1984 in motoring - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

United Kingdom

In 1984 British Leyland sold its Jaguar car

Jaguar (car)

Jaguar Cars Ltd, known simply as Jaguar , is a British luxury car manufacturer, headquartered in Whitley, Coventry, England. It is part of the Jaguar Land Rover business, a subsidiary of the Indian company Tata Motors....

business into private ownership. British Leyland's mass-market car division, the Austin Rover Group

Austin Rover Group

The Austin Rover Group was a British motor manufacturer. It was formed in 1981 as the mass-market car manufacturing subsidiary of British Leyland...

, scrapped one of its longest-running marques, Morris

Morris Motor Company

The Morris Motor Company was a British car manufacturing company. After the incorporation of the company into larger corporations, the Morris name remained in use as a marque until 1984 when British Leyland's Austin Rover Group decided to concentrate on the more popular Austin marque...

, which was discontinued in August after the Ital

Morris Ital

The Morris Ital was a medium-sized saloon car built by British Leyland from 1980 until 1984.-Design and launch:The Ital was first launched on 1 July 1980. It took its name from Giorgetto Giugiaro's ItalDesign studio, who had been employed by BL to manage the re-engineering of Morris Marina, a car...

was replaced by the new Austin Montego

Austin Montego

The Austin Montego is a British mid-size saloon car that was produced by the Austin Rover subsidiary of British Leyland , and its successors, from 1984 until 1994. The Montego was the replacement for the Morris Ital, to give British Leyland a modern competitor for the Ford Sierra and Vauxhall...

- a saloon version of the previous year's new Maestro

Austin Maestro

The Austin Maestro is a compact-sized 5-door hatchback car that was produced from 1983 to 1994, initially by the Austin Rover subsidiary of British Leyland , and from 1988 onwards by its successor, Rover Group. The car was produced at the former Morris plant in Cowley, Oxford. It was initially...

hatchback. The new Montego is powered by 1.3 and 1.6 petrol engines, with more versions set to follow - including high performance MG variants. October of this year saw the Triumph

Triumph Motor Company

The Triumph Motor Company was a British car and motor manufacturing company. The Triumph marque is owned currently by BMW. The marque had its origins in 1885 when Siegfried Bettmann of Nuremberg initiated S. Bettmann & Co and started importing bicycles from Europe and selling them with his own...

marque canned, when the Acclaim

Triumph Acclaim

The Triumph Acclaim was a front-wheel drive medium-sized family car made by British Leyland from 1981 to 1984. It was based on the Honda Ballade and used a Honda-designed engine, but met United Kingdom component-content requirements...

saloon finished production to be replaced by the Rover 200 Series

Rover 200 Series

The Rover 200 Series, and the later Rover 25, were a series of small car models produced by the Austin Rover Group, and latterly the Rover Group and MG Rover....

- a four-door saloon which competes in the same sector as the Austin Maestro. Its 1.3 engine is sourced from the Honda Civic

Honda Civic

The Honda Civic is a line of subcompact and subsequently compact cars made and manufactured by Honda. The Civic, along with the Accord and Prelude, comprised Honda's vehicles sold in North America until the 1990s, when the model lineup was expanded...

, while the 1.6 power unit is supplied from the Austin Rover parts bin. The 200 Series is made at Cowley

Cowley, Oxford

Cowley in Oxford, England, is a residential and industrial area that forms a small conurbation within greater Oxford. Cowley's neighbours are central Oxford to the northwest, Rose Hill and Blackbird Leys to the south, New Headington to the north and the villages of Horspath and Garsington across...

, where it will soon be joined by the next generation Honda Ballade

Honda Ballade

The Honda Ballade was a subcompact automobile built by Honda of Japan. It began as a four-door version of the Civic in 1980. The Ballade was developed at the same time the Honda Vigor appeared, which was a higher content Honda Accord...

. The venture with Honda

Honda

is a Japanese public multinational corporation primarily known as a manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles.Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, as well as the world's largest manufacturer of internal combustion engines measured by volume, producing more than...

is set to include a replacement for the Rover SD1

Rover SD1

Rover SD1 is both the code name and eventual production name given to a series of large executive cars made by British Leyland or BL through its Specialist, Rover Triumph and Austin Rover divisions from 1976 until 1986....

, with the new model scheduled for launch in two years' time.

