Articles by Paul Gover

That's the day the top comes off the MP4-12C coupe and McLaren unleashes its first convertible.

The new location for the annual Australian International Motor Show, which alternates between Sydney and Melbourne, is the biggest change for the event in more than a decade. It means this year's show, from October 19-28, will be the last one at Darling Harbour for at least five years. The switch has been in the works for close to five years and is finally confirmed as the countdown to this year's event begins to pick up pace. "We're very, very positive about this move. We see it as a huge dynamic for the show and it will give us the opportunity to significantly change the character of the event," event director, Russ Tyrie, tells Carsguide. "It will be a lot more dynamic event in future. There is a lot more scope for new ideas." Moving to the Sydney Showground in 2014 will bring access to 20 venues in a variety of exhibition halls and meeting rooms, as well as stand-along pavilions and more than 15,000 square metres of outdoor areas. The total display area will be nearly double the area available at Darling Harbour. Tyrie says this will allow a major upgrade of attractions, as well as giving better access for show fans because the new site is located in the geographic centre of the greater Sydney area. "The move will enable the motor show to grow and become a more diverse event, with the expansive outdoor areas giving exhibitors more room and the chance to host both on and off stand activities the possibilities are practically endless," he says. The new venue for Sydney is the biggest change for the show since a similar switch in Melbourne from the Royal Exhibition Building to the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre beside the Yarra River in 1996. Before that, the then-Sydney motor show moved from the old Showgrounds in Moore Park to Darling Harbour in 1988. In total, there will have been 23 shows at the inner-Sydney location. The move is a big win for the Olympic Park management. "Sydney Showground prides itself on attracting and promoting world class exhibitions and events - AIMS is a great example of this," says Sydney Showground General Manager, Peter Thorpe. It's the second major motoring event to set up shop at the Olympic Park, although the Sydney 500 race meeting for V8 Supercars is expected to run its course on the street track through the precinct this year. The show is confirmed at Olympic Park for two events, in 2014 and 2016, but Tyrie admits there is potential for a return to Darling Harbour after a planned three-year redevelopment at the site after its closure at the end of 2013. "We look forward to seeing how the plans for the redevelopment shape up," is all he's prepared to say. But he is more open about this year's running of the show in Sydney. "I think it will be a cracker show. There is a heck of a lot of new stuff we know about already and I'm sure there will be lots more by October," says Tyrie. "There is every chance we'll top the 44 reveals at Darling Harbour in Sydney in 2012."  

Holden Special Vehicles reports a 'business as usual' result through the first five months of the year, with 240 deliveries in May alone. HSV alone is now selling around one-fifth the total Ford Falcon volume, according to company boss Phil Harding. "Big cars are not dead. Ours aren't, that's for sure," Harding confirms to Carsguide. "I'm talking it up, but I'm talking facts. Based on VFacts (sales results), we're around 20 per cent of Falcon sales. Which is not bad, is it?" Harding has been pushing the upside of the HSV story for more than a year, refuting claims that his cars have been dragged down by the Falcon slide which has now also spread - to some degree - across to Holden and the Commodore. "It does wind me up. Journalists tend to roll everyone into the large-car class. "But the large car segment is made up from a basic Falcon through to us. I don't like being included in that group. We've carved out our own niche," he says. Harding admits that HSV is down from its peak, but says the long-term business case is built around the current sales volume. "We all went on a high with the launch of VE. We have settled back, but in terms of our long term retail sales we're happy with where we are against our history." He refuses to answer any questions about HSV's plans for the VF Commodore, which will be ready for the road late in the second quarter of 2013, or anything that would stretch the brand beyond Commodore. There has been development work on a hot HSV version of the Cruze, but nothing that's remotely ready yet for production or sales. But Harding will, reluctantly, talk about the latest numbers. "We did 240 cars in May. But I won't comment again until the end of the year," he says bluntly. "Clubsport is our best seller. Equal second are Maloo and GTS." And he wants to put the picture into clearer focus. "If you look at the sedan market, it's between 70,000 and 100,000 cars a year. We have around 19 per cent retail share. That probably makes us a great revenue source for the the government." Most importantly, Harding says HSV is trading solidly in the black and generating the money necessary for its future programs including its work on the VF. "I wouldn't be in it if it wasn't profitable," he says. "If you look at going though from VX to VZ, the cost of doing a facelift of a new car was the price a few years ago for doing a new car. The R&D spend now is quite different. "But we did our GFC savings about two-and-a-half years ago. We're stronger than we've ever been as a business for investing in our future."  

