Vehicles just like the BMW 3 Collection, Mercedes-Benz C-Class, and Honda CR-V had been instrumental in cementing the success of their respective makers, however much more fashions kind the colorful histories of a few of Australia’s favorite auto manufacturers.
As soon as once more, we’re evaluating the primary fashions offered in Australia by a number of fashionable automobile producers with their newest nameplates.
This time, we’re looking at BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Suzuki, Audi, and Honda, as they make up the following batch of auto manufacturers in our trundle down Australia’s gross sales charts, persevering with on from elements one and two of this sequence.
We’ve included solely the latest nameplates launched in Australia by every of those firms, although current nameplates might have subsequently acquired new powertrains and variants extra lately.
That is the third instalment on this function sequence. You may learn Half 1 right here, and Half 2 right here.
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BMW: 1600/1800/2000, iX2
BMW didn’t doc its first automobile offered in Australia, not publicly anyway. Whereas that makes it laborious to pinpoint which nameplate appeared right here first, affirmation of the German model’s native arrival will be present in a problem of Wheels journal from July 1966.
The journal’s first native highway take a look at of a BMW was in September 1967, when a BMW 2000TI was reviewed intimately, although abroad critiques had already been printed. The automobile was a part of the then-new ‘Neue Klasse’ (New Class) line of sedans and coupes that entered manufacturing in 1962.
There have been 4 successive fashions on this authentic Neue Klasse lineup – the 1500, 1600, 1800, and 2000, which had been all very related however had their very own trim ranges, engines, and market positions.
The primary batch of official BMWs reportedly delivered to Australia comprised simply 16 vehicles (excluding attainable earlier personal imports), possible together with a minimum of the 1600, 1800, and 2000 – as indicated by new-car listings by trade information RedBook for 1967. In truth, one of many authentic 2000 sedans from 1967 went up for public sale in Canberra in 2018.
The 2000 was the final mannequin launched within the Sixties Neue Klasse household and was in manufacturing from 1966 to 1972. It utilised BMW’s M10 four-cylinder engine, as with its predecessors, but it surely was the one 2.0-litre model; earlier fashions had been both 1.5L, 1.6L, or 1.8L, matching their designated nameplates.
It’s value mentioning that this Neue Klasse line basically helped BMW get better from its post-war monetary disaster within the Fifties. Afterwards, new BMW 2002s had been being offered and even raced by Australian franchise sellers by the mid-Seventies, previous the BMW Group’s official institution of its BMW Australia subsidiary in 1979.
BMW then launched the 3 Collection, 5 Collection, and 7 Collection, and it was round this time that the BMW M division started producing efficiency variations of the model’s commonplace vehicles; it launched as BMW’s motorsport division in 1972. Enjoyable reality: the long-lasting BMW M1 sports activities automobile was launched one 12 months earlier than BMW Australia was established.
BMW Australia’s story from institution to now’s too detailed to cowl on this article, although in 2014 it launched the i3 hatch as its first electrical automobile, which leads us to its latest native nameplate. The electrical iX2 was launched in November 2023, although technically it’s a spinoff of the second-generation X2 small SUV.
If we’re speaking nameplates by no means seen earlier than, the latest BMW is the XM from 2022.
BMW is gearing up for a return of the Neue Klasse identify, which is getting used for a brand new platform that can underpin fashions just like the all-new iX3 and i3 EVs quickly to look domestically.
MORE: Discover the BMW showroom
Mercedes-Benz: 33/180 hp, CLE
Unsurprisingly, the primary Mercedes-Benz automobile offered in Australia is virtually unimaginable to trace down. After a lot analysis, a possible candidate seems to be a mannequin generally known as the 33/180 hp, offered round 1929 in extraordinarily restricted numbers.
Thoughts you, different experiences recommend the primary Mercedes mannequin was delivered to Australia in 1904, but it surely isn’t identified precisely what that automobile was. No matter it was, it wouldn’t have been referred to as a Mercedes-Benz, as a result of that identify solely appeared after the Daimler-Benz merger in 1926.
It’s additionally identified that a number of Mercedes-Benz vans had been imported right here within the Nineteen Thirties, with an official distributor confirmed to have offered truck and bus chassis in Western Australia in 1934. These autos had been promoted for his or her easy operation and use of low-cost crude oil as gas, and lots of had been utilised for trade analysis in New South Wales and Victoria.