Ford had a relatively low profile year in 1984, with the only major changes to the range being the addition of the Escort RS Turbo (powered by a turbocharged XR3i 1.6 engine) and the discontinuation of the unpopular three-door Sierra

Ford Sierra

The Ford Sierra is a large family car that was built by Ford Europe from 1982 until 1993. It was designed by Uwe Bahnsen, Robert Lutz and Patrick le Quément. The code used during development was "Project Toni"....

. A replacement for the Granada

Ford Granada (Europe)

The March 1972 released Granada succeeded the British Ford Zephyr, and the German P7-series as Ford's European executive car offering. At first, lower models in the range were called the Ford Consul, but from 1975 on they were all called Granadas. The car soon became popular for taxi, fleet and...

range is due next year.

Vauxhall

Vauxhall Motors

Vauxhall Motors is a British automotive company owned by General Motors and headquartered in Luton. It was founded in 1857 as a pump and marine engine manufacturer, began manufacturing cars in 1903 and was acquired by GM in 1925. It has been the second-largest selling car brand in the UK for...

scored a huge success in 1984 by launching the second incarnation of the Vauxhall Astra

Vauxhall Astra

Astra is a model name which has been used by Vauxhall, the British subsidiary of General Motors , on their small family car ranges since 1979. Astras are technically essentially identical with similar vehicles offered by GM's German subsidiary Opel in most other European countries...

. The new model, like its predecessor, is a range of three- and five-door medium sized hatchbacks. Engines range from a slow but economical 1.2 to a swift 2.0 - the GTE - which can top 120 mph. There is also a fuel efficient 1.6 diesel. A more powerful version of the GTE is planned for the near future, as are cabriolet and saloon bodystyles. The Astra, which is still sold as the Opel Kadett

Opel Kadett

The Opel Kadett is a small family car produced by the German automobile manufacturer Opel between 1937 and 1940, and then again from 1962 until 1991 , when it was replaced by the Opel Astra.-Original model :...

on the continent, was voted European Car of the Year

European Car of the Year

The European Car of the Year award was established in 1964 by a collective of automobile magazines from different countries in Europe. The current organisers of the award are Auto , Autocar , Autopista , Autovisie , L'Automobile Magazine , Stern and Vi Bilägare .The voting jury consists of motoring...

for the 1985 model year

Model year

The model year of a product is a number used worldwide, but with a high level of prominence in North America, to describe approximately when a product was produced, and indicates the coinciding base specification of that product....

France

The big news for Renault

Renault

Renault S.A. is a French automaker producing cars, vans, and in the past, autorail vehicles, trucks, tractors, vans and also buses/coaches. Its alliance with Nissan makes it the world's third largest automaker...

in 1984 was the launch of a new competitor in the Granada

Ford Granada (Europe)

/Audi 100

Audi 100

The restyled C2 Audi 100 was launched in 1976, with an in-line five-cylinder engine...

sector - the R25

Renault 25

The Renault 25 is an executive car produced by the French automaker Renault from 1983 to 1992. During its time, the 25 was Renault's flagship, the most expensive, prestigious, and largest vehicle in the company's line-up. It placed second in the 1985 European Car of the Year contest...

. Renault's all-new upmarket hatchback offers class-leading levels of ride quality, comfort, space and equipment. The smaller-engined petrol and diesel units offered impressive refinement, with more powerful and high-performing variants expected later. The new R25 is officially the most aerodynamic car in the world, giving it excellent ride and handling to match even the most prestigious of its rivals from the likes of BMW

BMW

Bayerische Motoren Werke AG is a German automobile, motorcycle and engine manufacturing company founded in 1916. It also owns and produces the Mini marque, and is the parent company of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. BMW produces motorcycles under BMW Motorrad and Husqvarna brands...

and Mercedes-Benz

Mercedes-Benz

Mercedes-Benz is a German manufacturer of automobiles, buses, coaches, and trucks. Mercedes-Benz is a division of its parent company, Daimler AG...

.

The ageing Chrysler-designed

Chrysler

Chrysler Group LLC is a multinational automaker headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan, USA. Chrysler was first organized as the Chrysler Corporation in 1925....