The fixed rear wing and twin exhausts are the giveaway among a series of body upgrades, but the best news is promises of 340 kiloWatts in the second half of next year.

And the all-new Viano next year should make it more attractive to Voyager and Tarago shoppers.There will be more luxury, BlueEfficiency diesel engines and a more stylish nose shaped for pedestrian protection. 

Nothing is as boring as Canberra on a cold, grey, winter Sunday afternoon. Well, there is the Toyota Camry. But now we have the anti-Camry and the car that Toyota claims is the antidote to boring, the all-new 86 coupe.The impact is immediate as I roll out in a racer red 86 for a bit of Sunday fun running and immediately attract the sort of attention you don't normal see in the capital. People smile and wave, a couple stop and ask about the good looker - not me - and a Toyota Supra driver does a smart U-turn to check out a car with links back to his go-faster coupe.Except the 86 is not tied to the Supra. Or the Camry. It's an all-new effort to put some fun back into motoring at the one-time world sales leader, with a bit - actually, a lot - of help from Subaru, which provided the power pack.Cynics might suggest the 86 is just a shiny new toy for Akio Toyoda, grandson of the Toyota founder, who now has unlimited access to the biscuit barrel and drove the 86 project hard from the top.But Toyoda knows Toyota has to find a point of difference against strengthening opposition from Korea and China, since bulletproof Toyota reliability and brilliant aircon is no longer enough. Fun could be the thing.He is also aware that some positive publicity, and good news on the car front, is essential for Toyota to rebound from the safety threats and recalls of recent years, as well as the crushing natural disasters last year in Japan and Thailand.Against that background, Toyota has done a totally brilliant job with the 86. It has created a car that's fun, affordable and has the potential for easy upgrades by young buyers. It shares nothing with the sports car crew of the past - Celica, MR2 and Supra - that were underdone and over-hyped.The 86 hits Australia with more hype than a new iPad and more promises than a politician, but is already a sellout with a waiting list that is going to stretch for more than six months. It's not perfect, but it gets way closer than anything that has worn a Toyota badge at any time in the past.VALUEIt's impossible to argue against a starting price of $29,990. The 86 was widely predicted to have showroom stickers from $35,000, but the strength of the Aussie dollar and the importance of the car allowed the bean counters at T-central to go all-out and produce a stunning starter.There are two models of the 86, GT and GTS, but even the basic car gets the right sports car stuff: allows, six-speed manual, sports seats, seven airbags, smart ABS and ESP. The GTS picks up bigger wheels and brakes, LED daytime running lamps, satnav and more but the starting price jumps to $35,490.A six-speed automatic is $2000 extra, and you only get flappy paddles in the GTS, but there will be a huge range of dealer accessories - including a truly giant rear wing - in coming months.To put the 86 into perspective, a Hyundai Veloster starts from $23,990 and a Mazda MX-5 $44,265, while Toyota expects the new coupe to be shopped against a deep basket of rivals including  the BMW 125, Renault Megane and even the Nissan 370Z."Sometimes you get lucky in this business," says Toyota's marketing chief, Matt Callachor, announcing the price in Canberra this week. But it's often said that the harder you work the luckier you get.TECHNOLOGYThe 86 is old-fashioned on the tech front. The engine is in the front and the power goes to the back wheels. But, and it's a big but, it's a thoroughly modern take on the package with a Subaru flat-four engine set low and back from the nose, a limited-slip gearbox in the tail, and ESP that offers a range of driving choices from nanny to nah-nah with donuts.Toyoda is a part-time racecar driver and was in direct touch with project leader Tetsuya Tada throughout the car's development to keep him focusses on everything from the 53:47 weight distribution to relatively low-grip tyres - shared, in a shock, with the Prius hybrid - to ensure the car would slide and not feel under-powered.The engine itself is a new-design 2.0-litre that, thanks to direct fuel injection that Toyota was originally reluctant to share with Subaru, makes 147 kiloWatts and 205 Newton-metres.There is nothing special about the rest of the deal - no look-ahead radar or automatic braking or even a sunroof - to ensure the 86 as the most focussed sports car to hit Carsguide since the original Mazda MX-5 in 1989.DESIGNThe 86 looks just right. It's not too plain, not too aggressive, with the power to turn heads without provoking the predictable scorn you get in a Subaru STi or Lancer Evo. For us, it's not as edgy as the Subaru BRZ, but that's typical of Toyota. And there will be plenty of tweaking chances soon.Inside, the car plays safe with a driver-focussed layout that includes brilliant seats and all the stuff you need. But, and it's a big one, the cabin quality is not what we expect from Toyota - some poor fits, low-grade plastics and a general cheapness - even for a car with such a sharp price. The cabin is strictly 2+2 as you'd expect but the boot is reasonably sized for a cavity that holds a full-sized alloy spare.SAFETYToyota promises a five-star ANCAP rating and a strong focus on pedestrian protection, as you'd expect. There are seven airbags, including one for the driver's knees, and a safety shell with special emphasis on protection against higher-riding vehicles in the SUV stable.The trump safety card, and something that is sadly impossible to measure, is a dynamic ability which means an 86 driver will have far more chance of avoiding a potential threat before it becomes a crash.DRIVINGWow. That's the best word to describe the way the 86 drives. It's the most impressive Japanese car since the first MX-5 in 1989, thanks to a chassis that works hard to give the driver everything they need and a bunch of stuff they probably didn't even believe was possible.On a favourite driving road near Canberra, the 86 has the best balance and steering feel of any car I've driven. And that includes Porsche. It does exactly what you want, when you want. That could be braking, or hustling through a tightening curve, or just flicking up through the slick-shifting six-speeder.The engine is strong but not as responsible as I hoped, with a flatness below 3000 revs that could pass with more kilometres under the wheels. Subaru engines are often like that.One of the nicest surprises, especially after the flat dub-dub exhaust note at start-up, is a throaty inlet roar that comes into the cabin through a tube from the engine room. It reminds you, not that it's needed, that you're having fun.The seats are great, the car is easy to park, and the 86 - in Toyota style - just gets the job done. Later, in the locked-off safety of closed roads, Toyota encourages the press posse to go crazy with the 86. So we slide and jump and generally push it to the limits, and sometimes further. And the smiles get bigger and bigger.The 86 is a potential game changing car for Toyota, provided its driving DNA can be successfully transplanted into cars like the Camry. Right now, and for the money, it's simply unbeatable.VERDICTNothing in the Carsguide garage gets five stars, but the 86 gets close. It's a winner.

