SUVs aren't killing sports cars, enthusiasts are

There has been a very prominent narrative in the past decade in the automotive industry. It is one that tells us SUVs are taking over the world, thus making all other forms of cars redundant or out of fashion. Every carmaker, has succumbed to the SUV pressure and made one. You can find calls to stop buying SUVs as it's killing the sports car genre.

Well, I'm here to tell you that, SUVs are bad news for some types of cars, namely the traditional 3 box sedan, and wagons. It offers more practicality in every conceivable metric. So much so, product planners have reduced engine options for D-segment sedans in Malaysia. Why pour time and resources to a category of car that is dwindling, right?

However, it is a bit of a stretch to say SUVs are killing off sports cars too. See, SUVs were never made to compete or to replace sports cars, but complement it. What is killing sports cars is actually car enthusiasts. You heard me right. The very people that sports cars were designed for, is the very reason for its decline. What a preposterous suggestion! 

Fighting the good fight

If you love driving, the past decade has been littered with sports cars in many shapes and sizes, as my colleague Daniel so succintly put it. Whatever the budget, there was a sports car for you. Mazda gave us the fourth-generation Miata MX-5, Honda went ahead and built the successor to the NSX, even Renault revived its iconic Alpine A110. 

Still not convinced? In that period of time Toyota signed off on not one, but two sports car projects that saw the return of iconic nameplates, the 86 and GR Supra. At the time of writing, Toyota has confirmed that the 86 model will have a third-generation successor. 

Porsche, - a company whose fortunes were dramatically improved by the Cayenne SUV - built us hair-raising sports cars like the 911 GT3 RS and 718 Cayman GT4. Whatever your budget, there is a sports car for you out there. So you see, carmakers actually want to build us sports cars. So what was actually the problem?

The perfect sports car.... doesn't exist

The problem was, and probably still is, car enthusiasts that are unrealistically demanding. Not only that, there was this deep-rooted sense of nostalgia that dictated their opinions every time a sports car was unveiled. It seemed that, no new sports car could be good enough for them.

The Toyota 86 and Mazda MX-5 were deemed too underpowered. The Honda NSX, too heavy and not a manual. The 718 Cayman has gearing that's too long. That's even before we get to the Toyota GR Supra, which was crucified with remarks like 'that's not a JDM', 'nice BMW', and '2JZ is the best'. What most fail to understand is, the perfect sports car does not exist.

What is even more ironic is that enthusiasts only appreciate or pine for a certain sports car when it gets pulled off the shelf, but didn't buy one when it was actually on sale. Let's not forget, the NA Honda NSX and A80 Toyota Supra were pulled from showrooms because of faltering sales. They're practically deities in the enthusiast world now.

Moreover, most enthusiasts fail horribly to walk the talk. They demand the kitchen sink, but come time to put money down for one, they make excuses, or wait to buy it used. If I was a carmaker, your opinions carry little to no weight. Car companies will listen to actual customers, not used car buyers. Imagine how absurd it would sound, to design a sports car based on feedback from used car buyers? Madness.

Each sports car has a specific brief. The Toyota 86 and Mazda MX-5 brings back affordable RWD fun. The Honda NSX represents a nod to the future of electrified sports cars. The 718 Cayman GT4 is the analogue track weapon. The GR Supra was all about being a high-speed, GT sports car, with a sonorous inline 6-cylinder up front.

Let's be honest for a moment here. If you had a choice to partner any carmaker to supply you with an inline 6-cylinder powerplant for your sports car project, wouldn't you choose a company who are the best exponents of that particular art?

Big investment, small returns

All too often, enthusiasts fail to see how difficult it is to actually build a sports car. It is an almost impossible endeavour. By now you'd have heard of how Toyota lost money on every Lexus LFA they sold. You have to spend an enormous amount of time, resource and money to hone and perfect a model before it can see light of day.

That's before crash testing, emission compliance, lighting standards, noise regulations all come into play. It is a lot of effort, which seems to return very little, at least from a monetary perspective. And bear in mind, this is to please (can you really?) a very small segment of the market, some whom don't even buy the car new. Is it really worth their time?

Also, the new sports car that was just launched? Most likely funded by SUV profits. 

Conclusion

My own personal take is, I am very grateful every time a carmaker goes against their better judgement, to give us a new sports car. They don't have to, but they want to. If enthusiasts keep on moaning, they might just can their sports car programs altogether. And then enthusiasts will moan about carmakers being boring.

So, the next time a sports car is launched, please, buy it if you can afford it. Quit the whingeing and just enjoy the fact that sports cars are being built. This, in itself, is worth celebrating.