Remember how excited we all were when Nissan resurrected the Z car and Mazda built another rotary-powered sports car in the early years of the 21st century? Well, we're putting their future at risk again. Auto Observer's Bill Visnic draws our attention to low sports car sales in April 2010 -- and for 2010 to date.
Take the Nissan 370Z. Just 952 coupes and convertibles were sold in April, and Nissan has only sold 3,419 so far in 2010 -- down 34 percent from 2009. Life wasn't much better for the Chevrolet Corvette. It's coming off its worst sales year in 50 years, and in April, Chevy moved just 1,089. Only 3,522 Vettes have found homes in 2010.
The situation is much worse for the Mazda RX-8. Mazda sold only 128 in April and has moved only 428 in 2010. Now reports are rampant that it might be killed off after 2011 because it won't meet Euro V emission standards. Just as with the RX-7, the high-revving (but thirsty) rotary engine that makes the car different and special might be the very thing that does the RX-8 in.
The muscle cars are the survivors of the moment, as both the Camaro and Mustang continue to bring steady sales. Sure, the Mustang was down 33 percent at 5,415 units for April, but wisely, everyone's waiting for the 2011 models which haven't yet descended on dealerships en masse.
No comments:
Post a Comment