As chief engineer of the car, he makes all the final calls on everything down to the smallest nuts and bolts. This time he had to answer to Toyota supremo, Akio Toyoda, but he has all the answers for 86 enthusiasts. WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE PART OF THE 86? "Everything. Why not? It's a really boring question." WHAT ABOUT YOUR FAVOURITE VIEW OF THE STYLING" "The fenders, especially the rear side. In the rear-vision mirror you can see it when driving." HOW MANY COUNTRIES IS THE 86 SOLD IN? "Eighty-six. No kidding, seriously. Unfortunately, two or three more countries requested exports of the car. But I want to say no." WHAT IS THE MOST POWERFUL MODIFIED 86? "So far, there is car with 650 horsepower. Turbocharged, from a tuner in the USA. There are so many directions for the 86, since we have made the basic." WHY IS THERE NO HYBRID 86? "Toyota directors ask me this question many times. Frankly speaking, with current technology there is some limit to the application for sports cars. We need more progress on motors and batteries, which need at least twice the performance." IS THERE A FUTURE FOR SPORTS CARS? "Sure, sure, why not? Sports car driving is like horse riding, there are always some people who really want this." WHAT ABOUT SPREADING THE SPORTY DNA FROM THE 86 TO OTHER TOYOTA CARS? "It takes time. Maybe five years, for new models, to start this new era. WHAT ABOUT FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS OF THE 86? "We have many ideas." CAN YOU TELL US ANY OF THEM? "No, of course not. Ha-ha-ha."  

