She's so fine, my '99 import - new imported car models

Expect import traffic to rise due to more minivans and trucks

The way it used to be: If you sold imports, you sold cars. No longer. Import automakers are circling like the proverbial vultures over some segments that previously were Big Three bastions. Namely, light trucks and minivans.

The '99 model year promises to be a heady one if you've got an import franchise: significant new products from heavy hitters like Honda Motor Co. Ltd. (including its Acura division) [TABULAR DATA OMITTED] and BMW AG will deliver throngs of customers - many of whom might before have been shopping purely domestic. That means the definition of the "traditional" import customer might be changing, too.

Whatever the case, it appears 1999 will be a better-than-average year for most import stores, despite the generally downward trend in prices.

Here is Ward's Dealer Business' overview of '99's most meaningful import models:

Toyota: Tundra comes, Supra goes

You might be able to hang a "What, me worry?" sign around all of Detroit when asking Big Three execs about the upcoming Toyota Tundra and its importance (or lack thereof) to the light-truck market.

The Tundra will go where the Japanese haven't before. It's a genuine full-size pickup with an honest, workin' man's V-8, the lack of which everyone knows was the prime obstacle to Toyota's previous attempts with the T100 - to crack the big-truck nut.

Toyota is crossing off the slow.selling, silly-priced Celica GT (135 hp? Come on.). We're much more chagrined about the loss of the stupendous Supra. Last year, Toyota swallowed a huge price cut on the fast but friendly Supra, and everyone knew that was probably the bellwether for the big GT's future.

Taking up the coupe slack is the all-new Camry Solara: rather benignly styled, but a better effort at a 2-door Camry than was the previous-generation Camry Coupe.

Showroom Sure Thing: When the Tundra hits the sales floor - around late spring, we think - a lot of eyes will be watching. Probably a lot of customers, too. Solara's a decent player, but it's not a high-volume item.

Honda: Going on an Odyssey

The Big Three's other eye should be on Honda Motor Co. Ltd., gearing up to launch its first genuine, large minivan.

Tilting at segment-leader Chrysler Corp. is definitely on Honda's agenda, as it makes a point of noting its new Odyssey - not to be confused with the outgoing, three-quarter scale-model Odyssey that was a showroom dud - will launch with a significant price advantage over rival domestic minivans.

The new Odyssey joins the Toyota Sienna in offering minivan buyers something that is largely lacking from the domestics: modern engine and chassis design. The Odyssey is powered by a single engine choice, a 3.5L SOHC V-6 that produces 210 hp.

The underneath bits include a fully independent suspension that simply outclasses the solid axles strapped on the domestic minivans.

Sure, Chrysler, Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp. spit out credible minivans. But one wonders if the same sort of "discerning" customers who started buying Accord and Camry - instead of LTD and Celebrity - might not be swayed now by similar perceptions of dynamic or technical inferiority from domestic minivans.

Showroom Sure Thing: The Odyssey. It doesn't get any "surer" than this. Get your allotment early, though: the year's 60,000 units won't last long.

Acura: Betting on TL mid-lux

Honda's luxury division is betting its stack of chips almost entirely on the all-new TL mid-luxury sedan.

It's a decent wager. First off, the TL benefits from a new engine for '99, a tasty 3.2L SOHC V-6 derived from the Accord's 3L mill.

The TL is rather convincingly remade- and more convincingly repriced - to compete with the likes of Toyota's Lexus ES300 and BMW's 3-Series.

The TL gets the road-smoothing, corner-cutting 5-link rear suspension that debuted on the current Accord, as well as a reorientation of its engine to transverse placement. It's the price point, though, that Acura hopes will reinterest buyers in what has become, sadly, a moribund brand.

Showroom Sure Thing: If the TL doesn't do it, take down your Acura tent. By the way, are they ever going to make a new Integra?

Nissan: Pickup has 4 real doors

As expected, Nissan dropped the shoe on the dandy-chassied 240SX coupe and the 200SX economy coupe. But there may be hay in the '99 Frontier and its four honest doors, a truck first in the U.S. And we expect Nissan to rebound further when it launches a substantially revised Maxima next year.

Showroom Sure Thing: The Maxima is better than the Accord or the Camry - and with its wonderful standard V-6, it's cheaper, too. Get a billboard, tell people about this criminally underappreciated midsizer.

Hyundai: Yet another flagship

It seems like Hyundai Motor Co. Ltd.'s got a new Sonata flagship every other year. So guess what? There's a new one this year. Hyundai says both the 2.4L I-4 and the 2.5L V-6 are all-new engines and the styling is engaging, too. Plus, there's a fully independent suspension at each corner. If the Elantra looks different, that's due to a small facelift.

Showroom Sure Thing: Didn't anybody ever tell you there are no "sure things" in the car business?

Mercedes: C-Class gets supercharged

Mercedes-Benz says it's their "Year of the V-8," but one of the most interesting developments doesn't involve eight cylinders: the entry C-Class is spiffed up with the technically interesting 2.3L supercharged engine, taken straight from the rip-roaring sales hound, the SLK roadster.

That means the base C, now denoted C230 Kompressor, gets into the entry-luxury fray with a more convincing 185 hp from its 4-cyl. engine, dispensing with last year's measly 148 horses.

As for those V-8s, the lusty new 3-valve units can be found stuffed in the M-Class and CLK- and even the new C43, but the C43 may need 302 hp to loosen $54,595 from buyers' wallets.

And the above-mentioned SLK now gets a 5-speed manual transmission as the standard gear-shifter.

Showroom Sure Thing: The V-8-toting ML 430 is the closest thing to a bonanza you're likely to find. And the revitalized C-Class, now that it's supercharged, may supercharge sales, too, at the same price as Japanese competition.

