Despite the wealth of car choices already on offer in Australia, buyers are still missing out on some great cars available overseas. Which vehicles would you like to see in local showrooms?

There are nearly 300 vehicles on sale in Australia; closer to 1200 if you calculate all the multiple variations in engines and body styles.

A further boom in the local automotive population is inevitable as more car brands – notably from China – look to join the 45-odd already vying for a million buyers each year.

Currently, the birth (launch) rate for new cars continues to outpace the number of ‘deaths’, with approximately five all-new models being delivered for every model that’s discontinued.

Yet it’s still easy to compile a lengthy list of fine or fascinating vehicles that remain lamentably absent from the local market.

So we’ve trawled showrooms from all around the globe to determine the top 10 cars Drive would like to see pass through border control.

We do so while acknowledging why it’s not feasible for manufacturers to respond to every buyer’s – or motoring journalist’s – whim to simply import any car.

The crucial point is that, in a global context, Australia remains a low-volume market.

Car makers locally can’t, like shoppers at a wholesale food market, buy in the kind of bulk that would make for greater savings – certainly when compared with the numbers that their European or American counterparts enjoy.

Another issue is the side of the road we drive on. The major manufacturing continents of the US and Europe will only engineer cars for right-hand drive if they are also going to be sold in key RHD markets such as the UK or Japan.

The costs to certify a vehicle for local sale, as well as the expense involved in conducting internal feasibility studies, can run into hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Exchange rates, and the relative strength or weakness of the Australian dollar against other currencies, are also a significant factor that can influence the business case for a particular vehicle.

A most recent case in point is the Honda Civic hatchback. For years, Honda Australia snubbed the UK-built, futuristically designed five-door version (Type R hot-hatch excepted) and instead relied upon the Thai-sourced four-door sedan.

The company relented early last year but was forced to price the hatch so high to make it profitable that it struggled in the showroom to the point that Honda is set to drop the model.

But with all that aside, and in the spirit of the maxim that you can’t be too spoilt for choice, I've compiled a list of the 10 vehicles I'd like to see imported to Australia.

Chevrolet Camaro
Ford Kuga
Kia Cee'd
Mercedes-Benz GLK
Murray T25
Nissan Cube
Opel Insignia
Saab 9-5
Toyota iQ
Volkswagen Scirocco

You can read why each of these 10 vehicles were chosen in the Drive lift-out section of this weekend's Sydney Morning Herald or The Age, but which cars do you think Australian buyers are missing out on?

Jez Spinks