The Mitsubishi Magna at 40: how Aussie ingenuity changed the global face of family-sedan motoring and supercharged the Toyota Camry's rise to the top

In nearly 140 years of the motor vehicle, history records only two Australian cars that truly left their mark on the world – even to this day.

The big one was the arrival of the coupe-utility in 1934. Ford was first… just, beating General Motors-Holden to the post by several months, as it was also working on the same idea, though for Bedford and Chevrolet models.

Not as old, but arguably more influential on the worldwide arena, was the Mitsubishi Magna.

In no small way, it redefined medium-sized family-car packaging after a flash of Australian inspiration brought upon an existing Japanese design. More on exactly how later on.

The runaway success that resulted here prompted Japan generally and Toyota in particular to follow suit. The subsequent Camry and Honda Accord generations have dominated passenger-car sales in North America ever since, and through to now, even in an SUV world. Last year, over 300,000 and 160,000 of these respectively were shifted in the US alone.

This month is 40 years since the original, TM-series Magna’s April, 1985 launch in Australia.

This year also marks 20 years since the Magna badge was discarded – in October, 2005 – for the 380, a terrific car in its own right, but one that sold so miserably that Mitsubishi abandoned Australian manufacturing less than three years later, and it’s since been erased from the public consciousness. Comedians still joke about the 1973 Leyland P76 but who remembers 380?

The Magna’s legacy, though, isn’t even just limited to changing the world. It became a proud part of the Australian automotive landscape as well.

For starters, it remained a regular top-three seller here right through to the 2000s.

The original’s initial, breakthrough success convinced Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC) of Japan that Australia could design not one, not two but three generations of wagons. These were only built in Adelaide for the world.

Years later, one senior Mitsubishi engineer rated the second-generation (TR, TS) Magna wagon as his team’s proudest achievement, due to it being so far ahead of the competition. And why not? Getting Magna II to market in all its guises reportedly cost over $900 million adjusted for today’s inflation. Behold the billion-dollar Magna.

As part of that investment into creating a world-class quality product, exports to North America, Japan, Europe and New Zealand followed in the 1990s, with the suave Diamante and Sigma models (as they were rebadged) even taking on the BMW 5 Series.

People forget it nowadays, but that export program fast-tracked new technologies as well as better-built Australian vehicles for local buyers.

For example, the Magna had to be made with higher-quality materials and precision, and that was obvious by the 1990s when motoring journalists started questioning shortfalls in competing Australian cars.

The Mitsubishi was also the first vehicle made here with a Tiptronic function for the auto transmission, which MMC invented and licensed to Porsche, along with balancer shafts that have made (most) modern four-cylinder engines so smooth – fun fact.

And then there was the brilliant all-wheel-drive version of the third-generation Magna from 2003’s TJ II series, using the WRC-inspired Lancer Evo to essentially create an Aussie Audi quattro (minus the iconic blisters, chunky styling, burbling five-pot turbo and motorsport domination – but you get the picture).

The legacy of the Magna, then, is indisputable. But to understand how Mitsubishi and Australia birthed such a beast, as always, a trip back in time is essential.

Why Magna happened and the Chrysler connection

The Magna was a direct descendant of the Mitsubishi Galant, a small sedan released in 1969, though its roots go further back to 1963.

Galant was the first globally successful MMC export, breaking into North America thanks to a tie-up with Chrysler. It sold strongly under Chrysler in Australia, especially as oil prices soared during that time.

By its third incarnation in 1976, the Galant had grown into a mid-sizer, prompting Chrysler to adopt the Japanese home-market Sigma badge for Australia for its launch later the following year, and sales went supernova. We’re talking top three, displacing Datsun and Toyota.

Sigma proved so popular that the Americans sold Chrysler’s Australian operations to MMC, creating Mitsubishi Motors Australia Limited (MMAL) in 1980.

But while the Sigma was the nation’s number-one selling four-cylinder car, seeing off all mid-sized alternatives, it couldn’t quite break the Ford Falcon/Commodore sales nexus. Something on a bigger and grander scale was required.

