Are Sports car an endangered species?
 

Saw this at the Autoblog website, were it mentions the RX-8 low sales and it made me wonder what other RX-8's votes were.

I voted for the "We just need some new product to get excited about" option but in reality I think it's somewhere between that and the "It's the economy, stupid!" option as well. A combination of the two.


http://www.autoblog.com/2010/05/06/i...pecies-w-poll/

Its the Economy. Just another good reasons for those tree hugger to kick them out.

only 106 GT-R has been sold ? no wonder I seen price dropping this fast.

hohoho ~~~ time to save up !

the industry as a whole in jeopardy? no. perhaps a few models like our dear rx8 which has had a long run and it only makes sense that after so many years production numbers slow up

o_o dropping this fast? It's been 2 years, and they're still $65k+. I hope you weren't counting the dealer premiums as part of the price of the car.

I think it depends on the definition of sports car before we can say "sports cars are dying out". Also depends on the price range of sports cars you're looking at too.

man your having troubling paying for insurance on your 8. Imagine what would happen when you get a GTR lol! Probably a 12k premium... ugh i couldnt live with that.

Word.

Pretty much everything sporty is called a sports car.

I think as long as we adhere to “old think” with high horsepower, overweight iron and steel - they should be endangered.


It's time for more lite-weight, hi tech materials and a new approach to engines and fuel types and improved aerodynamics.


I think it would mean fat azz people dropping some pounds too....


However
It really does come down to money.
Sports cars died once before in the 90's but they came back when the economy came back for a minute...

Yes it could be the Economy option but.... let's not forget about the "We just need some new product to get excited about" option..

As exciting as our beloved 8 is, Mazda hasn't shown anything new or exciting on the RX front for some time now, leaving the 8 to be adored by it's already adoring cul fans like myself. And all this talk about the so called 16X hasn't shown any promise so far....

100% quote.

One reason that sports cars were so popular in the heyday of the 60's and 70's is that standard sedans were so crappy. These days, the difference is much smaller and fewer people are seeing any major reason for buying them.

should have been more like "AFFORDABLE sports cars are dying out"

Just need Hydrogen RE 2012 RX7's and 9's and back in Biz with zero emissions.

This. Every fricking car manufacturer is trying to make their sports car a supercar.

Well, IMO their reasoning for calling a sports car (or muscle car) affordable stems from the fact that you can get something like a base Camaro or Mustang for mid 20s and something like a base 370z for near 30. You basically add any significant options you are quickly over 30k and even approaching 40k which is certainly not affordable for most.

Looks at the price and features too. You get a lot in the Mustang and Camaro compared to the RX8 and 370z, or even an Evo or STi. The RX8 is already overpriced, we knew that... 370Z seems to have gone so far upmarket that it forgot about its audience... GTRs, Porsches and Corvettes aren't really a fair comparison, since they're not in the same league as pony cars.

When muscle cars didn't exist or weren't competitive it was easy to sell a Z at 40k.. make a cheaper, better Z (FT86? :o) and the sales will bounce right back.

There might be some good to that. This will force others to compete performance wise and price wise. I was thinking long and hard about getting a 370Z but I was able to get myself to sleep on it for a couple of months and now I have decided not to. Around 38k for a loaded one and with the options I decided on it was around 34k. There's just something inside me that says it's not worth it. Like someone else already posted...seems like Nissan forgot the crowd that the Z is going after. By the miserable sales for the Z it is showing too...partly because of the economy in general and IMO, partly because the price is now pushing that outer edge of affordability to the crowd it should be catering to. While I agree with those who say at this stage of the game the RX8 is way overpriced given what other options are out there, I think the 370Z (even though it is still a newer model) is too. Hopefully Mazda can bring in the 16x into a competitive package which would maybe top out fully loaded around 30k or slightly more...similar to the MX-5 pricing.

In a world of competition, the consumer wins.


I welcome game changers.

definitely the economy. how can you justify a sports car when you might get laid off soon? Or what about if you've already been canned or had your pay cut?

Yes, the golden era of the uncontested internal combustion domination is drawing to a close.

No, sports cars will still exist because there are other ways you can power one.

Have you seen the Audi Electric "Sports Car" Audi e-tron this is the future of the "Sports Car" like it or not!
0-62mph in 5.9seconds with the top speed limited at 124mph.
combined output of 204 hp and 1954 lb-ft of torque

http://www.thegreencarwebsite.co.uk/...ic-sports-car/

http://www.canadiandriver.com/galler...tron_2-612.jpg

Sure...it's very nice but if this comes out or any other manufacturer has something like it, it will be nowhere near affordable. It's going to take a long time to make stuff like this cost effective.

I see your electric bill sky rocketing to never ever land. On these 100% electric cars. It would be much cheaper to own a conventional gas car...

All I'm saying is the "Sport Car" has to change direction e.g. electric or some other fuel source. If automakers make a product to appeal to a certain segment of the population and do it well, at a competitive price point there will always be a market for a "Sport Car" in some form or another. Like all new technology at first it's very very expensive, but slowly but surely it get cheaper and cheaper till almost any person who works for a living can afford them. Good example would be computers, cell phones, flat screen televisions etc. etc.. My first really powerful PC cost me close to $12,000 in the late 80's or early 90's, today most people would laugh at that price for a PC.

Yes, I am an OLD Fart and proud of it!

As far as I can see, there will still be cars, and car enthusiasts for a long time. Because of this, there will be cars FOR enthusiasts. What shape or form they will take - that I don't know - but they'll be there.

Remember when the sports car market just about died in the mid to late 90s? The price of cars got totally out of hand. Now you can get close to 80s super car performance from a sub-$20k car.. That's pretty awesome if you ask me. Look at what Toyota is doing with the FT-86 - since they can't get it below $20k, they talking about building another RWD sports car to actually hit that target. I'm excited about this. If this continues, we'll have the option of so many great machines for under $25k, meaning that the $30k cars should be amazing. Time will tell.