A total of 15 staff, led by general manager Rod Barrett, were terminated in the second high-profile clear-out in just over five years. There is solid speculation about a total FPV shutdown at the end of the year, based on slow sales and the ongoing sluggish showroom performance of the Ford Falcon. FPV delivered only 379 cars to the end of April, while its opposition at Holden Special Vehicles managed more than 1000. To put that into a broader perspective, Mercedes-Benz Australia sale more than 400 of its hotrod C63 AMG sedans in the same period, despite a pricetag better than double anything from the FPV or HSV catalogue. FPV boss Bryan Mears refuses an interview request from Carsguide on the subject of the sackings, although in the past he has promised a year-over-year sales improvement in 2012 partly boosted by a planned new model in the second half of the year. "In a declining market, we are holding our own and we're pleased with that," Mears said recently. "We are tracking through 2012 at the same rate as 2011 and we have plans to strengthen our run home to the end of the year, both in terms of sales and financials. But we never talk specifics." FPV has made some costly investments in recent years in a bid to boost the appeal of its faster Falcons, including an estimated $30 million on the supercharged Boss V8. Predictably, Mears is calling the latest shake-up a "restructure" and not detailing the exact number of job losses. But it's a strong pointer to tough times for the fast Ford division, which has never been able to build a successful business plan to expand its lineup in Australia beyond the locally-made Falcon and - once only - Territory. Still, it is possible that FPV is being brought closer to Prodrive Asia-Pacific, the umbrella company which directs FPV operations in partnership with Ford Australia. It's likely that functions duplicated between FPV and Prodrive have been amalgamated, including the top job which Barrett lost after a long health battle, but Mears again refuses to confirm any details. “This has been a very difficult business decision, and one we’ve taken with great regret,” Mears says in a prepared statement. The last time FPV had a clear-out it provoked an angry and insulted reaction from the-then president of Ford Australia, Tom Gorman, who said Prodrive bosses had fouled the water and left him to do the clean-up work. This time, Mears is attempting to paint a brighter picture despite the general gloom surrounding Ford and the future prospects for the Falcon in all forms. “Unfortunately, today’s business realities are that we have to manage our business appropriately and that includes making the FPV business the right size for the market and taking advantage of better synergies with Ford and Prodrive," Mears says in the statement.  