Enter the Magna. Derived from 'magnus', Latin for 'great' or 'mighty'.

Based on the first front-drive Galant, the fifth-gen YF-series released in Japan in 1983, it was bold, aerodynamic and spacious, but still too narrow to be classed as a true Falcon/Commodore competitor.

At the time, Japanese cars were mostly all under 1.7-metres wide to avoid punitive taxes, but all Australian family car consumers cared about was girth.

But money was way too tight for MMAL’s engineers – many of whom had worked under Chrysler developing successive full-sized Valiant (1962-1981) models – to create a ground-up big Ford/Holden rival, and the ultimatum was go Galant, or go home. Proposals were devised designing a uniquely Australian body and interior on the existing, rear-drive Sigma platform, but it was never going to fly, especially in terms of rear legroom.

So, by April 1982, MMAL’s engineers were thinking laterally. They spliced a YF prototype down the centre line and added 65mm (after trialling scores of different sizes) to its width, to create Project YF-W. For ‘wide’.

As regulations mandated 85 per cent Australian content in all locally built cars at the time, MMAL could use local suppliers for unique YF-W parts, since the Japanese Galant’s windscreens, bonnet, roof, bootlid, bumpers, grilles, fuel tank and rear valances couldn’t be used here. Plus, much of the interior – including the seats, dashboard, headlining and even the sunvisors – needed to change.

The Magna was born. And being front-wheel drive, the already widened body’s packaging seemed cavernous for a medium-sized car.

Yet, because of its advanced lightweight engineering, MMAL could use an evolution of its big 2.6-litre Astron four-cylinder engine – with unique-at-the-time balancer shafts, remember, for added smoothness – to provide refined power as well as superior fuel economy.

That was another bonus to the extra width, which went on to pay dividends later on in the Magna’s career. The narrower Japanese Galant was stuck with using smaller 1.6L and 2.0L engines, yet V6 engine options would come by 1991 in the local car.

As YF-W development progressed during the early to mid-‘80s, MMAL could also opt-in to the rampaging technical and electronic advancements coming out of Japan at the time, which improved the product (in most cases).

For instance, the Magna scored a four-speed auto (yes, we know the early ones failed) when others stuck with inefficient three-speeders, further enhancing the product against the quite agricultural XF Falcon and VK Commodore that the Mitsubishi would eventually launch against.

In the end, YF-W ended up being significantly different to the Galant, being longer and wider, and with 20mm greater ground clearance. Some 13 stretched Galant prototypes underwent over 500,000km of durability testing in rugged rural Australia, resulting in changes like dramatically-improved ventilation, dust-sealing and body rigidity.

More importantly, it embarrassed the skinnier (Opel-based) Commodore for cabin width, which really resonated with Australians.

When the TM Magna finally launched in April, 1985, the market was ready for a large family-car alternative. Demand far exceeded expectations, MMAL had to implement production overtime including weekend shifts, and the media also went mad for it. A Wheels Car of the Year award was the validation that Adelaide’s team made the right decision.

That first Magna wagon, released in 1987 with the TN facelift, was also a landmark because of its transformative packaging. No rival could come close, especially among the smaller mid-sized set, further broadening the Mitsubishi’s appeal.

Holden also learned from the Magna experience, making sure that its “Big New” VN Commodore eclipsed it for cabin width.

As the ‘90s progressed, MMAL’s second-gen TR (1991) and third-gen, Wheels’ COTY-winning TE (1997) continued to hold their ground against Ford and Holden.

But it was the ascension of compact SUVs as defined by the Toyota RAV4 that finally halted the Magna’s career. Consumers migrated en-masse, and with export orders drying up, the writing was on the wall.

In hindsight, the Outlander SUV, rather than the US-centric ninth-gen Galant-based 380, should have replaced it on the production line. But by then MMAL was so ingrained in the Magna mindset that it would have seemed almost sacrilegious.

Yet the Magna influence lives on. Well done, MMAL, and happy 40^th!