BMW: Selling 3s is kid stuff

BMW will fire off in '99 with two wagons of its own, the 528I and 540I sport wagons, respectively, fitted with either a 2.8L inline 6-cyl. good for 193 hp, or the 4.4L DOHC V-8 and its 282 soccer-mom-scaring horses. Only an inch (2.5 cm) longer overall than their sedan counterparts, the '99 sport wagons offer a unique, sliding load floor that makes grabbing things from the cargo area, particularly heavy items, less of a backbreaker.

Nor does BMW plan to give over the small-wagon niche to Audi. Joe Lawrence, 3-series product line manager, says that for the first time, a wagon variant will be included in the U.S. product plan, as BMW gradually introduces the multitude of scheduled 3-Series models to supplement this year's all-new Three sedans.

Showroom Sure Thing: Your kids could sell the new 3-Series. A guaranteed winner. Any customer asking for a discount on the Three must have flown in from Siberia.

VW/Audi: Watch out for wagons

Next up for "Trends The Domestics Should Be Watching" is station wagons. Yeah, station wagons.

Of course, the Europeans, the group that will largely be responsible for the success or failure of wagons in the U.S., wisely refer to them as avants (Volkswagen/Audi AG) or sport wagons (BMW) or estates (Mercedes-Benz).

Wagons - a.k.a. estates - continue to be the European rage, serving, if you will, as less profligate counterparts to North America's beloved SUV.

Audi is leading the European automakers' play to reinstate the station wagon's good name, this year introducing the gorgeously proportioned A6 Avant, only with Quattro all-wheel drive and the sweet-revving 2.8L, 5-valve-per-cylinder V-6.

Also in the Audi stable is the A4 Avant, reworked this year to offer only the equally tasty but less powerful - turbocharged 1.8L I-4 and a substantially lower price tag.

In the spring, Audi launches the gorgeous TT coupe, first as a 180-hp front-drive-only model, later in true high-performance trim with 225 horses and quattro all-wheel drive. It's priced to finally give Audi a competitor to the Z3/Boxster/SLK troika.

Volkswagen has chimed in with its late-98 launch of the wagon version of the shapely Passat. More important to the VW "comeback" is the totally remade Jetta, the VW sales leader; engine choices continue with the trusty if unremarkable 2L 4-cyl. (115 hp) and the sonorous 172-hp 2.8L V-6. Sheetmetal should speak better than the previous-generation boxwork.

In the first quarter, the new-generation Golf finally makes its way across the Atlantic. The Europeans love it, but for some inexplicable reason, U.S. customers roundly refuse to embrace hatchbacks - even though the Golf is as good as hatches get.

Showroom Sure Thing: The Audi TT is in line to be a genuine hit, albeit in limited numbers. For the Volkswagen outlet, Jetta is a no-lose proposition; sales staff should get up to speed on the goodness of the Golf.

Volvo: Lot depends on new S80

More notable for the absence of a station wagon variant is AB Volvo's all-new S80, which becomes the flagship of the Volvo line with the demise of the 9 Series car.

Volvo makes a living from wagons, so some find it odd that the S80, at least for now, is built only as a sedan. But Volvo's largest car - now a front-driver, completing Volvo's trans-formation into a front-drive only operation - is nonetheless technically interesting.

First, the S80 revives a drivetrain layout that hasn't been seen for decades: its 2.8L or 2.9L inline 6-cyl. engines are transversely mounted.

Moreover, manual-transmission models employ an all-new gearbox Volvo claims to be the world's shortest. The S80 T6's 2.8L engine is twin-turbocharged and develops 268 hp.

While we're about it, strangely absent from the station-wagon game are the Asian automakers, who make a nice business of station wagons in many markets; they are particularly popular in Japan.

In fact, the Japan station-wagon segment is intriguingly subdivided into some serious niches: Mitsubishi Motors Corp., in one instance, offers an outrageous, high-performance wagon version of the Galant, complete with all-wheel drive.

For some reason, though, Japanese automakers seem reluctant to follow the European lead in the U.S. - perhaps burned by their last, largely futile attempts to make a business of wagons off mainstream sedans like the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry and Corolla.

Showroom Sure Thing: Push the S80-it may be the turning point for Volvo. If it succeeds, Volvo continues as a legitimate BMW/Mercedes alternative; it fails, Volvo is a niche player for the foreseeable future.

Saab: Will 9-5 work enough?

We're happy Saab Automobiles AB has reworked the 9-3 chassis to take out the heavy understeer and factor in some better steering response.

The new 9-5 is just hitting the street after some initial pipeline problems, but we have to admit to being lukewarm after brief initial drives. We think the station wagon version may work better for Saab's intended audience, and it's coming sometime in calendar '99.

Showroom Sure Thing: See Volvo, above. Insert "9-5" in place of S80. Lease the seats off the 9-3, which should be doing better versus the segment's top dogs ES300 and 3-Series.

Daewoo: Skipping Selling 101

Finally, There's a new automaker on the block for '99: Daewoo America Motors. The U.S. has seen one of Daewoo's endeavors before, as the imported Pontiac LeMans. But don't take that rough effort as indicative of Daewoo's current ability to produce decent cars. The new Lanos, Nubira and Leganza all are highly credible efforts so far perhaps the most well-developed initial model lineup from any Korean automaker.

Not so studied, perhaps, is Daewoo's sales strategy: no dealerships. The cars will be sold through representatives on and around college campuses. Service will have to be contracted for, apparently. Hmmm . . .

Bill Visnic is managing editor of Ward's Engine and Vehicle Technology Update newsletter, and is technical editor of Ward's Auto World magazine.

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