Was it right to ban the factory Nissan, BMW, Toyota (Audi, Volvo) teams from ATCC?

[V8 Fireworks]

This poster thinks so, praising the rulemakers for their bold decision making that saw undesirable (?) 2000cc entrants banned from the ATCC by 1995 and from the Bathurst 1000 by 1996:

Originally Posted by jiminee

Sorry, that doesn't fit your story line but the immediate success of the category and the fact it has been running for nearly 30 years now suggests they made the right choice.

But I am not convinced. If you could have wide-ranging manufacturer support, why would you avoid it?! Why not adopt the popular 2000cc regulations from Britain that allow for a wide range of manufacturers?

Or develop regulations, which at the very least, allow for existing BMW, Nissan and Toyota factory teams to continue in the Australian Touring Car Championship. E.g., allow a provision for turbos up to 2L with rear wheel drive only? Or allow the BMW 540i to race despite not being made in Australia and not having a pushrod engine, likewise the similar Nissan Cima V8 sedan?

Concerns of "Americana" plauge the category even to the present day, with homologation of Supra, Z and M4 twin-turbo sixes to the rules seeming to be of low priority for the rulemakers compared to homologating the Camaro and Mustang naturally aspirated V8s from auto city Detroit.

Originally Posted by jiminee

And who was going to pay for it?

Despite claims that those manufacturers would no longer provide financial support to touring car racing, BMW continued to provide financial support to the their touring car team in Australia until 1997, Toyota returned with a locally built Camry in place of the old Corollas and Supra, and Audi and Volvo provided support until 1999.