Mitsubishi will continue to sell its Mirage micro car for a while yet, but production has ended for the hatchback after it no longer complied with the new Australian Design Rule (ADR) changes that came into effect on November 1.
The Japanese carmaker looks like it is the only manufacturer affected by the new rule that still has stock left to sell.
The new regulations, known as ADR 85, have been introduced to try and reduce the severity of serious injuries as well as reducing fatalities in side-impact crashes with immovable objects like poles and trees.
A number of makes and models have been pulled from the Australian market because they no longer comply with the rules for SUVs and passenger cars. Light commercials have until November 2022 to comply.
A Mitsubishi Australia spokesperson told CarsGuide that production of the ageing micro car for the Australian market had ceased and that the remaining Mirage stock is the last for the current model.
"Existing Mirage stocks are fully compliant with all applicable ADRs in terms of their sale in Australia. We expect stocks to last a few months, dependent on the sales rate," they said.
That means Mitsubishi must have ordered enough stock from the Thai factory to hold dealers over for a few months yet.
The Lexus IS sedan is one of three Lexus models dropped from the line-up.
According to the Department of Infrastructure that oversees ADRs, the new regulations are applied based on the date of manufacture of a vehicle, not the date of sale. So as long as a vehicle was manufactured before or on November 1, 2021, it can remain on sale.
According to a Lexus spokesperson, the only stock left of the three models would be dealer demonstrators, and it’s likely there are only a handful of the IS and RC left in the country.
The CT appears to be all but sold out, with the latest November sales figures showing just one sold last month.
Lexus says it will hone its medium car line-up, that includes the ES sedan and NX SUV, to fill the gap left by the IS.
The Nissan GT-R is enjoying some of its strongest sales since launching in 2009.
An Alpine spokesperson said that given the model was built to order, there is unlikely to be stock leftover. However, the niche Renault-owned performance brand sold nine examples of the circa-$100,000 coupe last month alone.
A Nissan Australia spokesperson told CarsGuide that all of the final GT-R stock has arrives in Australia with the compliance plate fitted as per regulations and the company expects to sell the final example in early 2022, if not sooner.
Nissan sold 11 GT-Rs last month, marking a more than 1000 per cent increase in sales over November 2020.
There’s been significant interest in the final GT-R T-Spec, according to Nissan, so much so that October was the fifth-strongest sales month since the current-generation R35 launched back in 2009.
Another car impacted by the new ADR 85 is the Fiat 500C and related Abarth 595C cabriolets. However, a spokesperson for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Australia said the tiny city cars will be updated to ensure they comply with the new regulations.
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