by Phil Matthews
1976
The ‘1600 Beetle’ debuts, basically an updated 1300 Beetle from
the previous year. Torsion bar front with discs, rear is ex-Superbug 1600cc
twin-port alternator engine with four-joint IRS suspension. Chrome bumpers with
rubber inserts and blinkers, black wiper arms. This final model is probably
the best Beetle to be sold in Australia. It retails for $4,140.
The Golf is released onto the market in March, joining the Passat as the second water-cooled VW model sold in Australia. Locally assembled by Nissan at Clayton, alongside the Passat, 1600 Beetle and Transporter, it is released in 1600cc four-door LS form only. The Golf is named Wheels Magazine’s Car Of The Year. It retails for $4,360.
The former VW-owned Motor Producers Ltd comes under the control of Nissan, and the company is closed down. Nissan, and its Australian-Japanese management team, take total ownership and control of the former VW plant. Nissan retains most of the ex-VW workers, as VWs are still being assembled at the plant in low numbers.
LNC Industries imports at least one Scirocco for evaluation, and displays the VW coupe at the Sydney Motor Show. It proves too expensive and is never sold in Australia.
The low-volume two-door Passats, the 1300 and 1500TS, are discontinued. The four-door LS sedan and wagon continue, with the engine enlarged to 1600cc. Prices start at $4,990.
The Transporter’s engine is bored and stroked to 2000cc. The old upright 1600cc engine was discontinued.
The government introduces Australian Design Rule 27A, which sets tough new exhaust and evaporative emission limits for all new cars sold from July. Golfs and Passats receive carburettor, ignition and exhaust gas recirculation modifications, and extra parts and plumbing. Transporters are fitted with L-Jetronic fuel injection and similar extra parts. However, VWA was decided it was not economic to make the expensive modifications required on the low-selling Beetle at the end of its life.
The Beetle 1600 ceases assembly on 15 July, when the 260,055th and last Australian-made Beetle rolls off the Clayton line, in a sad little ceremony featuring VWA’s former Australian management gathered together for the last time. There is a still sufficient stock of completed Beetles for sales to continue for the rest of the year, and shortly into the next.
The 400,000th Australian Volkswagen is sold in September, but no official ceremony marks the occasion and it passes unnoticed.
15,731 Volkswagens are sold – 1,159 VW 1600s, 4,429 Golfs, 3,945 Passats and 6,198 Transporters.
1977
After management clashes, rising costs and various production and quality control
problems at Clayton under Nissan’s control the previous year, LNC Industries
announces that all Volkswagen assembly in Australia will cease from March. All
Volkswagens for Australian sale will henceforth be fully imported. The entire
range is updated and freshened. Prices, however, rise by around 20% across the
range.
The last Australian Beetles are sold in March, as the 1976 stocks run out. The last Martini Olive Beetle is preserved by the Cusack dealership in Canberra, who lock it away in a storage facility and show it only rarely. It was eventually sold in the 1990s, and is today preserved by a VW collector in as-new, never registered condition, with less than 150 km on the speedo.
The Australian LS Golf is replaced by the fully imported German GLS, with 53 kW 1600cc engine, in three and five-door, manual and auto versions. Apart from being much higher quality and more plush, they have a modified front bonnet, chrome hubcaps, intermittent wipers and a lockable fuel cap. The GTI is not considered for Australian sale.
The now fully-imported Passat, also in luxury GLS form, is upgraded with a quad four round-headlight grille. It is available in 1600cc two and four-door versions, auto and manual.
The Transporter is also now fully imported, in twin-carb 2000cc form. Panel Van, Kombi, Pickup and Microbus versions are imported. LNC changes the focus of their Motorised Campers division to converting all makes of vans, due to the much-reduced numbers of VW Transporters available. The business is renamed ‘Motor Caravan Holdings Ltd’.
6,504 Volkswagens are sold – 130 VW 1600s, 2,831 Golfs, 1,150 Passats and 2,393 Transporters.
1978
All remaining Volkswagen parts, tooling, jigs, machines, signage, files and
documentation are removed from the Nissan plant in Clayton. The most valuable
components are trucked up to LNC’s parts headquarters in North Ryde in
Sydney, but most is dumped at the Dandenong rubbish tip.
Nissan would continue to manufacture Datsuns, and later Nissans, at Clayton until 1992 when they sold the site after years of financial losses. Nissan lost over half a billion dollars on Australian production by the time they closed. Today the former Volkswagen factory is the headquarters of Holden Special Vehicles.
The fully imported Golf GLS Diesel is introduced, with a 38 kW 1500cc diesel engine. Racing driver Kevin Bartlett drives a demonstration model from Sydney GPO to Melbourne GPO at an average of only 3.62 litres/100 km fuel consumption. The Golf Diesel also wins the Total Oil Economy Run, driven by John Leffler, averaging 4.8 L/100 km. The Golf Diesel retails for $7,759, $450 more than the petrol equivalent.
Prices for the fully imported VW range continue to rise alarmingly.
LNC Industries rationalises their VW dealership network, in Sydney and around Australia, by including their other makes on the dealer lots. Former VW/Audi-only dealers now sell Subarus, Hondas, Fiats, Lancias and Renaults, and the signage at the dealers is changed, with Volkswagen signs and banners joined by, or more commonly replaced with, Subaru.
4,196 Volkswagens are sold – 2,364 Golfs, 356 Passats and 1,476 Transporters.
1979
The Golf’s emission equipment is improved, increasing performance. Other
updates include energy-absorbing bumpers, self-adjusting rear drums, new velour
and leatherette trim and a black band between the taillights.
A pair of Golf Diesels are driven across Australia, from Brisbane to Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth (5,500 km), by Kevin Bartlett and John Leffler. The two Golfs average 3.6 and 3.7 litres per 100 km for the entire trip, averaging around 65 km/h.
The Passat gets a new wedge-shaped front-end treatment, with integrated headlights, bumpers and indicators, lowering wind resistance and improving economy. A Diesel version of both the sedan and wagon is released, with the same 1.5-litre 38 kW engine as the Golf diesel. Petrol Passats start at $9,900, and Diesels at $12,600 – both considerably more than the 6-cylinder Holdens and Fords of the time.
The last shipment of T2 VW Transporters arrives in Australia in November, as the model has been discontinued and replaced by the T3 model in Germany.
2,572 Volkswagens are sold – 1,924 Golfs, 90 Passats and 558 Transporters.
1980
Prices of Volkswagens continue to rise to unrealistic levels, killing off sales.
LNC Industries blame import quotas and the $A-Deutschmark exchange rate, but
somehow BMWs and Mercedes are unaffected. LNC decides to cut back on its Volkswagen
franchise and concentrate on selling Subarus and Hondas.
Lanock Motors remains profitable, but only by turning their dealer facilities over to Subaru and Honda. VWs are now just a minor sideline as sales slow to a trickle.
The petrol-engined Golf GLS is discontinued. The only Golf available in Australia now is the 5-door Diesel GLS.
The petrol Passat GLS sedan and wagon is also discontinued, leaving only the Diesel Passats to continue. This leaves VWA with no petrol-powered cars for sale at all.
LNC decides not to import the new T3 Transporter, as large stocks of new T2 models still exist in storage yards and dealers. Trickle sales of the obsolete T2 continue, at prices twice that of the Japanese opposition.
987 Volkswagens are sold – 551 Golfs, 271 Passats and 165 Transporters.