Quote:
Originally Posted by strat61caster
So your argument to my point that "sports cars don't sell well over time" (disregarding pony cars) is to use two sedans and a super car?
Completely different target audiences. Subaru and Mitsubishi killed off the 2-door variants over a decade ago and the Skyline competes with the likes of 911's and Corvettes. Four doors and 3-4x the cost is enough to move those cars to entirely different segments in my mind.
The Toyobaru has it's own deficiencies like you pointed out with my examples, every car in this price range is a compromise and the 2-door sports cars (again disregarding pony cars) are a compromise that does not lead to consistent long term sales numbers. The only car in recent memory to disprove that is the NA Miata.
Edit: Just to be clear, I'm not singling out Japan here, I just can't think of a affordable comparable sports car that has come out of Europe. But let's check out the BMW 1 Series sales since it's inception:
http://www.goodcarbadcar.net/2011/01...s-figures.html |
If it was your point that "sports cars" don't sell well over time you should not have included the rx8, due to the back seats and almost 4 doors(those little half doors) or compared them to the twins. And if we are talking about over time than it depends on the amount of time. Since you included the twins and the rx8 I assume we are now talking about sporty coupes/subcompacts. To my memory of the lancer, impreza, and even the skyline, were sporty coupes/family cars, I think the skyline was luxury sport, which were all reinvented again and again over the years till they are what they are now. If we have to disqualify a car that has changed chassis then yes, a car left unchanged over time will not sell well, Isn't that the reason for the updates? But if you take most of the sporty cars coming from Japan to the American market, they all have a long lineage. So they must have been selling well enough to continue to be made. For example, you have the 240z, which eventually made it up to the 370z. The 350z was made less than 15 years ago, and it got updates and continues to be sold, but now it is a 370z and can be loaded to the price point of a vette. And over the years a lot of these cars have had different trim packages to appeal to different aspects of the market. I see the twins in that market, not the "sports car" market. That's why I believe they have the ability to sell well over time, with the right options and upgrades.
I personally think they would sell more if it had more power. I mean why buy a car that is more cramped, has less storage space, sub par power, and who's major benefit of agility is hampered by crappy factory tires, and even then can't even really be used on the street? Power is experienced more often by more drivers, and is a much larger selling point, why buy a sporty subcompact that can be out accelerated by a minivan? When you can get a v6 mustang that beats it in every other class for the same or lower price, and has similar gas mileage, and doesn't require more expensive premium? I am making more torque and slightly lower hp in my stock 22 year old 2.4L 240sx, NA, no VVT, no direct injection, no extremely high compression. Toyota couldn't have offered a 2.5L option?