.

"The idea for the Hyper Racer happened 10 years ago, or maybe even way back when I was racing. I realised the money was going to run out and I made my first move in 1998 or 1999, but the right people didn't come into play and it got shelved," says Crooke.

"Then my son came along and was showing genius in manufacturing methods and suggested we fire it up and get it going. We finally decided this year to do it."

The father-and-son combination got their experience through Superkart racing although Crooke also had a plan to import the British-made Ariel Atom sports car at one stage. But that was before he got snowed by a paper war of government regulations.

This time he believes he has the right approach and plans to pitch the Hyper Pro Racer as a motoring toy, complete with one-make races and - if things go well - stand-alone race meetings. That approach has also governed the projected price for a car.

"We hope to do the whole thing for $25,000. That's the target and it's in line with a top-quality Japanese or European superbike," says Crooke.

"We are aiming at the guys who have that money to spend on a hobby or a toy. This will not be a class for guys waiting to get into Formula One. It's for people with a job and wife and kids. And someone who wants to be able to look after their own toy once they finish work."

The Pro Racer has a tube-frame chassis with a 450cc Yamaha engine and five-speed sequential gearbox. It is fitted with suspension, four- wheel disc brakes and a safety cell for the driver with a six-point harness.

"It really has to be more like a car. There is no resemblance to a kart in its safety, and it has suspension and things."

The first car is already built and being prepared for shakedown tests before the creation of production-line parts and bodywork.

"We'll probably do a day of testing at Calder because it's close to the factory. And then we'll go to Winton and Steve Kramer is coming to do the shocks for us. Then we'll do test days and customer days." Crooke plans a first batch of 10 cars and the best news is that six have been pre-sold. "There is obviously a fair bit of interest. I even got an email this week from someone in the UK who had heard about it through Superkarting," says Crooke.

The performance potential of the Pro Racer includes a top speed of 235km/h and a sprint time of better than five seconds to 100km/h, with braking to match. Lap times are expected to be similar to a Formula Ford racer.

But Crooke has a simple focus on everything he does with the car. "We want it to be cheap to buy, cheap to run and cheap to maintain," he says.

So confident that the new car market will bounce back, Skoda is positioning itself for the return to normal business by adding another six dealers to its national network before the end of the year.

Skoda Australia boss Matthew Wiesner says Skoda is no longer the brand no one knows, with dealers attracting increased inquiries which resulted in a growing order bank.

"We are confident about the market and we are well positioned to gain a bigger foothold. Being part of the VW group has helped; customers are following what we are doing and we are starting to see the order bank grow," Wiesner said. `It's pleasing to see a vote of confidence in the brand."

Skoda will expand its national footprint of 20 metropolitan dealers by adding another six in Melbourne, Sydney, Albury, Hobart, Launceston and in Queensland.

The Czech brand, one of the oldest in the world and part of the giant VW empire, was relaunched in Australia 18 months ago.

Skoda, coming off a low volume, is one of only four car brands to increase sales this year along with Audi, Hyundai and Jaguar. Up to the end of the last month, Skoda's sales were up 12.7 per cent over the same period last year.

Skoda already sells its Octavia and its more potent brother the Octavia RS, as well as the Roomster lifestyle hatch.

They will be joined by the new prestige flagship the Superb in June, the all-wheel drive Scout wagon in October while a new RS Octavia is due in September.

In the wings may come the Yeti, an all-wheel drive wagon based on the VW Tiguan, and the Fabia, a light Polo-sized hatch, both of which Skoda Australia is developing a business case for their inclusion.

Rather than spelling the end of performance V8s in M-cars, BMW's new-found fascination with turbocharging will open even greater possibilities, according to the company's new Australian boss.

Stavros Yallouridis, who took the reigns of the Australian operation last month, is adamant the throaty burble of a performance-tuned V8 will remain a BMW fixture.

"We see with the new generation of the V8 engines in the M3s what a great success those engines are," Yallouridis says. "While we may see an M car with a six cylinder engine again in the future, I think at the moment we will continue to concentrate on performance V8s."

Yallouridis says the search for a balance between power and fuel efficiency is one of the reasons turbocharging has become an attractive option.

BMW has set non-M performance standards by bolting twin turbochargers to its brilliant 3.0-litre six and it will not be long before the M division gets in on the force-fed action.

"In the very near future we may even see V8s with twin turbos on them ... the X6M and the X5M are heading in that direction," Yallouridis says.

