If people keep buying something, why not keep selling it? That’s what Japanese automakers figured from the Australian automotive market in the 1980s. Conservative, rear-wheel-drive, locally-built, four-cylinder cars wearing Toyota, Mitsubishi and Nissan badges were dominating the mid-size segment, long after their counterparts overseas had been replaced with more modern front-wheel-drive sedans and wagons. Ford and Holden had bigger rear-wheel-drive sedans available, so for their mid-size offerings they were happy to embrace the FWD layout. The three locally-manufacturing Japanese automakers milked their Corona, Sigma and Bluebird for as long as possible but by the mid-late 1980s, they each had developed different approaches on how to replace their breadwinners. Nissan, uniquely, used local engineering know-how to create their own mid-size, rear-wheel-drive offering from the corporate à la carte menu: the 1986 Pintara. To sit above this, they offered the six-cylinder Skyline. Together, high hopes were pinned on these new Nissans.
Toyota had offered the first FWD Camry in a single, well-specified hatchback trim as their premium mid-size offering, and continued with their stodgy RWD Corona until 1987. Eschewing the FWD Carina/Corona offered in Europe and Japan, they instead chose to build the ’87 Camry in Australia. Mitsubishi had widened and modified their FWD Galant of 1983 to create the four-cylinder 1985 Magna, an immediate hit offering four-cylinder economy with a spacious interior and even a unique wagon not offered outside of the Asia-Pacific region. To hedge their bets, though, their aging RWD Sigma overlapped the Magna by 2 years.
Then there was Nissan. Even though their FWD compact Pulsar had been successful, they chose RWD for their Bluebird replacement. What sounds like a conservative choice actually betrays their ambition: Nissan wanted a piece of not only the mid-size pie, but also the full-size Falcon and Commodore market that had been down to just two entrants since the demise of the Chrysler Valiant in 1981. They also sought to score some market share from imported Japanese sixes like the Toyota Cressida and Mazda 929. The Skyline had been offered since 1973 as a premium, imported offering but for 1986, the R31-series would be built locally, albeit with an imported Nissan inline six shared with the Holden VL Commodore. The four-cylinder Pintara would rival the smaller Ford Telstar, GM J-Body Holden Camira and Toyota Camry.
With such ambitious plans to tackle three discrete markets with variations of the same car, one wonders why Nissan chose to style the Pintara/Skyline to look almost identical to the outgoing, 1981-vintage Skyline. The Pintara and Skyline were to be Nissan’s bread-and-butter models next to the Pulsar, helping to maintain Nissan’s decent share of the market until replacements would come at the dawn of the next decade. And they made it look like this, like a clip art car drawing from a Yellow Pages ad for a mechanic. Even the interior looked dated.
The (lack of) beauty was only skin-deep. These were well-built, solid cars with well-sorted dynamics and relatively spacious interiors. The mechanicals were conventional, with a live rear axle out back and McPherson struts up front. The Skyline’s smooth inline six produced 157 hp and 185 ft-lbs, competitive numbers for the time. The six-cylinder Nissan was impressive enough all-round to be crowned Car of the Year by Modern Motor. But the less powerful Pintara was unsurprisingly less impressive: its fuel-injected CA20E four-cylinder engine struggled to move 2900 pounds of Nissan and produced just 104 hp and 118 ft-lbs. That was the problem with offering more metal for the money: you needed an engine that could adequately move said metal around. The Pintara, even in wagon form, wasn’t dramatically bigger than the Camry inside but it was noticeably heavier and slower.
The price spread of the ranges from base Pintara to loaded Skyline was over $AUD10,000, with the former keenly priced against the Camry and Holden Camira and the latter priced model-for-model just below Falcon and Commodore. The Skyline lineup was topped by the luxurious Ti, which undercut key rivals by up to $9000 despite boasting a heady feature list that included power windows and crushed velour upholstery. Those seeking something less conservative could opt for the sporty Silhouette, with a standard limited slip differential albeit no changes to the engine. Two-tone paint and a rear spoiler helped visually enhance the Skyline, but they could only do so much.
While the Skyline and Pintara were consistently in the sales top 10, that was generally because their sales were combined. It must have stung Nissan to see rivals like the Mitsubishi Magna, available only with a four-cylinder engine, outsell their mid-size and “full-size” offerings combined, sometimes by almost double. Even the more compact Camry outsold both the Nissans combined.
