Celebration to mark 40 years of one of Australia's most famous cars

We’ve all had a Mitsubishi Magna at one point, or at least known somebody who did.

Now, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the first Magna, a celebration is being held where it was once built.

MAGNA40 is a celebration of the popular family sedan and wagon, and it’s open to owners and fans of all generations of Magna and Verada plus the related Diamante sold overseas.

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It’s being held at the Tonsley Innovation District in Adelaide, once the home of the Mitsubishi Motors Australia Limited (and prior to that, Chrysler) factory, with support from not only Mitsubishi but also the History Trust of South Australia.

The event organisers tease there will be “industry guests and special one-off cars in attendance”.

The Cars & Coffee-style event will be held on Saturday, October 18, between 9:00am and 2:00pm. Further details can be found on the event page.

Introduced in 1985, the first Magna was based on the front-wheel drive Galant sold overseas. Mitsubishi Australia widened it by 65mm and made various other modifications to make it more suitable for Australian conditions.

It was initially available only as a sedan, but a wagon – developed in Australia – followed in 1987, though we missed out on turbocharged and V6 engines offered in Galant-based models overseas.

The Magna was initially unique in being more spacious than rivals from other Japanese brands but more compact and efficient than the Holden Commodore and Ford Falcon of the day – a formula that Toyota would eventually follow with its ‘wide-body’ Camry, launched here in 1993.

Mitsubishi’s family car didn’t outsell the Falcon and Commodore, but for several years during the 1980s and 1990s it managed to outsell the Camry.

A new generation followed in 1991, closely related to the new Sigma sold overseas. This generation also spawned the posher Verada line, replacing up-spec models of the old Magna; Toyota would follow shortly thereafter with its Camry-based Vienta.

The wagon version of the second-generation Magna was exported from Australia to markets such as Japan, the US and the UK.

The third and final generation of Magna was launched here in 1996, based on the Japanese-market Diamante, and like its predecessor it was exported to markets like the US.

In markets like the US, where this was sold as the Diamante, it was pitched as more of a premium/semi-luxury vehicle, while in Australia it was everything from this down to a fleet-friendly four-cylinder base model.

Between 1985 and 2007, when the last vehicles were delivered, Mitsubishi notched up 527,699 Magna and Verada sales in Australia.

Production of the Magna and Verada came to an end in 2005. It was replaced that year by the short-lived 380 sedan, an Australianised version of the US-built Galant.

This was the last vehicle Mitsubishi would manufacture in Australia, before it ended local production in 2008.

MORE: Mitsubishi: A walk through its Australian-made history