"It is a lot more horsepower ..."

"We are already experiencing better than 500hp from a V8 engine on the test bench and there is still a lot of testing going on."

What you shouldn't expect from the maestros at the M garages is a return to the company's two engine extremes.

"I really don't think we will see another 4-cylinder M engine but I also don't think there will be another 10-cylinder engine either. What we really want, though is a good balance — we want good fuel efficiencies with a good power result but without going overboard."

Yallouridis is also quietly confident that the Australian new car market will be able to weather the global financial storm in as good, if not better, condition than overseas markets.

"If the total car market stabilises at a 20 per cent drop for the year I think all of us in the Australian car market will be satisfied," Yallouridis says. "We have seen erratic market movement across the world and thats varies from 10 or 15 per cent in some markets up to 60 per cent in others.

"In Europe it appears markets are travelling at an average of 30 per cent down while in Australia it is around 21 per cent.

"The premium market in Australia is around about 17-18 per cent down and we (BMW) are performing at around about 11-12 per cent down."

Yallouridis believes the premium segment of the market has been better insulated from the full effects of the downturn than other more mainstream segments.

"We are speculating that we should see a stabilisation early next year.

"New product is obviously an insulation in times like this. Product is a big part of any success story at the moment."

While BMW has just launched the new 7 Series and the Z4 and will have the much-anticipated X1 baby SUV late in the year Yallouridis acknowledges that the effect of these models — along with the 5 Series Grand Tourismo and all new 5 Series late in 2010 — will not be felt until next year.

"We knew going back five years that 2009 was going to be a dip as far as new product was concerned and in a strange way that has actually helped us with regard to circumstances from the economic crisis," he says.

"The availability of fresh and new product as the economic gloom begins to lift next year will give us a strong competitive boost."

GM needed the support of 90 per cent of the bondholders to swing the deal – which would have given them 10 per cent of the auto giant — but reports overnight suggested acceptance was in the ‘single digit’ region.

The failure was a serious setback for the carmaker, after United Automobile Workers union leaders recommended their members agree to a deal that would slash GM’s debt to a retiree health care trust fund.

Under that arrangement, GM would have given the UAW 17.5 per cent equity in a restructured company, later rising to 20 per cent if the share price improved, with the addition of another US$6.5 billion worth of preferred stock and a US$2.5 billion note.

It is expected that GM will make a move before the June 1 deadline for restructuring.

It combines aspects of sedan, hatchback, crossover wagon and sports sedan, and will be available with turbodiesel, petrol six and V8 engines, a huge range of standard equipment and BMW's latest Dynamic Drive.

BMW Australia believes it can get the car towards the middle of 2010, if it can make a business case, but predicts sales around 50 cars a month.

The most unusual thing about the Gran Turismo is the tail, which is hatchback in style but - like the 'twin-door' Skoda Superb - has two tail-end choices. It can be a hatchback or a sedan, depending on the amount of luggage space needed for a job.

To boost the rear-end flexibility, the rear seats can also slide forwards to increase the luggage space.

BMW currently lists three engines for the car — 530d, 535i, 550i — and a huge range of standard and optional equipment.

But the cabin takes its lead from the new 7 Series in dash layout, space and final finishing.

And BMW says the Gran Turismo does not - necessarily - point to the look of the next 5 Series sedan, coming in 18 months. Or perhaps point to the end of the Touring wagon.

Most importantly, it means every car price you now see in advertising is a 'drive-away' price. And with the new Australian Competition and Consumer Commission regulations, prices will appear to rise as much as $4000 for popular family cars like the Ford Falcon or Holden Commodore, depending on the State you live, because dealers must now include the full on-road costs of a vehicle.

Car dealers have to list all the costs of buying a new vehicle in their advertising. There will no longer be ‘hidden costs’ – prices cannot be advertised as ‘plus on-road costs’, for example.

Advertising must include dealer preparation and delivery charges, as well as registration, stamp duty and third-party insurance fees.

Stamp duty and CTP

These costs differ in each State. For example, stamp duty in Victoria is 2.5 per cent for vehicles up to $57,009 while in NSW it is 3 per cent for vehicles up to $45,000. Stamp duty also differs in South Australia, Tasmania, Western Australia and Queensland, where it is based on engine size.

Compulsory third party insurance also varies in each state and from suburb to suburb.

