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The first mass-produced Australian car called the FX Model Holden rolled off the assembly line at General Motors Holden In Melbourne, 1948. This was cheaper than imported cars from overseas as it was locally manufactured. This meant it was affordable to most Australian households changing Australian transportation forever. Australian homes were changing, being built with garages, and shopping centres were being built with attatched carparks. Australians were now living further away from jobs
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In 1952, Ford a competitor to Holden, released it's trendy new Ford Zephyer, an affordable 6 cylinder car, more powerful than its former models.
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Australia's main vehicle, the Holden FX was given a facelift to the Holden FE in 1956 due to more and more Australian's owning cars. Because the car trend was starting to increase the Holden FE was released in various colours and models so Australian's could own a car that expressed more individuality.
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Toyota, now the worlds largest car manufacturer, created the first Toyota Landcruiser in 1959 Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric scheme.
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The Morris Mini 850 production started in Melbourne and Sydney late in 1961 to satisfy demands for a smaller, more fuel efficient car due to rising petroleum prices as a result of the Suez Crisis in 1956. In October 1962 the Morris Mini Cooper was launched off the production line and in 1963 became the third best selling car in Australia
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35% of Australian's owned a car.
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The Holden EH is referred to as Holden's greatest achievements. Released in August 1963, it proved great competition against the Ford Falcon. With 250, 000 sold in the first 18months it is the fastest selling Australian car ever. It was a family car which provided a large boot, powerful engine and spacious interior which led to it being popular to families for shopping and packing the boot to go on holidays or the beach. It led to many Australian families going on longer holidays.
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Toyota launches it's Toyota Camry designed for surburban families. A typical car used to drive to work.
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In 1966 the Victorian Government was the first to set the legal alcohol limit of 0.05percent for drivers, a move that was quickly followed by the rest of Australia.
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The Princes Highway was completed allowing a faster, smoother car journey straight from Sydney to Melbourne.
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The Holden Torana was released in 1967 to replace the HA series Vauxhall Viva in the Aus. Market. It was Holden's first smaller car, or muscle car, moving away from the larger family cars it was used to creating. The Torana hit big sales as it was released at the time when muscle cars wee popular and families often had two cars, and were looking for a smaller vehicle.
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The Ford Fairline ZC was a line extension of the previous Fairline models. The ZC had a V8 engine and came with a sunroof.
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In 1970, Victoria, Australia was the first state in the world to make seat belts compulsory for drivers and front seat passengers.
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In the late 60's and through the 1970's there was an influx of new muscle cars, high powered, 4 seater cars with two doors and a sleek design. The Holden HG Morano was one of their first sophisticated muscle cars released in 1970
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Holden launched the new HQ series in 1971. At this time, the company was producing all of its passenger cars in Australia, and every model was of Australian design; however, by the end of the decade, Holden was producing cars based on overseas designs.
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The Gemini was an overseas design developed jointly with Isuzu, GM's Japanese affiliate; and was powered by a 1.6-litre four-cylinder engine. Fast becoming a popular car, the Gemini rapidly attained sales leadership in its class, and the nameplate lived on until 1987.
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Holden's most popular car to date, the Commodore, was introduced in 1978 as the VB. The new family car was grafted to accommodate the larger Holden six-cylinder and V8 engines.
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The japanese company Honda establishes itself in Melbourne, Australia.
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Honda and Alpine created the worlds first automobile navigation system called the Electro Gyrocator
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The Falcon XF sedan and wagon sold between October 1984 and March 1988. It remains Ford's best-selling Falcon model to date; over 278,000 XFs were built. It was the first model since the XP not to offer a V8 engine.
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Toyota Camry replacea Toyota Corona at Port Melbourne Assembly Plant. This was the first Toyota Camry produced outside of Japan
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In 1989, Holden entered a new alliance with Toyota, forming a new company: United Australian Automobile Industries (UAAI). UAAI resulted in Holden selling rebadged versions of Toyota's Corolla and Camry, as the Holden Nova and Apollo respectively, with Toyota re-branding the Commodore as the Lexcen.[93]
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Toyota becomes Australias overall market leader in car manufacturing.
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The XG, released in March 1993, represented the most significant update to the Falcon commercials in five years. The ute was referred to as the 'Falcon Longreach' becauae of it's tough work horse image.
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UAAI was selling less cars than anticipated so it was dissolved in 1996 and Holden and Ford resumed selling their own cars.
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In 1998, the Astra was replaced again with a German Opel-engineered, Belgium-built version known as the TS Astra.The 1998 Holden Astra continued Holden's trend of sourcing its mid-size and smaller model lines.
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Holden revived the Monaro coupe in 2001. Based on the VT Commodore architecture, the coupe attracted worldwide attention after being shown as a concept car at Australian auto shows.
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Large car, and worlds first hybrid gasoline-electric car!
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The Honda Jazz, or Honda Fit made it's entrance in Australia in 2002 after massive sales in Japan. It is new type of family car that allows the bckseats to be folded down to allows space for cargo. It is now in its second generation which began in 20098 which is still showing big sales.
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From March 2003, Holden no longer held the number one sales position in Australia, losing ground to Toyota.
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The Lexus LX 570 frame was all new, derived from the second-generation Tundra but shortened and strengthened by 20 percent. the roof pillars were totally redesigned to better protect occupants in the event of a rollover.
Land Cruisers were popular from 2000 onwards for parents as they are larger safer in case of an accident. -
This Commodore hybrid combines a large but compact car with a hybrid engine that has 'green' credentials. This car is popular in he modern Australia as consumers are looking for cars that are fuel efficient and don't leave as big a carbon footprint.
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The Toyota Camry Hybrid 2010 is Australia's first hybrid vehicle. The four door sedan, petrol-electric hybrid will offer more performance while using less fuel than a conventional petrol Camry - and it will also emit less carbon dioxide.
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The Holden Captiva second generation is a 2011 large family car. It is popular with families because it is large like a landcruiser or four-wheel drive and has 6 airbags. In this time families are looking for the safest cars around