As for the 33/180 hp, it supplied a 6.2-litre inline six-cylinder engine fitted with a supercharger tailored from the model’s race vehicles. At full tilt, most energy output was listed at 180 horsepower (134kW), therefore the mannequin’s identify.
In any other case, little is thought about Mercedes-Benz autos imported right here from then and into WWII, however what is thought is that Mercedes-Benz Australia was based in 1958.
In 1959, a push from the Australian authorities to bolster native manufacturing led to the institution of a Mercedes-Benz manufacturing unit in Port Melbourne, Victoria. The primary Mercedes automobile to be produced domestically was a W180-chassis 220 S, constructed from a whole knock-down package and completed in the identical 12 months.
Native manufacturing was short-lived although, wrapping up in 1965. Since then, Mercedes-Benz has expanded dramatically, with a lot of its native historical past too detailed to cowl on this article.
As with the opposite two German manufacturers on this record, lots of Mercedes’ latest nameplates have been utilized to electrical autos. The EQC mid-size SUV was the model’s first native EV, debuting in Australia in 2019, and it was the prelude to a raft of EQ-badged Benzes earlier than being discontinued in 2023.
Nonetheless, Mercedes-Benz’s latest nameplate in Australia is the CLE, a combustion-powered coupe and convertible that launched in 2024 to switch two-door variations of the C-Class and E-Class.
It was pushed by the German model’s have to streamline its combustion-powered mannequin lineup, providing a sporty-ish mannequin in an in any other case SUV-heavy vary.
MORE: Discover the Mercedes-Benz showroom
Suzuki: LJ50, Fronx
Suzuki’s first automobile offered in Australia was the great-grandfather of its hottest native mannequin right now: the LJ50, in any other case generally known as the first-generation Jimny, in 1974.
The Jimny’s LJ sequence was Suzuki’s first true 4×4 leisure automobile, and was launched globally in 1970. Within the household, there have been a number of physique kinds, together with an SUV, a convertible, and, from 1979, a pickup (identified domestically because the Stockman), a lineup in step with different 4×4s produced by fellow Japanese manufacturers across the similar time.
What was completely different concerning the LJ was its tiny stature. Measuring as little as 2955mm lengthy, relying on the physique type, the unique LJ50 was significantly smaller than the visually related Toyota LandCruiser of the identical period.
The LJ50 supplied three seats, weighed simply 600kg, and was powered by a 540cc three-cylinder two-stroke engine producing 24.6kW of energy and 56Nm of torque. This configuration additionally supplied bigger differentials than fashions fitted with smaller engines and was focused on the Australian market.
It’s value noting that the primary LJ50 was launched domestically by the Suzuki Auto Firm, Suzuki’s first privately owned distributor. That firm nonetheless exists however is now higher generally known as Suzuki Queensland.
The official Suzuki Australia subsidiary was established in Sydney in 1980, now overseeing Suzuki Bikes nationally and Suzuki vehicles in all states and territories besides Queensland and the Northern Rivers area of New South Wales.
Since then, Suzuki has continued introducing small, inexpensive vehicles to the Australian market. These included the second-generation Jimny in 1981 (additionally rebadged because the Holden Drover), the Swift and Mighty Boy in 1983, the Vitara in 1988, and the Swift Sport in 2007.
However previous most of that got here the institution of one in all Suzuki’s most important worldwide subsidiaries. Maruti Suzuki, based mostly in India, was based in 1981 and has since turn into a producing powerhouse, accountable even for some Australia-bound fashions just like the Baleno and five-door Jimny XL.
The model’s latest nameplate in Australia is sourced from Maruti Suzuki. That’s the Fronx, a mild-hybrid gentle SUV that launched domestically in 2025 – the primary new Suzuki offered right here since new Australian security laws killed off a number of fashions, and basically a sibling to the Baleno.
MORE: Discover the Suzuki showroom
Audi: Tremendous 90, Q6 e-tron
The historical past of Audi-badged vehicles started in 1967, when 368 right-hand drive examples of the F103-series Tremendous 90 had been imported.
That doesn’t embody the arrival of the primary ‘Audi-adjacent’ automobile, although. As a substitute, that privilege goes to the DKW F5, a small automobile constructed by Auto Union that was imported to Melbourne in 1935. For these unaware, Auto Union was basically Audi’s predecessor, because the Volkswagen Group acquired it and slowly morphed it into fashionable Audi by the mid-Eighties.