’88 Skyline taillights on a Pintara
Nissan believed slow sales of the Skyline could be attributed to its too-close resemblance to the Pintara. In 1988, the Skyline was facelifted (Pintara was unchanged) although the visual changes were subtle at best but for cool new, CD-shaped taillights and a slightly canted-back front fascia; mechanical changes included a new automatic transmission.
A sporty, limited-run Silhouette GTS topped the Skyline range in an attempt to boost Nissan’s image; its suspension had been fettled by the fledgling Nissan Special Vehicles Division. Nissan saw an uptick in sales for 1988. By this time, though, they were well under way on Project Matilda, their new mid-size sedan.
The Skyline was replaced by the imported Maxima for 1990, while the Pintara was replaced by another vehicle named Pintara, the Project Matilda car, that was utterly different (the R31 wagon lingered for a year longer). The new Pintara was simply an Australianized and locally-built version of the U12 Bluebird/Stanza, shared with Ford, and it was not particularly well-received. Australian Nissan build quality and reliability seemed to have declined over the years, and the new Pintara was dated at launch and nowhere near class leader status. Nissan Australia started bleeding red ink, and by 1992 they closed their Australian factory in Clayton, Victoria.
Could Nissan have toppled Ford and Holden with a more attractive Pintara and Skyline? It seems unlikely, as Australian automotive history is filled with cars that tried and failed to topple the big Aussies, like the Toyota Avalon and Leyland P76. Toyota has traditionally done exceptionally well in the four-cylinder mid-size market but remained fairly irrelevant in the six-cylinder segment. Mitsubishi has come the closest, particularly with the 1996 Magna, an Australianized version of the near-luxury Diamante. But even their good fortune came to an end and the Falcon and Commodore stood tall. Kudos to Nissan for trying and for producing a capable and dependable car with a wide range of variants. But, umm, maybe they should have styled it.
Related Reading:
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Curbside Capsule: Well-Traveled Wagons On The Street Less Traveled
Mitsubishi did offer the Australian-built Galant wagon in the U.S., was that related in some way to the Magna? I realize the Magna was RWD and the Galant FWD, and 1 was 4 cylinder powered and the other had a V6 on offer here in the ‘states…..but did the Galant replace the Magna? I ask, because of all the Japanese car makers, Mitsu was THE worst for playing “fast and loose” with model names in different markets.
Magna was FWD it was merely an Australian built FWD Sigma part of the Galant family of cars most of which are unknown in Australia,
Nissan did the same with its Bluebird as Toyota did with the Corona in the mid 80s they too fitted a FWD powertrain into the RWD bodyshell but not in Australia which continued to get the outdated models locally assembled plus the awful Pintara to top the range up, the Clayton factory was long gone by 92 it was closed by 90 I got a job there in the paint shop in 89 only to be told it wouldnt go ahead, my house mate worked at a factory that closed in 89 that made door parts for Nissan no more assembly meant lots of job losses creating the rust belt of Australia.
It depends on which generation of Galant you’re talking about–I assume the ’88-’93, as I don’t recall any other one offering a wagon in the USA? Never knew those were Australian-built, though that seems a little odd as the Magnas were widened compared to the ROW Galants. Maybe that factory was the only one that had the correct tooling for the wagon bodies and they were able to adapt it for two different widths?
Love those rear window louvers, that many Aussies install in their cars
I remember the Pintara as astonishingly ugly in its boxiness, even by the standards of the late 80s.
I have to smile at that Skyline Silhouette ad. At the time I was in the age/income bracket they would have been aiming for – but no way would I have been seen dead in something as old-fashioned. This series Skyline really looked like an alternative design study for the previous model, not like a new car for 1986. In fact the previous model was better-looking.
Mitsubishi’s Magna succeeded because it felt so good to drive compared to the Japanese competition that cylinder count or which wheels powered it simply became irrelevant. After a Magna, the Pintara felt like you’d stepped back ten years. I’d imagine the Skyline felt just as dated, only faster.
There was a new model Skyline out in 90 I think that Aussie never saw Nissan AU just kept building the old models the ran away back to Japan.
We got a batch of 100 R32 GTRs, but no sedans. Then Nissan tried to sell us those forgettable big front drivers – can’t even think if the name! Must be getting old….. Nobody much bought them, anyway. BAD product decision!
