Has The Affordable RWD Sports Coupe Become A Money Loser?
 

<article below> Hopefully this is just an issue in North America. The largest pickup truck or SUV one can afford rules here in S. Carolina. I blame it on pop culture and how 2 out of 3 new country songs are about a pickup. The songs sound like commercials and they all pretty much sound the same. Anyway...

Car is a status symbol and HP would be a problem for too many guys here in N. America that want a TRDemon out of the box without needing a garage at home. 2/3 of owners would have no idea and/or no funds to mod their brand new car. Under the Scion badge, about 1/3 of owners are probably still being supported by parents. The trend here, unfortunately, is ________ (fill in the blank vehicle) with the greatest horsepower I can afford/finance out of the box.

Once most buyers realize many family sedans can blow their doors off, they start looking at other cars. These guys didn't grow up with MGs and do not understand the point of a car like the GT86, HP-wise. They grew up with Mustang and Camaro, and drooled over cars like the last Supra and RX-7 because they were beautiful and powerful, but too expensive. Honestly, Mustang, and it's many incarnations, is the formula to beat. Given time, I think the GT86 could evolve into that car for Toyota.

I'm glad I got my FR-S when I did and that I got it brand new. Years down the road this car will hold a certain value and will always be in demand with a certain group of people, just like the Supra.

"Built by passion, not committee", may end with "killed off by committee". Whatever happens, I'm glad they made the car and I'm glad I got mine!

Article:
http://carbuzz.com/news/2015/4/5/Has...Loser-7726276/

definitely a money loser. sports cars are luxuries. either you do not have a family yet, or have space/resources for an extra car. they are not going to sell a lot of them. so you have to have a high profit margin per car. well, the sub $30k segment is extremely competitive, and very low profit margin. low sales number + low profit margin = money loser

unfortunately

Subaru is not losing a penny.

One of the luxuries of being the most profitable conglomerates in the world is you can afford to lose money on a niche vehicle. Long term the car should break even. Won't happen in the first couple of years but the car will have to break even or die.

For me, no it's not. I've never had the inclination to buy into the whole Mustang/Camaro/muscle thing.

At 60 years old, I bought the FR-S for fun, not as any type of investment. Just want fun. And the FR-S delivers every single time I climb in. I love it.

We all know that RWD sports cars are a market niche - nothing new there. We also know that within that category there are the "blaze in a straight line" muscle cars, and "rip up the turns" machines for two different types of drivers. So I am never settled when they get tossed in the same bin, as in this article.

So IMO, there will always be a low-volume market for this niche, not every manufacturer will want to play in that space, and the "muscle" type will outsell the "nimble/handling" type. What's new here to report?

RX8 Beautiful? Subjective. Powerful? Not so much.

You can blame that in large part on Ford and the Mustang market. Mustang buyers are never satisfied. They want a cheap, fast muscle car but get butt-hurt when something can outmaneuver them in turns. So Ford has been trying to make a track car out of the newer models. As a result, the Mustang has a perpetual identity crisis, and still the buyers are never really satisfied and end up shitting on everything else to justify their mistake.

Even so, the line gets blurred with this kind of strategy, and many automotive writers are too stupid to understand the difference between a fast car and a driver's car. They in turn feed into the public's lack of understanding.

The funny thing is that I've gotten more attention from Mustang drivers than anything else. I had a driver of a brand new Mustang approach me at a gas station and ask me about the car, whether I liked it, was it fast, etc. Then he just stood there, staring at it with a sort of sad look on his face. He was still staring at it when I said goodbye and left. It was as if he realized at that very moment that he had bought the wrong car.

I don't care what other peoples' taste or preference in cars is like.
I am just happy that the GT86 was available when I was looking for a new car.
Everytime some sales rep pulls a fast one on me with his / her Passat/A4 Avant/3 Series touring or a family van driver needs to show me how fast his vessel really is, I just think "Sir/Ma'am, at the end of the day, you are still driving the boring car" and am happy about my decision.

And the "Is it fast?" question is one of the dumbest things to ask ever.

The whole horsepower debate reminds me of when I raced downhill mountain bikes. People would look at my $6k rig and ask "how many gears does it have?" as if that was the measure of a good bike. When I'd inevitably say 8, they would laugh and sputter some stupid comment about how their bike has 21 speeds.

yeah, or the megapixel debate with cameras.

Change FR-S to BRZ and my story is almost the same, although, I'm a few years younger.

I never even considered cars like the Mustang, Camaro, 370z etc.. While I never really considered a roadster, I've been thinking about test driving a Miata as a possible future car. Wish Mazda made it into a coupe.

I love it when people use "honestly" or "I'm not gunna lie", etc...

like dude what are you not being honest with us in your sentiments before and after or what? :) :lol:

I don't know about anyone else I only know why I bought it. The moment somebody released a relatively affordable, light weight, RWD sports car, I knew I really wanted one. There may be some truth that the youth buyers will be eager for more power, that's their preference. Give me 300-400 hp when I was 16-17 years old I'd probably abuse it. Fast forward to today, and driving has been a critical component of my employment now.

I've had the opportunity to drive many many different models of cars. I now see the folly of cars built to a spec sheet. Yes the Mustang GT is very enjoyable especially if you can legally push it...the problem is I actually can't legally use the best bits of that car. If there was some road with no speed limits, the Mustang suddenly makes a good deal of sense. I don't have that, I instead drive in a city full of super slow, boring drivers resulting in much traffic. I decided that excess power to the degree of over 200 doesn't make a lot of sense anymore. Yet there are still some roads left here were there are some nice corners the only caveat...speed limits...it left me thinking what can I drive that maximizes that aspect of driving fun? The answer is a RWD light weight car. I had to say no to the Miata and S2000 because I do need to carry more than 1 person. Then this car shows up, I made sure my parents were ok with the rear seat comfort, I was more than satisfied with the car's performance...and now I've owned this car for 1 year with no regrets.

Well, I for one usually lie all the time.

So if I preface a statement with "I'm not gonna lie" or "Honestly" then you'd better listen up because I'm about to tell you something truthful. Or at least a half-truth. Ah, **** it, I'm not gonna lie...

Honestly, I'm lying right now in this post.