Dealer delivery

Dealer delivery is the cost a dealer charges for preparing a vehicle for sale. It can be as much as $5000 on some high-end European imports and upwards of $2000 for locally built cars.

This week many companies have removed any mention of prices in their print ads and websites so they don't run foul of the ACCC for non-compliance. Prices that are listed are "drive-away".

Car companies are working frantically to update their websites with full disclosure of prices, as well as the "hidden costs" that add up to $3000 to a $20,000 car in each State.

This will necessitate a redesign of each site's hardware to allow for price differences between states with different "on road" costs.

What you need to know

When shopping, car buyers must be given a single, drive-away price that includes the following.

1. The vehicle's purchase price;

2. stamp duty;

3. compulsory third party insurance (CTP); 4. Registration; 5. Dealer delivery fee.

The single price should relate to the featured model of the vehicle.

If a dealer or carmaker is advertising a new vehicle and the single price includes less than 12 months registration, this should be advertised clearly and conveyed to the consumer.

Any vehicle advertisement should be clear and there should not be any potential to mislead or misrepresent the vehicle in any way.

Differences in final cost

Sample vehicle: Ford Falcon XT sedan five-speed automatic (white) drive-away*

Melbourne: $41,740
Canberra: $42,462
Sydney: $41,500
Adelaide: $42,806
Hobart: $41,745.10
Brisbane: $42,256
Perth: $42,249
Darwin: $41,575
* Metro dealer, 12 months rego. Sample includes dealer delivery fee but does not allow for different fee between metro dealers

GM Holden will be shipping at least 2500 2.8-litre versions of its Australian-made Alloytec V6 engine to the Ramos Arizpe plant in Mexico where the 2010 SRX is manufactured.

"I guess that means there will be a little bit of Aussie heart in those Cadillacs," GM Holden Australia boss Mark Reuss says.

The fillip for Holden's export aspirations couldn't have come at a better time as the company is still reeling from a disastrous six months at the hands of the global financial crisis.

So far this year plans to sell a Pontiac version of the VE Ute to the United States were canned, then Pontiac itself fell over the in GM global restructure taking with it more than 30,000 potential Commodore-based G8 exports.

And to top it off sales of the VE into the Middle-East have also taken a hit as economic reality bites. "When you lose that sort of percentage (around 70 per cent) of half of your production it is always going to hurt," Reuss conceded at the recent launch of the Cruze small car.

However, the news of the Cadillac order is just the sort of pick-me-up the local manufacturer needs. "It (the engine plant) won a GM global quality award and on the back of that came the order for 2500 of the engines for Cadillac," Reuss says. "That is pretty pleasing."

There is no indication whether more orders will be forthcoming but that is a distinct possibility. Reuss says that following meetings in Detroit he is comfortable that the action plan for GM Holden will give the company the best chance of coming out the other end of the global restructuring as a working entity.

"We feel very good about what we have done here and where we are in the future (of General Motors)," Reuss says. "There are no guarantees in any of this. None at all ... and we have treated it that way from day one."

However, he says he believes that the Holden operation and its historic position in the Australian market makes the company far more attractive to GM as an internal asset rather than as one to be auctioned off.

"I think it has huge value internally (to GM). Holden is a very powerful tool as a product and branding standpoint ... I would say if anything this (situation) has focussed our business on what we need to do to be a good company in Australia first and anything we do outside that as an exporter is a great thing but to have any entity fully dependent on export markets in this world we are dealing with today is probably not the right business model."

Reuss says that the company has not run a survival scenario that does not include Commodore. "That is not something we have studied. We are still the best selling car here and we think the things we are going to do to Commodore over the next few years maybe makes us potentially the only game in town. Some of our competitors have revealed some questions about future business plans on their products ... and I am overjoyed (with that)."

The Toyota Yaris-size Fabia is considered to be a good sales prospect in the current market.

However, currency exchange rates are making it difficult to build a case for the light car locally, Skoda spokesman Karl Gehling says.

Earlier this year the head of Skoda Australia, Matthew Weisner, gave a glimmer of hope by saying that the Fabia RS Concept shown at Geneva could be the best way to launch the car here.

The RS could help launch Fabia with a top-down strategy.

Like Suzuki and its Alto, Skoda also has an option of sourcing the future Fabias from a low-cost country like India, where the car will be built alongside the new-generation Polo.

The RS uses a 1.4-litre TSI four cylinder engine, from the Golf, which has a turbocharger and supercharger for performance and economy.