- Wheels Car of the Year
"Wheels" magazine has announced its Car of the Year every year since
1963 , with the exception of1972 , 1979 and 1986 when no cars were considered worthy of the honour. [http://editorial.carsales.com.au/print.aspx?TabID=801391&R=ce6872&ModID=1602845] It is consideredAustralia 's most prestigious automotive award. Wheels Magazine itself contends that its Car of the Year award remains the oldest continuous award of its kind in the world.The original intention of the award was to promote excellence in the Australian car manufacturing industry. Until the mid-70's, imported vehicles were not eligible for the award. The big five,
Holden ,Ford ,Valiant ,Datsun , andToyota , now dominated sales with a wide variety of body and engines. With falling sales, the fuel crisis and the instability of the Australian economy, allEurope an brands, such as,Renault andVolkswagen , ceased local assembly.With a shrinking manufacturing base, reliability and quality issue, Wheels magazine changed the award rules to allow imported vehicles to be eligible. At first, this was condemned by the local industry, unions and media. But by doing this, Wheels magazine enabled local products to judged on a global platform. This, in turn, created a more competitive product and industry. The first imported car to receive the award was the
Honda Accord in 1977. Since then, the award has been given to locally manufactured vehicles on 11 out of 28 occasions."Wheels"’ Car of the Year winners are: [cite web | url = http://www.wheelsmag.com.au/News/The+road+to+COTY.html | title = The road to COTY | publisher = ninemsn Pty Ltd | date =
2007-11-30 | accessdate = 2007-12-03]*1963
Renault 8
*1964Morris 1100
*1965 Ford Falcon (XP)
*1966 Ford Falcon (XR)
*1967Chrysler Valiant (VE)
*1968Holden Monaro (HK)
*1969Holden Torana (LC)
*1970Renault 12
*1971Chrysler Valiant Charger (VH)
*1972 Award withheld
*1973Leyland P76 V8
*1974Volkswagen Passat
*1975Holden Gemini (TX)
*1976Volkswagen Golf
*1977Honda Accord
*1978Holden Commodore (VB)
*1979 Award withheld
*1980Mazda 323
*1981 Mercedes-Benz 380SE (W126)
*1982Holden Camira (JB)
*1983Ford Telstar andMazda 626 (joint award)
*1984 Mitsubishi Nimbus
*1985Mitsubishi Magna (TM)
*1986 Award withheld
*1987Honda Prelude
*1988Holden Commodore (VN)
*1989Mazda MX-5 (NA)
*1990Lexus LS 400
*1991Honda NSX andNissan Pulsar (N14)
*1992Mazda 626 andFord Telstar
*1993Holden Commodore (VR)
*1994 Subaru Liberty
*1995Honda Odyssey
*1996Mitsubishi Magna /Verada (TE/KE)
*1997Holden Commodore (VT)
*1998 Subaru Liberty Wagon
*1999Mercedes-Benz S-Class
*2000Subaru Impreza
*2001Holden Barina (XC)
*2002 Ford Falcon (BA)
*2003Mazda RX-8
*2004Ford Territory (SX)
*2005Mazda MX-5 (NC)
*2006Holden Commodore (VE)
*2007Mercedes-Benz C-Class (W204)References
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.