There isn’t a lot to say concerning the F5, besides that it was a front-wheel drive sedan constructed from 1935 to 1936 and offered in Australia by way of 1937. A enjoyable reality is that it was the primary of its mannequin lineage to make use of a metal body somewhat than a timber one.
Quick-forward to the Tremendous 90, and far had modified within the Auto Union/Audi world. Volkswagen’s acquisition occurred in 1964, one 12 months earlier than Audi launched the F103 vary. The F103 lineage started with the Audi 72, adopted by the Tremendous 80 and Tremendous 90 in 1966.
The Tremendous 90 was the primary to be delivered to Australia, and even took half within the 1967 Gallaher 500 race at Bathurst. The foundations stipulated that a minimum of 100 examples of every competing automobile needed to be registered in Australia earlier than September 30, 1967; 368 models had been imported.
Just like the DKW F5 that got here nicely earlier than it, the Tremendous 90 was a front-wheel drive sedan. It was fitted with a 1.8-litre four-cylinder engine producing 66kW of energy (90PS, therefore the mannequin’s identify) and 147Nm of torque, making it essentially the most highly effective F103-series automobile.
Audi vehicles continued to be delivered to Australia by way of unbiased distributors all through the Seventies and 80s, because it wasn’t till 2001 that Audi Australia was correctly established because the German model’s nationwide importer and distributor.
Audi’s mannequin vary has since grown drastically, now fielding a broad vary of autos from small hatchbacks to iconic efficiency vehicles and huge govt vehicles.
The model’s latest native nameplate is the Q6 e-tron SUV, launched to Australia in 2025.
It’s obtainable in each SUV and Sportback physique kinds, in addition to in a number of trim ranges with various energy outputs. Being a Volkswagen Group product, it’s associated to the Porsche Macan EV, which is offered in Australia, and the Audi A6 e-tron, which isn’t.
MORE: Discover the Audi showroom
Honda: T360/T500 or S600, ZR-V
Honda’s autos possible first descended on Australia in a multi-pronged assault. It’s believed that this included the T360 and T500 mini-trucks and the tiny S600 sports activities automobile, with the primary registrations for all probably occurring in 1965.
The T360 was Honda’s first manufacturing automobile, launched in 1963. It was an extremely vital mannequin for the model, instructing it beneficial classes in analysis and growth procedures, manufacturing logistics, and manufacturing unit administration.
Issues moved shortly too, as as soon as Honda accomplished a brand new manufacturing unit to deal with distinctive demand in 1964, a T360 was reported to have been churned out on the fee of 1 each ten minutes. In Australia, nevertheless, it’s attainable the larger-engined T500 was extra fashionable, as that automobile was constructed primarily for export markets.
Each vans utilised small-displacement, high-revving four-cylinder engines impressed by Honda’s historical past of bikes. The T360 featured a 356cc unit, whereas the T500 upgraded to a 531cc engine – the latter a de-tuned model of the engine used within the Honda S500 sports activities automobile, which entered manufacturing 4 months after the T360.
The S500 by no means made its technique to Australia, however its successor, the S600, did. It launched globally in early 1964 with a bigger 606cc four-cylinder engine (nonetheless high-revving with peak energy of 43kW arriving at 8500rpm), and the primary cargo arrived in Australia later in 1964 with each convertible and coupe physique kinds.
Understandably, the S600 was very area of interest and offered in only a few numbers. It was the N360 “Scamp” launched in 1968 that was the primary volume-selling Honda offered in Australia, and sure most Australians’ first encounter with a Honda automobile.
Honda Australia was established in 1969 to coordinate nationwide automobile gross sales, making it Honda’s first worldwide subsidiary arrange primarily to deal with cars somewhat than bikes. The model’s bikes had already appeared domestically within the mid-Fifties.
Since its institution, Honda has turn into one in all Australia’s most recognisable manufacturers. Gross sales peaked at round 50,000 models yearly within the mid-2000s and late 2010s, although the shift to an company mannequin in 2021 dropped gross sales to roughly 14,000 models by 2024.
The primary (and at present) solely Honda launched for the reason that company shift is the ZR-V, a small SUV that arrived domestically in 2023 with turbo-petrol and hybrid choices. It’s quickly to be joined by the rebirth of the Prelude nameplate and the brand new kei-class Tremendous-One electrical automobile in 2026.
