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I honestly put the decline of affordable, lightweight sports-cars down to changing consumer preferences (anecdotally, people are getting fatter, lazier, and like the higher seating of SUVs they can ‘walk into’ over low sports cars they have to ‘fall down’ into). As others noted, it is still possible to engineer lightweight RWD sports cars that pass all modern emissions and safety regulations since Mazda and Toyota/Subaru are still doing it.
But the other manufacturers probably look at Mazda’s and Toyota’s sales numbers and ask, why bother? Why should the other automakers invest the hundreds of millions or even billions needed to develop a new sports car for relatively modest sales when a fraction of that investment can produce yet another SUV or dual cab ute variant on an existing platform that will sell in far greater numbers? They’re in the business of making money with the least risk, and sports cars are are high risk and expensive to develop where SUVs are low risk.
I’m actually hopeful that improving EV tech might make lightweight, awesome handling sports cars that are easier to develop possible. I’m open to an EV MX-5 if they can keep the weight down (it doesn’t need a heavy, long range battery). It has the potential to have an even lower centre of gravity and better acceleration with next generation EV motors and batteries. The main barrier will be similar to the existing barrier to ICE sports cars… will consumers buy enough of them to justify the development?
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