United Kingdom

The newly independent Leyland Bus

Leyland Bus

Leyland Bus was a British bus manufacturer. It emerged from the Rover Group as a management buyout of the bus business...

 company was acquired by Volvo Buses

Volvo Buses

Volvo Buses is a subsidiary and a business area of the Swedish vehicle maker Volvo, which became an independent division in 1968. It is based in Göteborg....

.

The remaining Rover Group

Rover Group

The Rover Group plc was the name given in 1986 to the British state-owned vehicle manufacturer previously known as British Leyland or BL. Owned by British Aerospace from 1988 to 1994, when it was sold to BMW, the Group was broken up in 2000 with the Rover and MG marques being acquired by the MG...

 business, which by now was mainly volume car production, was sold by the British Government to British Aerospace

British Aerospace

British Aerospace plc was a UK aircraft, munitions and defence-systems manufacturer. Its head office was in the Warwick House in the Farnborough Aerospace Centre in Farnborough, Hampshire...

.

The newly privatised Rover Group plc abandoned the Austin

Austin Motor Company

The Austin Motor Company was a British manufacturer of automobiles. The company was founded in 1905 and merged in 1952 into the British Motor Corporation Ltd. The marque Austin was used until 1987...

 marque for its Mini

Mini

The Mini is a small car that was made by the British Motor Corporation and its successors from 1959 until 2000. The original is considered a British icon of the 1960s, and its space-saving front-wheel-drive layout influenced a generation of car-makers...

, Metro, 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...

, and 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...

 ranges. Each model became badged as a Rover

Rover Group

The Rover Group plc was the name given in 1986 to the British state-owned vehicle manufacturer previously known as British Leyland or BL. Owned by British Aerospace from 1988 to 1994, when it was sold to BMW, the Group was broken up in 2000 with the Rover and MG marques being acquired by the MG...

, joining the existent 200

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....

 and 800 ranges. The MG badge continued for high performance Metro, Maestro and Montego variants, and there was an updated version of the Metro in the pipeline, along with a re-introduction of the famous "Mini Cooper" nameplate.

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...

 brought out an all-new Cavalier

Vauxhall Cavalier

The Vauxhall Cavalier is a large family car sold primarily in the UK by Vauxhall Motors, the British division of General Motors , from 1975 to 1995...

 to respond to increasing competition from the likes of the Ford 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"....

 and Peugeot 405

Peugeot 405

The Peugeot 405 is a large family car released by the French automaker Peugeot in July 1987 and which continues to be manufactured under licence outside France. It used TU/XU petrol and XUD diesel engines....

. The latest Cavalier offered an excellent range of engines, much improved handling, decent equipment levels and competitive prices. Engines ranged from an econimcal 1.4 to a swift 2.0, with most models getting power steering and electric windows as optional or standard equipment.

Germany

Volkswagen

Volkswagen

Volkswagen is a German automobile manufacturer and is the original and biggest-selling marque of the Volkswagen Group, which now also owns the Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, SEAT, and Škoda marques and the truck manufacturer Scania.Volkswagen means "people's car" in German, where it is...

 made two significant additions to its range. The first of these was the all-new Passat

Volkswagen Passat

The Volkswagen Passat is a large family car marketed by Volkswagen Passenger Cars through six design generations since 1973. Between the Volkswagen Golf / Volkswagen Jetta and the Volkswagen Phaeton in the current Volkswagen line-up, the Passat and its derivatives have been badged variously as...

 in March. The Passat was available as a saloon and estate, starting with 1.6 petrol engines as well as a 1.9 turbo-diesel. For the first time in the Passat's 15-year history, there was no hatchback version. Volkswagen's other major launch of 1988 was the Corrado

Volkswagen Corrado

The Volkswagen Corrado is a hatchback coupé developed by German automaker Volkswagen and built by Karmann in Osnabrück, Germany, between 1 September 1988 and 31 July 1995....

, a stylish and fast coupé which was to replace the Scirocco

Volkswagen Scirocco

The Scirocco is a 3-door Coupe manufactured by German automaker Volkswagen, undergoing two generations of development between 1974 and 1992 and reintroduced in a third generation in August 2008.-Etymology:...

. It was powered by a 2.0 petrol engine from the Passat saloon.

Audi

Audi

Audi AG is a German automobile manufacturer, from supermini to crossover SUVs in various body styles and price ranges that are marketed under the Audi brand , positioned as the premium brand within the Volkswagen Group....

 launched a new Coupe

Audi 80

The Audi 80 is a compact executive car produced by the German car manufacturer Audi, from 1966 to 1996. It shared its platform with the Volkswagen Passat from 1973 to 1986 and was available as a saloon car/sedan, and an Avant...

, which ran alongside the original 1980 version. It used the same engines and transmission as the 80 saloon

Audi 80

The Audi 80 is a compact executive car produced by the German car manufacturer Audi, from 1966 to 1996. It shared its platform with the Volkswagen Passat from 1973 to 1986 and was available as a saloon car/sedan, and an Avant...

, with the option of Quattro four-wheel drive at the higher end of the range.

Italy

Winner of the year's Car of the Year

Car of the Year

Car of the Year is a phrase usually considered to have been invented by Motor Trend magazine in the 1950s for their annual award for best American automobile...

 award was the Fiat Tipo

Fiat Tipo

The Fiat Tipo is a small family car designed by the IDEA design house and produced by the Italian manufacturer Fiat between 1988 and 1995.The Tipo was initially available only as a five-door hatchback. The car was made entirely out of galvanized body panels to avoid rust, and was built on a...

. A replacement for the ageing and outmoded 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:...

, the Tipo was a tall five-door hatchback which offered new levels of interior space for cars in the Ford Escort/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 :...

 sector. It was powered by 1.4 and 1.6 engines in Britain and most other markets, as well as an economical 1.7 diesel. The home market also got a slow but economical 1.1 version, plus the swift 1.8 and 2.0 versions. A saloon version was expected in 1989 as a replacement for the Strada-based 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...

.

Japan

Toyota was expecting to break into the luxury market in the near future with its new Lexus

Lexus

is the luxury vehicle division of Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corporation. First introduced in 1989 in the United States, Lexus is now sold globally and has become Japan's largest-selling make of premium cars. The Lexus marque is marketed in over 70 countries and territories worldwide, and has...

 brand. Knowing that a prestige brand is essential in the luxury car sector, its new brand would concentrate solely on luxury cars, and the LS 400

Lexus LS

The Lexus LS is a full-size luxury sedan that serves as the flagship model of Lexus, the luxury division of Toyota. Four generations of the sedan have been produced, all equipped with V8 engines and rear-wheel drive, although since 2006 all-wheel drive, hybrid, and long-wheelbase variants have also...

 goes on sale in 1989 as a rival for the BMW 7 Series

BMW 7 Series

The BMW 7 Series is a line of full-size luxury vehicles produced by the German automaker BMW. Introduced in 1977, it is BMW's flagship car and is only available as a sedan or extended-length limousine...

 and Mercedes-Benz S-Class

Mercedes-Benz S-Class

The Mercedes-Benz S-Class is a series of luxury sedans produced by Mercedes-Benz, a division of Daimler AG. The classification was officially introduced in 1972 with the W116 S-Class, which succeeded previous Mercedes-Benz models dating to the mid-1950s...

. Powered by a 4.0 V8 engine, it was expected to set new standards for luxury and refinement.