British and Japanese eye-catchers on the exhibition floor in 1992 – From the Old Box

The British car industry had taken a beating in the 1980s, so a British car show in 1992 wasn’t necessarily the draw of the year. At least, not when it came to local news. With that in mind, AutoWeek traveled to Birmingham. Once at the destination, it turned out that there was still quite a bit of interesting stuff. There were actually some special new Britons, but strikingly enough, the ranks were mainly strengthened by Japanese manufacturers.

Jaguar XJ6 Majestic

To start with the British news: on the Jaguar stand was a striking XJ40. It was clearly boarded up in several places. It concerned the Jaguar XJ40 Majestic, which would also appear as Daimler. An extra long XJ40 that also had a slightly higher roof at the back than usual. Jaguar had taken a somewhat unconventional path with the XJ40, but with the Majestic, it returned to what had made the XJ great: stately and stylish luxury transport. The Majestic provided new work for Daimler, which discontinued the XJ Series III-based Double Six in 1992. A year later, the new Double Six on an XJ40 basis would also appear.

Catherham Superseven JPE

Nowadays you have to look for the fastest accelerating cars mainly in the EV corner, but that was obviously not the case in 1992. At the time, the above Caterham Superseven JPE was simply the fastest accelerating car in the world. The Superseven was equipped with a 2.0-litre touring car engine from Vauxhall (Opel) that produced 250 hp. Far from shockingly powerful, but enough to fire the super-light two-seater from a standstill to 96 km/h in just 3.44 seconds. Wearing a full-face helmet couldn’t hurt, because otherwise you would have a large swarm of insects hanging against your uvula within seconds.

TVR Chimera

More news came from TVR, which conjured the Chimera out of the top hat in Birmingham. It was very similar to the Griffith, but with a more classic nose and a new interior. In addition to the Chimaera, a new V8 developed by TVR itself was the big one eye catcher. A very compact 4.2 V8 that delivered a power of 363 hp. In 1992, the official reading was that that block would come in this Chimaera and the Griffith, but it finally made its debut in 1996 in the Cerbera and Tuscan. The fact that TVR developed a power source itself was quite special because of its relatively small production. TVR did it because it feared the Rover V8 would not be available for much longer. After all, BMW had taken over Rover. It didn’t go that fast, though.

Suzuki Cappuccino

As mentioned, in addition to the British, there were mainly new Japanese people to see in Birmingham. What about the Suzuki Cappuccino? A Japanese pure sang you would say, with its almost endearing size and only 657 cc measuring three-cylinder. Still, it was no surprise that Suzuki parked the Cappuccino on the show floor in Birmingham. After all, the British had quite a history with affordable roadsters and the Cappuccino was compared to the MG Midget. In addition: the steering wheel was already on the right side for the English

Subaru Vivio

Another battle car with which the British had made a name for themselves was the affordable, smart and economical city car. Then we’re talking about the Mini, of course. The Japanese and British also had this theme in common. Subaru’s latest entry in that area came from Japan. That served up in Birmingham the Vivio, the successor of the Mini Jumbo. The Vivio had a small four-cylinder in its nose, a 658-cc one to be exact. Finished at 660 cc and that earned him his name (VI VI O). In 1993 we would meet him in the Netherlands.