Now there’s probably several thousand GTRs in the country, and I just saw an R33 Skyline sedan going down my street yesterday. In my little (~2500 people) town!
What’s of most interest to me is the Ford wagons in pictures 1 and 3. They appear to be the same Ford wagon in low and high trims.
I can’t tell what Ford calls this wagon, but it is very similar to what was sold in the U.S. as the Ford Freestyle 2005-2007, and Taurus X 2008-2009.
This vehicle is one that really had to scream out to Alan Mulally for the “One Ford” initiative. While apparently extremely similar in concept and appearance, I believe the AU and US versions share little, if anything.
This is the first time I’ve ever seen a picture of the AU version in the wild, and you’ve inadvertently captured two of them!
Ford Territory.
Yep. Falcon-based with the 4 litre DOHC straight six, and very popular. Fast and fairly tough. They even came with the turbo six for a while.
The ones in the pic are the original model. There have been two facelift since then, and now you can get them with a diesel V6.
..the 6 speed turbo 240kw is a fun SUV ..it loves 98 octane fuel ..plenty of it ..lol ! …and they can be easily chipped and boost modded to 310kws!!
I see ‘Gull’ now puts out even higher octane self-serve on-pump ‘Gull Plus racing fuel’ made from a full 85% whey-based ethanol distillate . .
The set of inboard lights and the resultant narrower grille on the Skyline Silhouette GTS make it look completely different from the JDM Skyline…I never even knew a “Silhouette” model of the Skyline existed and that it was even available in Australia. The red Skyline (or Pintara?) station wagon with a gray roof makes it look like a Hong Kong taxi. I’m always learning something new on this site!
Am I the only one drooling over the Silhouette GTS? I seriously wish they had those in the USA.
The white GTS pictured is the Series I version, the later Series II with the updated tail lights and arguably nicer detailing and body kit was red with white alloys, and was a very sharp looking thing.
But not really a patch on the equivalent Group A Commodores for performance, even if the styling was more restrained, and a touch more classy.
The Skyline Wagon was an impressive load carrying platform. It had a space in the back big enough to bring home a full sized rimu bookcase. It was also a nice vehicle to drive. Mine had the Z series 1770cc OHC engine ex the 180B ..nice torquey engine. These Z series ‘fours’ also went into the Homi vans in 1952cc versions, making them ‘ton-up’ 100mph commercial vehicles – lol
I owned a Pintara sedan for a short period of time, never got to really drive it. Bought it as a fixer upper but you’d fix one thing on it and then find another, ran out of money to spend on parts so sold it on. The twin spark system on the CA20E I thought was a bit of a lazy way to presumably meet emissions standards. You wouldn’t bother with the Pintara at all if you could get a Skyline of course, and the Skyline shared it’s drivetrain with it’s own competition of the VL Commodore.
” like a clip art car drawing from a Yellow Pages ad for a mechanic”
Brilliant! That is *exactly* what it looks like. So bland as to be almost non-detailed, boxy, angled front end, mail slot grille. Generic Car.
The Stanza (Bluebird) we had in the USA market was not exciting in the slightest, but it was at least a little more styled! Still boxy but the detailing was present.
Sorry but I only have eyes for the Honda Accord parked next to the Nissan. It has a reversing light in the r/h rear cluster ? Since it is a RH drive car it should have a fog light in the r/h cluster and the reversing light in the l/h cluster. Or do the Australians not have any fog ?
(The best thing about the Nissan is the beautiful slender “A” pillar)
The Silhouette is really an aggressively angular car. Not that the angles themselves are aggressive (there are Italian exotics that are moreso), but it’s very determined in its angularity. It’s as if someone in the design team suffered a childhood trauma involving a French curve and swore, “Never again.”
I never had one of these but did drive out of interest a much later Maxima and it showed us with a little effort what Nissan could have done if it had tried all those years ago.A detuned 300ZX engine for the Skyline much like that 2003 Maxima had with it’s engine from the 350Z is what was needed.The imported short lived 1993 to 1997 Bluebird is what Australia could have held out for even if it meant for them no mid size segment for Australia or use the Primera from the UK as a stop gap measurement for now.As for sharing with Ford what were they thinking that lot had a great partnership in this end of the market badge engineering Mazda 626’s as Telstar Sedans for Australia at the time which should have kept ongoing.