Driving into the Future

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DRIVING INTO THE

Anyone with even a passing interest in the automotive world will know that the global industry has been through the wringer. As new survival strategies evolve, the market is seeing a wave of vehicles that are designed to last into the future, not just cash in on the latest fancy. Auto observer RODERICK EIME brings us up to speed.

In 2002, Porsche set the cat among the pigeons with their 4-door 4WD Cayenne. There was a predicable uproar from purists, many from the same ranks who took umbrage at the Pride of Stuttgart moving its engine out of the rear. Now the scandal continues, but Porsche is not alone. A new category of 4-door infuriator has emerged to send sports car diehards into a spin: the 4-door saloon.

About the same time as the Aga Khan picked up the phone to Bologna, Aston Martin’s David Brown tried to revive the Lagonda marque he purchased back in 1948 with a four-door version based on his DB4 chassis. Only 55 were ever produced.

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Four Door Fury The Porsche Panamera first hit the market in 2009 and has since become an “overnight” success. Porsche had toyed with the idea of four doors previously with the stillborn Porsche 989 concept in 1988 but decreed the market was now right. Good call.

To get some perspective, we need to look back to 1963 when Prince Karim Aga Khan ordered a specially designed four-door Maserati 5000. A four-door Maserati (Quattroporte) has been an almost constant member of the Trident-badged line-up ever since. The current model (fifth generation) was introduced in 2004 and is powered by a Ferrari family 4.2 litre V8.

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MOTO R I N G

FOUR DOOR WRAP Aston Martin Rapide Annual production: 2000.

Price: $366,280 Porsche Panamera 20,000, from $193,000 (5 models) Maserati Quattroporte 15,000 , from $286,000 (3 models) Other 4-door supercars on the market come from manufacturers with a wider backseat view.

Examples: Audi A8 D4 (from $188,000), BMW 7series (from $198,800) and Jaguar XJ (from $198,800).

In 1976, the Lagonda re-emerged and persisted until 1989 in four series. 645 vehicles were produced including a (gasp!) station wagon. Often lampooned as an ugly goose among the family, Aston Martin has emerged from the styling studio with its most recent addition to this haircurling offshoot range of sports cars with an all-new Aston Martin Rapide. No mention of Lagonda, this is emphatically an Aston Martin, thank you!

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Styled first and engineered second, this vehicle was going to look right from the get-go and the critics agree.

Powered by a 350kW 6.0 litre V12, it can idle around town like a limousine but out on the open road, it goes wild.

Interestingly, Aston Martin claim many new deliveries are for women and first time owners.

Ferrari, meanwhile, is steadfast in its denial of a four door, while Lamborghini has teased the market with its Estoque concept shown to viewers of Top Gear.

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A Tonne of Difference

Over at Mazda, Ryo Yanagisawa, chief designer of the AllNew BT-50, offered an alternative. “Mazda’s brand message is Zoom-Zoom, which refers to the emotion of motion first experienced as a child. With the all-new BT50, we aimed to express this emotion through the design, and we drew a lot of inspiration from various ‘movements’ in the world around us.”

As industry gets on with the job, the big manufacturers recognize the worldwide demand for light, one tonne utility vehicles in both two- and four-wheel-drive.

Traditionally dominated by the ever-present Toyota HiLux, both Ford and GM are mustering their own brands in a counter-offensive designed to unseat the dominant Japanese workhorse.

Allied badges, Ford and Mazda, chose the Sydney Motor Show as the launch venue for their latest offering. Ford is attacking the “hard working” light truck market with Ranger while Mazda are going the “Active Lifestyle” SUV road with their BT-50. Both vehicles share the same basic platform and drivetrains but are differentiated by subtle cosmetic styling that will have car spotters making double takes.

“Compact pickups are hugely important to customers in many regions of the world,” said Jim Farley, Ford Group Vice President, O N E TO N N E RS S O RTE D * Marketing, Sales and Service at the BASE MODELS launch. “For many, it’s the only ■ Ford Ranger 4x2 XL Single Cab Chassis $24,490 vehicle in a household headed by a 2.5l turbo diesel, 5-speed man hard-working person others depend ■ Mazda BT-50 4x2 Single Cab Chassis DX $24,079 on. These people need a truck that 2.5l turbo diesel, 5-speed man, a/c can get the job done – and they’ll be ■ Isuzu D-Max SX 4x2 Cab Chassis $24,900 amazed how Ranger’s smart new 3.0l turbo diesel, 5-speed man, a/c technologies make the job easier.

■ Holden Colorado LX RC $28,490 And increasingly, they’re also 3.6l petrol, 5-speed man, looking for the kinds of features, ■ Toyota Hilux Workmate TGN16R $18,490 technologies, spaciousness and 2.6l petrol, 5-speed man refinement you’d expect in a car, and * Prices sourced from redbook.com.au Ranger is just as innovative here.”

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Across the road at GM there was big brand shake-up that saw Isuzu and GM part company in 2008 with the American giant selling its 7.9 per cent stake to raise much-needed capital. Holden’s stalwart Rodeo was one of the casualties. Isuzu, which owns the Rodeo name, chose to retire it permanently. Holden then mildly restyled the Isuzu-engineered utility and rebadged it Colorado, which continues to be assembled at a separate GM plant in Thailand.

Watch this space: Volkswagen will release their acclaimed “best in class” Amarok diesel utility in 2011.

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The Power of Silence Not everything on wheels has to sound like a racing car.

In fact, some of the latest wave of eco-vehicles have been criticised for being too quiet.

The familiar hybrid (part electric, part petrol) vehicles we’ve come to know from Toyota and Honda have been joined by some exclusively electric cars that employ the latest zero-emission technology and free them from fossil fuel dependency.

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Nissan’s LEAF is about to go on a Victorian Government trial. This battery-only medium size hatch is powered by Lithium-Ion batteries and will have a fully charged range

of up to 160kms making it ideal for smoke-less city commuting and suburban use. The LEAF (Leading, Environmentally friendly, Affordable, Family car) starts selling in the US in 2010 and is expected on sale in Australia by 2012.

And yes, it employs an audible pedestrian warning system. Excuse me?

Mitsubishi is also part of this quiet race with production of its i-MiEV new-generation electric vehicle (along with concurrent production of Peugeot iOn and Citroën CZERO) at its Mizushima plant. Full release date of iMiEV in Australia is unclear, but several examples are already in long term trials with potential lease customers.

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One of the hurdles for EV (Electric Vehicle) producers is the establishment of a national charging network although Australia should present less of a problem as many owners are likely to have garages and off-street parking unlike Europe. ■

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