Like many South Africans of my age, I virtually grew up on the back seat of a large family saloon. This was the era of the Opel Rekord, Ford Sapphire, Mazda 626 and Toyota Cressida. SUVs were Land Rovers, full stop. Double cabs were driven by men with beards and guns. A Mercedes-Benz was something you could afford only after a good harvest and BMWs and Audis were laughed at when mentioned in the same breath.
The advent of cars such as the C-Class, 3 Series and A4 changed all that. By making premium badges relatively affordable to the masses, the popularity of regular saloons with mainstream badges plummeted. Today, the mainstay brands of large family saloons (Ford, Toyota, Opel) no longer offer such products in the local market.
I find this incredibly sad, not only because I have a soft spot for this kind of car, but also because I believe some of the best-value products are to be found in this segment. Recent tests of the Suzuki Kizashi, VW Passat and Peugeot 508 have reinforced this perception.
Happily, I suspect (although I may be reading the situation incorrectly) that we’re on the cusp of seeing an upswing in the popularity of these vehicles once again. Our first test of BMW’s superb new 3 Series (see page 70) was one of the triggers of this thought. The gap in pricing between premium-badged saloons (Mercedes, BMW and Audi) and the mainstream offerings is growing and becoming more obvious by the day. Similarly, compact SUVs are following the move up the price ladder and increasingly offer less for more. By contrast, the traditional family saloon offers amazing value – big cabins, useful boot sizes, comfortable ride quality and loads of features. Look at the sales figures and it would appear that the slice for the mainstream brands is growing, albeit slowly. New products such as the revised Passat, new Kizashi and, in particular, Volvo’s strong-selling S60 have grown the volume but not taken away from others. But, perhaps the clearest signal that there could be a revival in the market is the arrival of new products. Kia is about to launch its Optima and I have it on good authority that Toyota is considering offering
a new product in this segment again, and that it won’t be the European-market Avensis. Could we see the return of the Camry or Cressida? I wouldn’t bet against it.
