What do an Austin 1800, a Volkswagen Type 4, and a Malibu Maxx have in common? Three cars, three manufacturers, three countries; on the surface they would appear to have no similarities whatsoever. But in fact all three suffered from the same malady: each is an example of taking a good concept and stretching it too far. Like a middleweight boxer successfully moving up to light-heavyweight then being forced to fight in the heavyweight division. Yes, the first two were products of the 1960s while the Maax didn't appear until 2004, but bear with me, folks.
Let's start with the Austin 1800. In the beginning there was the Mini, Alec Issigonis' brilliant design that revolutionised front-wheel-drive by placing the engine crossways (east-west) atop the transmission, thus making it possible to seat four adults plus a modicum of luggage in a package just ten feet long. Issigonis also introduced a unique rubber spring suspension system. Seeing this as the basis for a larger, but still compact car, the British Motor Corporation introduced the Austin 1100.
The 1100 offered four doors plus a hatch and a much roomier interior than the Mini. A reasonable amount of trunk space was included. Mechanically it was the same concept, with excellent ride and handling (if you were willing to tolerate a substantial amount of understeer). Longer and wider than the Mini it still had a balanced appearance and looked reasonably handsome.
Ah, but that was not enough for BMC. If the 1100 was a success, more must be better, at least in the minds of the marketing people. And so the 1100 was stretched to create the Austin 1800. Using BMC's dreadful "badge engineering" system that car was also sold as the Morris 1800 and Wolseley 18/85, and later as the Austin 2200, Morris 2200 and Wolseley Six. In Denmark it was the Morris Monaco. Colloquially known as the "Landcrab", the 1800 was voted Europe's Car of the Year for 1965, which would seem to make my remarks inappropriate, and yet the 1800, with all its variants was not a success. Why? The styling. Stretching the 1100's lines to create a large 5-door sedan made the car almost cartoonish in appearance.
Over in Germany, Volkswagen was facing a similar problem in that it needed a successor to the Beetle: a modern car with more interior space, more trunk room, and more performance. The 1500, or Type 3, appeared to be the answer. It followed the proven formula of backbone chassis, torsion-bar suspension, and rear-mounted air-cooled engine. The latter placed the cooling fan of its 1493 c.c. boxer engine on top, lying flat, which reduced the height to just 16," allowing space for a second luggage area in the rear. The 1500 2-door notchback styling was totally up to date, leading to the later introduction of a station wagon and a fastback. A sporting Type 3 Karmann-Ghia coupe was soon added.
By the time the Type 3 was retired it had sold 2.3 million examples, a success by any measurement. Time for another new car, one to meet the needs of a market that was demanding even more space and performance. And since the Beetle's (by then) unorthodox mechanics had worked so well in the Type 3, why not a Type 4? Get out the stretching machine, add two more doors, a little more luxury and horsepower, and you've got a large, spacious sedan for less development costs than a ground-up restart. Except that the 411 looked, to say the least, ungainly. It sold a mere 400,000 before production was mercifully halted.
Moving along a few decades to 2004, we come to the Chevrolet Malibu Maxx. Unlike the Austin 1800 and Volkswagen 411, the Maxx had not been preceded by generations of ever-expanding models. It was a 5-door version of the Malibu sedan. But that doesn't eliminate it from exclusion with the British and German examples, for the result was the same. A styling disaster.
It's difficult to know what the marketing people had in mind for this car but I'll bet the design department nearly went mad trying to incorporate the compromises. Was it a station wagon? Yes, and no. Was it a hatchback? Yes, and no. Was it a mistake? Absolutely. Had it been developed as a proper station wagon the Maxx may have succeeded. It certainly would have looked better. Unfortunately there was a perception at the time that Americans didn't like wagons, a belief encouraged by the automotive media. Similarly the media believed that Americans hated hatchbacks (although the Maxx was too big ever to be a graceful hatch).
Whatever the rationale, Chevrolet took its popular Malibu sedan and turned it into a "5-door extended sedan," creating an exceptionally spacious load-carrier with a wheelbase 6" longer than its parent. But the great American public demands a little style with its daily drive and the Maxx had none. Not even a 240 hp Maxx SS could move this dog out of the kennel. Like the Austin 1800 and the Volkswagen 411 it was a stretch too far.
So has the industry learned a lesson from this? Take a look at what's happening to the new MINI.
