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Originally Posted by EmPower
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Originally Posted by Blindside_137
+1 but still somewhat depressing
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This is a whole lot of c***. Compare the trim levels to the said cars in 2007/08 to what they are like now. If the Z4 was 15K cheaper base price, it would have made all the difference in the world. There is still a market for 30K+ good quality luxury sports run abouts; its just the Germans in their greed overestimated what a market could absorb and lost the plot. Not a lot of buyers want to spend 50+K on an average performing pig when there are much better alternatives for the same price |
Agree 100 percent.
This is rubbish. Manufacturers stopped building cars when the world economy slowed. Fine. We understand why. The only reason the segment is so slow to recover is that SOME manufacturers haven't brought new vehicles to market. Toyota gave up on sports cars 2 decades ago... so they don't really even count at all... but they do have the Scion FRS..
The last z4 was expensive and it never included an M model with a really kick but motor. Styling was warmed over from the prior model of Z4.. BMW has moved all it's vehicles so far upmarket that a z2 and a 2 series will be their sports car market for the future IF they decide to build them.
A new z4 would be 60k plus... And the m4 is already 65k plus. If BMW feels that there is a shrinking market for 60k sports cars they may be correct. But they have abandoned the 30-45k market completely.
Mitsu EVO, Subaru BRZ and STI and VW /Audi products in this segment still sell very well. Chevrolet is cranking out Camaros and Corvettes, Ford Mustang continues to sell well, Dodge has it's Challenger/ including 700 hp models. The Miata and the MINI both continue to sell well in this segment. Nissan Continues to make the 370 and also the GTR and a new Fiat Sports car is on the way to compete with the Cayman.. Mercedes seems to be selling plenty of SLK models alon with Black Series models of their sports sedans.
Mazda whiffed big time on the RX-8 styling but it still hung on for a long while. Honda should absolutely release a new S2000 and already rumors of the next NSX are out along with updates on their webpage..
http://www.acura.com/future/NSX#1
Will this segment never reach the heights of yesteryear? Perhaps not... with options like the X4 and Macan taking some buyers.. but this doesnt mean the segment is dead... Sheesh.