KIA Stinger going after the twins?

[Nolan.alex831]

Originally Posted by fatoni

Until the twins, neither company had a quintessential sports car in their line up. Before this, the Internet was full of garbage about how Toyota lost its way but here we are

Toyota didn't have a current sports car, but still had a following to draw from with cars from the past like the supra, celica, and the ae86. Subaru didn't have a RWD car but had a following from the wrx and it's variants. So yes they did not have a RWD sports car when the twins came out (no one did since the early 2000's), but they both have car enthusiast followings. I might be wrong but I've never seen any Kia meets.....


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[fatoni]

Originally Posted by Nolan.alex831

Toyota didn't have a current sports car, but still had a following to draw from with cars from the past like the supra, celica, and the ae86. Subaru didn't have a RWD car but had a following from the wrx and it's variants. So yes they did not have a RWD sports car when the twins came out (no one did since the early 2000's), but they both have car enthusiast followings. I might be wrong but I've never seen any Kia meets.....


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I guess I just don't see how having a following had anything to do with being able to build a car

[Nolan.alex831]

Originally Posted by fatoni

I guess I just don't see how having a following had anything to do with being able to build a car

It's not relevant to building the car, it's relevant to the success of the car's marketability. Kia's sports car may be every bit as good as the twins on paper or even on the road/track but I don't think it will sell like the twins are and have. A car's success goes beyond performance, if it doesn't sell they won't continue to build it. The following of the companies is what made the twins so desirable, people who are loyal to toyota or subaru but looking for the RWD sports car that had been gone for so long are why the twins took off so fast.


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[fatoni]

Originally Posted by Nolan.alex831

It's not relevant to building the car, it's relevant to the success of the car's marketability. Kia's sports car may be every bit as good as the twins on paper or even on the road/track but I don't think it will sell like the twins are and have. A car's success goes beyond performance, if it doesn't sell they won't continue to build it. The following of the companies is what made the twins so desirable, people who are loyal to toyota or subaru but looking for the RWD sports car that had been gone for so long are why the twins took off so fast.


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are there any other good sports cars that have failed because of who made them?

[strat61caster]

Originally Posted by Nolan.alex831

Toyota didn't have a current sports car, but still had a following to draw from with cars from the past like the supra, celica, and the ae86. Subaru didn't have a RWD car but had a following from the wrx and it's variants. So yes they did not have a RWD sports car when the twins came out (no one did since the early 2000's), but they both have car enthusiast followings. I might be wrong but I've never seen any Kia meets.....

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I would like to point out that neither had developed a 'pure' sports car in 10+ years before the Toyobaru came out. I'd argue that the WRX/Impreza and Lexus cars are too heavy and utilitarian to be considered 'sporty'. Meanwhile Kia/Hyundai have been trying to capture the enthusiast market with the Genesis, Tiburon and Veloster.

I don't think you're looking too hard for Kia meets, they certainly exist:
http://thekoreancarblog.com/2012/04/...mesquite-meet/
Not too different from the local meets set up on this site.

Take me back to 2010 and ask me who I'd rather put money on for a lightweight fun RWD sports car and I'd bet Kia/Hyundai over Toyota/Subaru in a heartbeat. I would have laughed at the notion of owning a Toyota built post-2000. Here I am.

[Nolan.alex831]

Originally Posted by strat61caster

I would like to point out that neither had developed a 'pure' sports car in 10+ years before the Toyobaru came out. I'd argue that the WRX/Impreza and Lexus cars are too heavy and utilitarian to be considered 'sporty'. Meanwhile Kia/Hyundai have been trying to capture the enthusiast market with the Genesis, Tiburon and Veloster.

I don't think you're looking too hard for Kia meets, they certainly exist:
http://thekoreancarblog.com/2012/04/...mesquite-meet/
Not too different from the local meets set up on this site.

Take me back to 2010 and ask me who I'd rather put money on for a lightweight fun RWD sports car and I'd bet Kia/Hyundai over Toyota/Subaru in a heartbeat. I would have laughed at the notion of owning a Toyota built post-2000. Here I am.

I stand corrected as far as the Kia/Korean car meets goes. I'd agree that the wrx is too heavy to be a sporty car, but argue that it is enthusiast driven because it is a Racecar, subaru owned rally racing for a long time.
My point isn't necessarily that the Kia won't be successful, I just think that the twins took off SO fast and continue to grow in popularity at such a rate that the Kia won't be able to complete along side of them. You're right in saying that they've been trying to capture the RWD market outside toyobaru with those three, but with the exception of the genesis(which I admit there are a lot of in my area) I rarely ever see tiburons or velosetors, that might just be where I live though.

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[reesmicm]

The Twins still need to evolve to stay ahead of the game. Technology advances and will put today's interest to tommorrow's could-have-been. It looks like Suburu might grow (Sti>4WD>turbo???), but it doesn't look promising for the 86 to grown under the Scion umbrela at least in the US.

[strat61caster]

Originally Posted by Nolan.alex831

I stand corrected as far as the Kia/Korean car meets goes. I'd agree that the wrx is too heavy to be a sporty car, but argue that it is enthusiast driven because it is a Racecar, subaru owned rally racing for a long time.
My point isn't necessarily that the Kia won't be successful, I just think that the twins took off SO fast and continue to grow in popularity at such a rate that the Kia won't be able to complete along side of them. You're right in saying that they've been trying to capture the RWD market outside toyobaru with those three, but with the exception of the genesis(which I admit there are a lot of in my area) I rarely ever see tiburons or velosetors, that might just be where I live though.

I think we've got an understanding.

I'd just like to point out that Subaru hasn't participated in WRC since 2008 and with 3 championships (either driver or constructor) while they were certainly competitive in the mid 90's and early 00's I think "owned rally racing for a long time" may be a bit of an overstatement.

There's a great documentary about Colin McRae that shows the struggles of Subaru very well during his tenure as a driver that led to 3 constructors championships and a drivers championship.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yx61QAZaTxc&list=PL24C8BF0B4807C195&featur e=share&index=27"]Racing Legends - Colin McRae - YouTube[/ame]

There's also two other shows in the series about Stirling Moss and Jackie Stewart that are fantastic.

[Astroboy]

I hear a lot of about kia's being bad quality cars from Kia owners. I honestly think the fact that Kia making an affordable, light weight, rwd coupe is actually pretty cool and hope that more manufacturers would do the same.

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