The 86 is introduced this week with a sub-$30,000 sticker that is a clear $5000 less than predicted, thanks to hard bargaining in Japan and the strength of the Australian dollar. But Subaru Australia says it cannot make the numbers work and is instead concentrating on a single, fully-equipped BRZ that will be supplied in relatively low numbers.  "The answer is no. We won't have a $29,990 car, because that's a base model," Nick Senior, head of Subaru Australia, reveals to Carsguide. "We will only have one specification of BRZ and ours is the high-spec model." The 86 and BRZ are identical beneath the skin and even Toyota admits that Subaru is responsible for the heart of the car, its 2-litre flat-our engine, although it supplied the direct fuel injection system that helps it to make 147 kiloWatts.  There is a chance that the BRZ could be priced in line with the GTS version of the 86, which starts at $35,490 with similar equipment to the package expected in the Subaru. But Senior is not taking the bait. "We still have not finalised our pricing and we won't until the second or third week of July," he says bluntly. "In terms of specification, and the consumer offering, there are a lot of things that have to go into the mix. Until we stop the mixer we won't predict or get into discussions around pricing."  But he admits Subaru will have very limited supplies of BRZs, with nothing like the 250 cars Toyota is forecasting to deliver each month in Australia, and customers are likely to face a wait.  "We are going to be very constrained in terms of supply. We're likely to get 201 cars (Subs: 201 is correct) for the first six months. So that's about 30 a month." "We had an order bank, but we got to the stage that we had to say we couldn't take any more orders." Senior is not prepared to predict the waiting time for BRZ enthusiasts, although it could easily top three months and perhaps even rival the 6-12 months delay at the peak of local demand for the Volkswagen Golf GTi.  "We'll launch in July. We will have an understanding of the production schedule and shipping then. (But) it's certainly going to be several months," Senior admits. He now says the decision to take the BRZ, which was only a 'maybe' for more than a year, has been proved right. "I think, from the level of interest around the car, it's been well and truly vindicated. It's created a huge amount of interest and attracted people we would have never seen before. "Obviously, Toyota have committed a huge amount to this project and we're picked up in most of the stories.  To have that level of awareness is very good." But Senior says there is zero chance that taking the rear-wheel drive BRZ will lead to any breakdown in the all-wheel drive commitment by Subaru Australia, even as a way of cutting prices. "I can't see that happening in either the short or medium term. All-wheel drive has got a very significant role to play in AUstralia," he dead-bats. "With four per cent of the Australian market, to be able to command that share is all about being different. It's not about the sameness. I still think symmetrical all-wheel drive is an important difference and becoming more relevant, particularly with the SUV boom. "We don't have to deal with expensive four-wheel drive systems like many of our competitors. It is simple, sophisticated and quite cheap in manufacturing terms. The amount of savings you would generate are minimal." So, a final word from Senior on the BRZ? "I want to see as many as I can in customer's hands. I won't be driving one. I would rather a customer was driving it," he laughs.  

A new-model armada is being readied across the Pacific for the biggest Chrysler Jeep onslaught in the American company's history in Australia. Fiat is now the driving force at the Detroit brands, after taking a controlling interest during Chrysler Group's bankruptcy, and is planning a consolidation and new-model drive that will sweep through Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, Fiat and Alfa Romeo.Some models are already shared - including an ugly Lancia-badged Chrysler 300C in Europe - but the next step is total consolidation that reflects the recent move in Australia to put the operations of the American and Italian brands under one roof at a new corporate headquarters in Melbourne."Chrysler is undergoing a renewal under Fiat. There is a whole lot of product in the pipeline and coming through," says spokesperson, Lenore Fletcher."It's definitely all happening here. We have updates, limited-edition cars and all-new models."The SRT versions of the 300C and Jeep Grand Cherokee are coming up fast and Fletcher says there will be more Fiat models to stretch the appeal of the baby 500 in Australia. Further into the future, Australians can expect a wider choice of cars with more personality and - thanks to Fiat cash - better quality in the American models.Fletcher says recent talk about an uncertain future for the Jeep Compass and Chrysler Town&Country - sold here as the Voyager people mover - that followed comments by Fiat boss Sergio Marchionne might not be relevant for Australia."Those vehicles are just going through their natural product lifecycle. We have not heard anything about them being dropped," she says.There is talk in the USA that Chrysler plans to downsize its people mover lineup, starting with the Grand Voyager, but it showed a full-sized concept at the Detroit Motor Show in January that only reflected a more SUV-type look.Dodge is also uncertain, with a global wind-back on the cards, but even that could change downunder if the macho appeal of the badge can be justified. Fletcher says all product choices for Australia will be made to boost the appeal and sales of the Fiat Chrysler range."There should be no fears that there won't be a terrific lineup from our brands - Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge, and Alfa Romeo and Fiat," she says."Naturally we'll be looking at whatever products become available and evaluating their suitability to the Australian market. We are really at the moment looking at the Chrysler and Jeep line-ups - we're just about to launch the Chrysler 300 - and we're very positive about our volume expectations in the next 12 months."She also emphatically denied any showroom stall in May, despite official VFacts sales figures this week that show a zero against the Fiat and Alfa Romeo brands."Due to systemic issues which occurred during the changeover from local distributors Ateco Automotive to the Fiat Chrysler factory group, no sales were registered on VFACTS for the Fiat or Alfa Romeo brands during May. The relevant figures will be included in next month’s report," Fletcher says.