Alpine and Solara hatchback and saloon ranges (which were launched nine years ago) were given a mild makeover at the end of 1984 and given new names. Instead of being named by bodystyle, the new versions of this long-running car were badged by trim. The standard models now wear "Minx" nameplates, harking back to one of the Rootes Group's most historic names

Hillman Minx

The Hillman Minx was a series of middle-sized family cars produced under the Hillman marque by the Rootes Group between 1932 and 1970...

. The sportier, better-equipped variants are now badged "Rapier" - taking their name from a memorable sports car of the Rootes Group's later years

Sunbeam Rapier

The Series I Rapier was a pretty car which in general, was well received by the motoring press. Available in a range of attractive two-tone colour schemes typical of the period, it boasted steering column gear change, leather trim and an overdrive as standard fittings. Vinyl trim was an option in...

. This is seen as a last-ditch attempt by owners Peugeot

Peugeot

Peugeot is a major French car brand, part of PSA Peugeot Citroën, the second largest carmaker based in Europe.The family business that precedes the current Peugeot company was founded in 1810, and manufactured coffee mills and bicycles. On 20 November 1858, Emile Peugeot applied for the lion...

to draw customers to these outdated models before any possible replacements are in the pipeline. The unpopular Tagora

Talbot Tagora

The Talbot Tagora is an executive car that was developed by Chrysler Europe and produced by Peugeot Société Anonyme . The Tagora was marketed under the Talbot marque after PSA took over Chrysler's European operations in 1979. PSA presented the first production vehicle in 1980 and launched it...

, meanwhile, is set to be withdrawn from sale next year.

Italy

Six years after the launch of the Ritmo/Strada

Fiat Strada

The Fiat Strada is a supermini coupé utility version of Fiat's "world car" project, the Palio. It is produced in Brazil and exported from Betim, Minas Gerais to the European Union.-History:...

hatchbacks, Fiat

Fiat

FIAT, an acronym for Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino , is an Italian automobile manufacturer, engine manufacturer, financial, and industrial group based in Turin in the Italian region of Piedmont. Fiat was founded in 1899 by a group of investors including Giovanni Agnelli...

have finally launched a saloon version. The Regata

Fiat Regata

The Fiat Regata is the saloon version of the Fiat Ritmo small family car, produced by Italian automaker Fiat. It was produced from 1983 to 1990, corresponding to the post-facelift Ritmo. The Regata had a choice of three gasoline and two diesel engines...

, as it will be known, is similarly engineered and priced to the hatchback from which it spawned, but is comparable in size to cars in the next highest sector. This makes it exceptionally good value, a unique selling point which is the key factor behind its TV advertising campaign. There is also an estate version of the Regata - the "Weekend" - which is one of the most capacious load carriers of its size.

Production of the Lancia Beta

Lancia Beta

The Lancia Beta is a car produced by Lancia. It was the first new model introduced by Lancia after it had been taken over by Fiat in 1969.-Berlina:...

has finally ceased after 12 years. Following the launch of newer models like the Delta

Lancia Delta

The Lancia Delta is a small family car produced by Italian automaker Lancia with the first generation being produced between 1979 and 1994, the second generation running from 1993 until 1999, and the third generation Delta entering production in 2008. It was first shown inFrankfurt Motor Show in 1979...

and Prisma

Lancia Prisma

The Lancia Prisma was a midsize car built by Lancia in the 1980s. It was basically a sedan version of the Lancia Delta, and like its smaller hatchback "brother", shared its chassis and engines with the Fiat Ritmo and Regata...

, demand for this once-iconic Italian sedan has gradually slumped and the makers decided that it was time to pull the plug on the production line. In the pipeline for 1985 are new Lancia-badged cars for the mini-car and executive car sectors, giving the marque another chance of re-establishing itself in the many markets where it has endured a fall in popularity due to the rust problems of earlier models.

Germany

Mercedes-Benz

Mercedes-Benz is a German manufacturer of automobiles, buses, coaches, and trucks. Mercedes-Benz is a division of its parent company, Daimler AG...

has finally made its cars affordable for the mass production market by introducing the new 190E

Mercedes-Benz W201

The Mercedes-Benz W201 is a compact executive car manufactured by Mercedes-Benz from 1982–1993, positioned below the Mercedes-Benz E-Class and S-Class — and marketed under variants of the Mercedes 190 nameplate....

