By Andrew Mackinnon

Last updated: 12th September, 2024

Australia needs to manufacture motor vehicles again, now that it no longer manufactures any motor vehicles in the country.  Japan hosts motor vehicle manufacturing, similarly South Korea, the United States of America, Germany, France, China, Russia and the United Kingdom.  Multiple African countries also host motor vehicle manufacturing – Algeria, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, South Africa, Tunisia and Uganda.

Motor vehicle manufacturing is right up near the apex of manufacturing, which is probably occupied by aircraft manufacturers.  Innovative Australian minds need something to apply their skills to.  It would not be difficult at all to build a superlative range of motor vehicles in Australia because the overwhelming majority of motor vehicles manufactured around the world today are poorly designed. Front-wheel drive motor vehicles are engineering abominations that account for a large proportion of all motor vehicles manufactured worldwide today.  Toyota makes motor vehicles that are so ridiculously curvy that at least 10% of the potential cargo space in their vehicles is eviscerated.  Mercedes-Benz motor vehicles have an absurd number of unnecessary, complicated, electronic systems that make them very difficult and very expensive to maintain.

I suggest an Australian motor vehicle manufacturer named “Boxcar”.  Its point of difference would be the boxy design of its motor vehicles which maximises their cargo space.  Instead of wildly curved sides that intrude upon potential cargo space, its sides would be mostly vertical, including its rear.  It costs a lot of money to acquire and run a motor vehicle, so it makes logical sense that its cargo space should be as large as possible to enable the vehicle to carry as much as possible.  Why would anybody want to spend a lot of money obtaining, running and maintaining their motor vehicle, only to find that they cannot fit a fridge in the back because the sloping sides of the vehicle prevent it from fitting next to the other cargo that they are transporting?

To open the rear hatch of any motor vehicle and find that there is a lip, being a difference in height between the bottom of the hatch when closed and the level of the floor of the cargo space in the rear of the vehicle, is asinine. The bottom of the rear door or doors of the motor vehicles that Boxcar would produce (such as two barn doors of equal size) would be at the same height as the level of the floor of the cargo space in the rear of the vehicle, so that items can be easily moved into and out of this cargo space.

It would be ideal for Boxcar motor vehicles to be made of aluminium, in order to resist corrosion and minimise weight, thereby maximising their power-to-weight ratios. However, I defer to the experts on the need for steel in the chassis, in order to provide greater strength to the chassis.

Boxcar motor vehicles would be rear-wheel drive or four-wheel drive or all-wheel drive.  No Boxcar motor vehicles would be front-wheel drive. Engines would only be mounted with their crankshafts parallel to the sides of the motor vehicles, unlike most ghastly, front-wheel drive motor vehicles today.

Rear-wheel drive or four-wheel drive or all-wheel drive motor vehicles with their engines mounted in this way are easier to maintain than front-wheel drive motor vehicles because the timing belt is accessible at the front of the engine bay and is therefore easier to replace. Replacement of the timing belt at the required service interval is critically important for many motor vehicles. Failure to replace the timing belt at the required service interval can result in the timing belt wearing out and breaking, which can lead to engine failure that necessitates the replacement of the engine, if the engine is not designed to allow the pistons and valves to cycle in an uncontrolled manner without hitting each other and thereby damaging each other.

There is one important reason why front-wheel drive motor vehicles became the standard to be followed in the middle of the 1980s, so that the majority of passenger motor vehicles produced today are front-wheel drive. Front-wheel drive motor vehicles are more difficult to work on, making it more difficult for motor vehicle owners to perform their own maintenance and repairs, which would save them many thousands of dollars in the long term on maintenance and repairs.

For example, it is much more difficult to change the clutch on a front-wheel drive motor vehicle with a manual transmission than a rear-wheel drive motor vehicle with a manual transmission, because the constant velocity joints on the front-wheel drive motor vehicle must be removed with difficulty before the manual transmission can be removed in order to change the clutch.

It is also much more difficult to change the timing belt on a front-wheel drive motor vehicle than a rear-wheel drive motor vehicle, because the timing belt on the front-wheel drive motor vehicle is close to the side of the engine bay so that it is difficult to access, whereas the timing belt on the rear-wheel drive motor vehicle is accessible at the front of the engine bay and is therefore easier to replace.

