With around eight million cars produced annually, Japan is in third place behind China and the USA. In Germany, however, the South Korean competition is now making life difficult for the Nippon manufacturers.
We’ve re-released three classics – on the computer – that could provide new impetus.
Mitsubishi Colt
Mitsubishi has announced the return of the Colt for 2023, a first sketch (see below) suggests a crazy small car. It’s a pity really: we really like the retro borrowings from the first generations, which our illustrator took as a template. (After ten years Mitsubishi brings back the Colt)
Nissan Bluebird
Distinctive edges: The box shape remains, if we have our way, typical of the Nissan Bluebird.
The history of the Nissan Bluebird dates back to 1957, and from 1973 the mid-size sedan (then known as the Datsun Bluebird) was also available in Germany. In 1990 it became the Nissan Primera in our country, and the name lived on in its homeland as “Bluebird Sylphy” into the 2000s.
Used Bluebirds are now rare in our country, but a new edition would definitely look good on the brand, which has withdrawn from the middle class in this country.
Honda S2000
For an open roadster, the Honda S2000 convinced with an unusually stiff body. This is what a new edition could look like.
The career of the Japan roadster Honda S2000, launched in 1999, lasted only ten years, in Germany around 4500 vehicles were sold by 2009.
The high-revving 240 hp four-cylinder naturally aspirated engine, which only hit the limiter at over 9000 rpm, was striking. That, that much is certain, would be different with a new edition – it would definitely be purely electric.
