The
Mitsubishi Magna is a
mid-size car that was produced between 1985 and 2005 by
Mitsubishi Motors Australia Limited (MMAL), based on Japanese
platforms re-engineered for the Australian market. From 1991, the range was bolstered by a luxury variant, the
Mitsubishi Verada. This became the first Australian-made vehicle to be exported worldwide in large numbers (chiefly to North America as the Verada-based
Diamante but also in New Zealand as the
V3000 up to 1996 and then Diamante up to 2002) and it also featured Australian-production firsts such as tiptronic transmissions (1997) and
all-wheel drive drivetrain (2002), featured only in the Australian and New Zealand ranges.
Manufactured between May 1985 at the
Tonsley Park assembly plant in
South Australia, Magna spanned three generations before being replaced by the Mitsubishi's last Australian manufactured vehicle, the
Mitsubishi 380, twenty years later in September 2005. Although some of Magna's engines were imported, the most common four-cylinder (codenamed
4G54 and marketed as "Astron II") and V6 (codenamed
6G72 and 6G74 and marketed as "Cyclone") engines were also manufactured by MMAL in South Australia, at the
Lonsdale plant.
Prior to Magna, Mitsubishi only had a large family car to rival the
Ford Falcon and
Holden Commodore in the form of the six-cylinder
Chrysler Valiant, which was inherited upon MMAL's takeover of
Chrysler Australia's operations in 1980. Nevertheless, the Valiant was put out of production the following year, making the medium-sized
SigmaMMAL's largest offering.
When Sigma's replacement became due, MMAL opined that a car's width was a crucial factor to Australian drivers who have traditionally favoured large cars. As a result, to compete more effectively against the large-sized
Ford Falcon and
Holden Commodore, former Chrysler engineers now working for MMAL, developed a wider mid-sized car specific for the Australian market. They accomplished this by splicing an extra 6.5 cm (2.6 in) right down the middle of Japan's mid-sized fifth generation
Mitsubishi Galant sedan, in so doing creating the unique Mitsubishi Magna range. Given the inherent space efficiency of
front-wheel-drive (FWD), this allowed MMAL to offer a passenger cabin that was as spacious, if not more spacious, than that of the
rear-wheel-drive (RWD) market-dominant
Ford Falcon and
Holden Commodore.
Over the years, Magna grew in size and offered V6 power as well as
all-wheel-drive (AWD), the latter to compete against the market's perception of better dynamics offered by its RWD rivals. The Magna was the first all-new Australian engineered and made Mitsubishi vehicle, and only one of two vehicles (along with the
380) manufactured in Australia by MMAL up to the full closure of its South Australian-based facilities in 2008.
Sale prices were a key critical factor in Magna's market competitiveness (especially with the first series
[1]) since, for less or similar money, MMAL was able to sell a more refined and efficient package relative to its main rivals - the
Ford Falcon and
Holden Commodore - thanks to the adaptation of Japanese platforms to Australian market conditions. This was especially reflected in the merits highlighted under the "Value for Money" category of the Australian
Car of the Year titles won by Magna in 1985
[2] and 1996.
[3] In addition, the success of this formula lead other manufacturers (chiefly
Toyota Australia as of its Camry of the mid-1990s) to populate this wide-body category of the Australian market.
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