08-11-2013, 05:30 PM
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#9 (permalink)
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Enthusiast Member
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Location: Vancouver Island,Canada
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Quote:
Originally Posted by edk370
I'm gonna digress a little, but you'll see what I'm talking about.
Toyota no longer offers a "mid range" sports car like the Supra tt MKIV. That was initially a $35,000+ car when it debuted in '93, and ended up being close to $50,000 MSRP at the end of its run, back in '98/'99 if I'm correct. Toyota saw sales dramatically slip because the yen was too strong relative to the U.S. dollar. Fast forward to now, and you saw how Toyota will only offer ultra-expensive sports cars like the Lexus LFA; well that ended recently and those cars were only available for lease...to people who got chedda. Toyota did this imo because they wanted to get out of the boy-racer/import scene image and instead wanted to be on par in image/prestige with the likes of Ferrari, Lambo, etc...Supra MKIVs get riced out, and so do FD3S's, Z32s, and so forth. Japanese car companies want to shed the import scene/boy-racer image imho. They want to be perceived like high end Euro cars.
I think Nissan will either eliminate the Z a la the Supra, or offer a cheap entry level sports car (and name it other than "Z") a la the BR-Z or Scion to appease the teenage/early 20s mileu, and leave only its marquee sports car i.e. the GT-R because Nissan too wants to leave the boy-racer/import scene image. Besides, the import scene is passé and gaudy now.
Whatever Nissan does, more power to them. The import scene had its 15 minutes and its time to leave it where it belongs--in the past.
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Interesting point of view. I suppose it's possible that the Z line could end, but I hope it doesn't. There has been a little bit of media coverage foreshadowing a new revamped Z model (eg. Jay Leno at Nissan headquarters etc) that keeps my hope alive. Could be an opportunity for Nissan to have a small niche market in the current price range (or slight deviation from the current price range).
Last edited by Tick64; 08-11-2013 at 05:38 PM.
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