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Originally Posted by Pharmacist
Unlikely to be any more new sports cars models in the near future. Not enough demand. Gas prices are increasing, and the economy is still in recession. In addition, there are rising environmental concerns about pollution, greenhouse gases, diminishing oil reserves, etc......
Small fuel efficient cars, hybrids, electric cars, etc.... are gonna be the future of the auto industry. Sports cars unfortunately may become more and more niche and only few models will survive as limited production high priced cars for the rich. We gotta be grateful Nissan actually went ahead with production of the z34, especially when its main rivals toyota and honda are abandoning the performance/sports car niche, and the american car companies are semi-bankrupt.
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I have to respecfully disagree with you. The turbo 4cyl hyundai genesis coupe gets 30mpg, cost 22k, and doesn't even have direct injection yet. The GC is not a light car either at 3300lbs. Drop some weight and add DI and the combnined mpg could improve. Small, lightweight, 4cyl engine sportscars can still be popular in the future of the auto industry.
As far as not enough demand, well Ford sold over 91,000 mustangs in 2008 (most v6's). That was right before a model refresh and during one of the worst recessions in history. To put that in perspective Mitsubishi only sold 97,000 cars total.
So you see the demand for cheap,RWD, coupes is there as the sales of Mustangs and genesis coupes have demonstrated. Also add to that fact Toyota has already confirmed that they will be introducing their own (with the help of Subaru) small, rwd, coupe in the next few years and the possibility of a nissan entry into that segment becomes more believable.