Future of rally outside of Europe is looking very scary and could fall apart in 10 years, maybe sooner.

FIA has once again failed to make a cost effective formula for the creation of 4wd cars- Argentina is probably the closest at the moment apart from their engine rule. The Evo is probably going to be stopped, leaving the WRX STI the only reasonable 4wd car affordable to be built. S2000 has failed in a way. Still way too expensive, too complicated and not relevant enough. It certainly wasn't the answer. The move to 1.6 Turbo S2000 was a decent move, but again, impossible for joe down the road to make one. The Evo and WRX STI form the backbone of most national championships outside of Europe. They are the pinnacle car of the sport for most nations (USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Japan and China to name a few), and these are about to die, not good.

On the other hand, take a look at current homologation on FIA. It is a freaking horror show for anyone outside of Europe. Notice that the big Japanese and Korean manufacturers Toyota, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Hyundai and Kia are all practically absent from 2wd. Only ones there are Honda, Proton and Suzuki and even then, they are barely there.

So what can those outside of Europe do apart from import very expensive 2wd machines which in some cases are more expensive than a 5 year old Group N 4WD, and which are no where near suited to conditions of the Asia Pacific and Americas. It is ludicrous.

The writing for this region has been on the wall for a good 15 years. The move away from Group A I believe has been a bad move. Essentially anyone with a little bit of cash could convert their road car into a group N rally car, add a bit more and you had a full blown Group A international beater, dangerous in the hands of local drivers who could have a crack at running near the top level. Manufacturers through Group A were also encouraged to build the road going version. Look at the car market now, and the resurgence of hot hatches.

Since 1997, we've had the WRC class which is just way too expensive, with N4 the only competing ground for locals outside of Europe. 2WD wise, we've had the A7 Kit Cars, remarkably nearly all were European, the S1600 class... oh wait mostly European (only Suzuki, Fiesta and arguably the Corsa available in overseas markets, only the Suzukis in Asia), and now we move to Group R which again are geared for European cars.

Any lower class in rallying, below WRC has never been relevant to those outside of Europe, with the only category working being Group N4/PWRC. Hardly any 2WDs have homologation from Japan, Korea and China and none from the US-built market, only the Fiesta which arguably is European. The FIA has failed to come up with any formula what so ever to combat this issue, and if they don't address it, or come up with a way to make Group R drastically cheaper and more appealing to non-European manufacturers, we will be seeing the collapse of competitive national series outside of the European market. Once again, a classic case of FIA looking after their own region.

What would I do to fix it? Geez, look at Argentina, their model is nearly smack on, as was the old Group A/N model. A compromise between these two models for 4WD cars would see some interesting cars built, and make competitive rallying more open to manufacturers. 2WD wise, a lot needs to be done with the homologation process. It is obviously prohibitive to those outside of Europe. It also needs to address the fact that a lot of manufacturers from the Asia Pacific and North America don't have the performance behind them, so there also needs to be some kind of equaliser to encourage the building of the easily accessible 2WD.

Finally, homologation rules need to change so a models homologation lasts longer. We now see the Evo 8 out at the end of the year, and most Subarus up to N12 and the Evo 9 gone at the end of 2014. By then, we'll really be in strife in areas outside of Europe, especially with the possible discontinuation of the Evo.

So is the future of rally good? No way. The FIA continues to look after Europe but no where else with its vehicle rules. That is what will break the sport apart, event at national championship level.