THE RULE KILLING PERFORMANCE CARS IN AUSTRALIA

Australia’s decision to enforce new side-impact regulations means some beloved performance cars will not be available after November 2021

- CAMERON KIRBY

AUSTRALIAN DESIGN REGULATIONS are, for the most part, a rather benign suite of rules that ensures cars which are sold and driven on local roads are both appropriate to local conditions and safe.

However, a recent change to ADRs, as they are more commonly known, means a handful of performance car icons will no longer be available to Australian customers by the end of the year.

The headline victims of the subtle ADR tweak are the Nissan GT-R, Alpine A110, and Lexus’ IS and RC models – including the 5.0-litre V8-powered RC F.

Other passenger cars are being caught up in the bureaucratic maelstrom – like the Mitsubishi Mirage – but it is the performance heroes that will surely be sad news to MOTOR readers.

The key part of the legislation in question is the innocuous-sounding ‘Australian Design Rule 85/00 – Pole Side Impact Performance’ – or ADR 85 for short.