Wheels magazine has announced its Car of the Year every year since 1963, with the exception of 1972, 1979 and 1986 when no cars were considered worthy of the honour (although some came close). [1] It is considered Australia's most prestigious automotive award. Wheels Magazine itself contends that its Car of the Year award remains the oldest continuous award of its kind in the world.
The original intention of the award was to promote excellence in the Australian car manufacturing industry. Until the mid-70's, imported vehicles were not eligible for the award. The big five, Holden, Ford, Chrysler, Datsun, and Toyota, now dominated sales with a wide variety of body and engines. With falling sales, the fuel crisis and the instability of the Australian economy, all European brands, such as, Renault and Volkswagen, ceased local assembly.
With a shrinking manufacturing base, reliability and quality issue, Wheels magazine changed the award rules to allow imported vehicles to be eligible. At first, this was condemned by the local industry, unions and media. But by doing this, Wheels magazine enabled local products to judged on a global platform. This, in turn, created a more competitive product and industry. The first imported car to receive the award was the Honda Accord in 1977. Since then, the award has been given to locally manufactured vehicles on 11 out of 28 occasions.
Wheels’ Car of the Year winners are:[1]