- which is a direct competitor for the BMW 3 Series

BMW 3 Series

The BMW 3 Series is a compact executive car manufactured by the German automaker BMW since May 1975. Successor to the BMW New Class, it has been produced in five different generations and in no less than five different body styles. It is BMW's best-selling model, accounting for around 30% of the...

. It is an all-new four-door saloon with rear-wheel drive, with the entry-level model being the 2.0 carburretor engine which produces 105 bhp. Like the larger, more expensive models in the Mercedes range, the 190E is a well-equipped, comfortable, solid, reliable, refined and prestigious competitor which is difficult to beat in almost every area.

Eastern Europe

Lada

Lada is a trademark of AvtoVAZ, a Russian car manufacturer in Tolyatti, Samara Oblast. All AvtoVAZ vehicles are currently sold under the Lada brand, though this was not always so; Lada was originally AvtoVAZ's export brand for models it sold under the Zhiguli name in the domestic Soviet market...

has finally made a departure from the veteran Fiat 124-based

Fiat 124

The Fiat 124 is a mid-sized family car produced by the Italian manufacturer Fiat between 1966 and 1974. It was the replacement of the Fiat 1300 and Fiat 1500...

Lada Riva

The VAZ-2105, VAZ-2104 and VAZ-2107 are a series of medium-sized family cars built by Russian car manufacturer AvtoVAZ, introduced in 1980 in the Soviet Union, and progressively in other European markets through the early 1980s and sold in both saloon and estate versions...

of 1966 vintage. Though the older car is to continue, the new Samara

Lada Samara

The Lada Samara or VAZ-2108 is an economy car produced by Soviet/Russian vehicle manufacturer AvtoVAZ's Lada brand, from 1984 until 2004. The brand name Samara originally was used only for exported models, in Russia the same model was called "Sputnik" , until 1991, when the sedan version of Samara...

is a superb engineering achievement after almost 20 years with virtually no technical changes at Togliatti

Tolyatti

Tolyatti , also known as Togliatti, is a city in Samara Oblast, Russia. It serves as the administrative center of Stavropolsky District, although it is administratively separate from it...

. The new car, a front-wheel drive hatchback with a choice of three or five doors, uses a completely fresh mechanical design which includes 1.1, 1.3 and 1.5 petrol engines. The car has already gone on sale in the USSR, but its Western Europe

Western Europe

Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...

an debut is unlikely to occur for at least another year or two.

Japan

Nissan has made further progress with its fast range of "Z-Cars", though the latest designs have not received the praise that their ancestors did. The current Z-Car is the 300ZX

Nissan 300ZX

The Z31 chassis designation was first introduced in 1983 as a 1984 Nissan/Datsun 300ZX in the US only. The 300ZX, as its predecessors, was known as a Nissan in other parts of the world. This continued in the US until 1985 model year when Nissan standardized their brand name worldwide and dropped...

, the successor to the less powerful 280ZX

Nissan 280ZX

The Nissan 280ZX was a sports coupe produced from 1978 to 1983. It was the second generation Z-car, replacing the Datsun 280Z in late 1978. The 280ZX was the first time where the "By Nissan" subscript was badged alongside the Datsun logo, along with the Nissan trucks. The 280ZX was Motor Trends...

. It is powered by a 3.0 V6 engine that gives strong performance well in excess of 130 mph, making it a real competitor for the likes of the Toyota Supra

Toyota Supra

The Toyota Supra is a sports car/grand tourer that was produced by Toyota Motor Company from 1979 to 2002. The styling of the Toyota Supra was derived from the Toyota Celica, but it was both longer and wider. Starting in mid-1986, the Supra became its own model and was no longer based on the Celica...

and Mazda RX-7

Mazda RX-7

Series 1 is commonly referred to as the "SA22C" from the first alphanumerics of the vehicle identification number. This series of RX-7 had exposed steel bumpers and a high-mounted indentation-located license plate, called by Werner Buhrer of Road & Track magazine a "Baroque depression."In 1980...

. But many enthusiasts still loyal to the 240Z of old have yet to accept it as a true successor to those classic old-timers.

Honda

Honda

is achieving sales success in Asia and Europe with the new, latest version of its Prelude

Honda Prelude

The Honda Prelude was a sports coupe produced by Japanese automaker Honda from 1978 until 2001. It replaced the Honda S800, a front-engined, front wheel drive sports car...