It is also difficult to change the constant velocity joints on a front-wheel drive motor vehicle, which need to be repaired or replaced periodically when the rubber boots surrounding the constant velocity joints wear out and tear, allowing dirt and other contaminants into the grease surrounding the constant velocity joints, thereby damaging them.

A large proportion of the motor vehicles manufactured in the world today are front-wheel drive in order to provide the dealerships of motor vehicle manufacturers with a source of revenue from performing maintenance and repairs on the front-wheel drive motor vehicles that they sell.

The engines that would power Boxcar vehicles would ideally be diesel engines, both reducing the risk of fire in an accident (since diesel fuel is not easily ignited) and allowing them to run on recycled cooking oil.

The transmission of a Boxcar motor vehicle, whether manual or automatic, would not be bolted onto the rear of the engine, but would instead be positioned just in front of the rear wheels near the rear of the vehicle. The differential would bolt onto the rear of the transmission and would drive the two rear axles (i.e. constant velocity joints) that drive the rear wheels.

For motor vehicles with manual transmissions, the clutch would attach to the flywheel at the rear of the crankshaft of the engine in the normal way. It would be covered by a bell housing, which has an input shaft built into it with a circular flange on the end of the input shaft protruding out of the bell housing. The manual transmission near the rear of the vehicle would have another input shaft protruding from it with another circular flange. A propeller shaft would transmit rotational power from the bell housing to the manual transmission. The propeller shaft would bolt onto the circular flange protruding out of the bell housing at one end of the propeller shaft and onto the circular flange protruding from the manual transmission at the other end of the propeller shaft.

For motor vehicles with automatic transmissions, the layout would be similar, except that, instead of a clutch attached to the flywheel, there would be a torque converter attached to the flywheel.

This layout was popularised by the Volvo 300 Series or motor vehicles, which was manufactured by Volvo from 1976 to 1991. The transmission of motor vehicles in the Volvo 300 Series is positioned in front of the rear wheels near the rear of the vehicle.

There are two important advantages to positioning the transmission, whether manual or automatic, in front of the rear wheels near the rear of the vehicle.

Firstly, the weight distribution of the motor vehicle is dramatically improved. Instead of most of the weight of the vehicle being in the front half of the vehicle, predominated by the engine and transmission, the weight of the vehicle is more evenly distributed between the front and rear of the vehicle. It is common knowledge that many rear-wheel drive motor vehicles, whose transmissions are bolted onto the rear of the engine, suffer from a lack of traction at the rear wheels and from deficient handling as a result of a lack of weight at the rear of the vehicle.

Secondly, it is much easier to change the clutch on a motor vehicle whose manual transmission is positioned in front of the rear wheels near the rear of the vehicle than on a motor vehicle whose manual transmission is bolted onto the rear of engine. This is because one only has to remove the lightweight bell housing from the rear of the engine, after first removing the propeller shaft, in order to change the clutch on a motor vehicle whose manual transmission is positioned in front of the rear wheels near the rear of the motor vehicle. There is no need to awkwardly remove and replace the heavy manual transmission.

The rear suspension of Boxcar motor vehicles would be so over-engineered that the rear axles (i.e. constant velocity joints) would never break, no matter what conditions and stresses they are subject to.

Most motor vehicle manufacturers around the world today design their motor vehicles to wear out prematurely so that the owners will be forced to buy overpriced spare parts in order to maintain and repair them. Boxcar could earn itself a stellar reputation by designing its motor vehicles to last as long as possible, thereby winning over the hearts and minds of people who have long since abandoned motor vehicle ownership, in order to shield themselves from this chicanery which has been going on for decades.

It is a national embarrassment that the most popular motor vehicles in Australia, the Toyota Corolla, the Toyota Camry, the Toyota Hilux and the Toyota Landcruiser, are all designed and manufactured several thousands of kilometres away in a foreign country, being Japan (which obviously has an admirable and exemplary reputation for excellence in design and manufacturing).

I look forward to the day when the most popular motor vehicles in Australia are designed and manufactured in Australia by Boxcar.