"shpuker" (shpuker)
01/09/2014 at 21:10 • Filed to: None
2
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"shpuker" (shpuker)
01/09/2014 at 21:10 • Filed to: None | 2
| 20 |
It's a serious question that manufacturers have to ask themselves when developing a car for the US market. What the hell do we even buy? Mustangs? Camaros? High powered SUVs? Automakers have to look around at what has sold in the past in order to attempt and pin the next big thing.
Just look at Hyundai when they rolled out the Genesis Coupe. They were taking a swing right into the teeth of Ford, Chevy, and even Dodge. Maybe, just maybe they could get a share of that rich 2 door cheap RWD fun to drive market. But did they make it? Not even close. The slowest selling from the big 3, obviously the Challenger, sold 51,000 units in 2013. The Genesis barely broke 3% of that number.
"Ok so small engined RWD coupes aren't what we buy? But I thought the BRZ/FRS brothers were God in car form?" Well I wouldn't be too fast there. Nearly 27,000 twins were sold in the US in 2013. Over 50% of the Challengers numbers. So what did the Genesis do wrong? Why didn't it sell? Aside from the fact that, well lets be honest, people are skeptical that Hyundai could sell a fun car. It's simple. They made it way too damn expensive. If people want a cheap, small low powered Japanese 2 door, it better be fucking cheap. The 2.0T Genesis falls in at just shy of $35,000 base. Given it has 74hp on the Subaru/Scion twins, nobody cares. $10,000 in price difference leaves a lot of room for people to modify the car over time, and thats really what being an enthusiast in America is about. Making your car, YOUR car. Yes some people may drop $50,000+ on an SRT, a GT500, or a ZL1, but the vast majority just want something cheap and fun. Just look at the WRX, it's been doing it for years, sitting at around 17,000 sold in it's last year of the generation.
This trend certainly explains why nobody seems to have bought the Genesis, Z4, Golf R, and Audi TT in 2013. They're too expensive for the enthusiast and too peasantish for any of them rich folk.
So that's what we buy then right? Small, cheap RWD/awd cars right? Not so fast. The Jeep Wrangler nearly out sold the Mustang and Camaro combined in 2013 moving 155,000 units. Yea that's right, a big, bulky, crude, and shockingly pricey (at times) SUV. Well that's pretty much the complete opposite isn't it. Yes us American's still love us some big ol off-roader action, and it's not like the Wrangler has much real competition. The FJ-Cruiser only sold 13,000 through the year, and there isn't any other direct competition to the Jeep.
So what is it that we buy? If it isn't crude off-roaders and it isn't cheap 2 door sports cars, what the hell is it? Answer: It's attainable cars that actually make us feel that crazy emotion called joy. So yes the BRZ/FR-S may be slow, the Camaro may be massively difficult to see out of, the Challenger may be a bulky mass of testosterone, the Mustang is a massive MERICA scream across the highway, the Wrangler is a top-heavy roll cage full of YES, and the WRX is a tin can full of douche, but they're all attainable to the average person. The average enthusiast. And if any of you can look me in the eye and say you've driven all of these and not one has made you smile (regardless of whether or not you actually liked the damn thing), well the door is in the upper left hand corner.
Source: !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!
N/A POWAAAHH
> shpuker
01/09/2014 at 21:14 |
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Not going to lie, driven all of them and all except the FRS made me smile. Probably because it was an auto
xxstich666xx
> shpuker
01/09/2014 at 21:16 |
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All sports cars in America are niche. Nobody knows how to drive a fucking manual....
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shpuker
> N/A POWAAAHH
01/09/2014 at 21:16 |
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Auto-Boxes have a distinct ability to kill the fun in small, light, low-powered cars.
BlazinAce - Doctor of Internal Combustion
> shpuker
01/09/2014 at 21:17 |
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Pfft... I once sat in a WRX and couldn't help but crack a smile! And at 200 thousand, that car's hardly attainable in Brazil! This should get FP'd
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shpuker
> BlazinAce - Doctor of Internal Combustion
01/09/2014 at 21:20 |
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Hahah thank you!
On an almost related note: I know a guy that used to import a shit load of Wranglers to Brazil for that insane markup.
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shpuker
> xxstich666xx
01/09/2014 at 21:22 |
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This is true. Manuals are on the rise though. up nearly 100% from last year to 6.3% (from 3.8%)
FlimFlamMan
> shpuker
01/09/2014 at 21:25 |
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and the WRX is a tin can full of douche
That tin can full of douche makes me smile every day. I appreciate a clean p****. :P
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BlazinAce - Doctor of Internal Combustion
> shpuker
01/09/2014 at 21:25 |
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The Wrangler, along with the Mustang, is probably one of the most popular independent imports in my area, every now and then I come across one on the streets. :]
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shpuker
> FlimFlamMan
01/09/2014 at 21:27 |
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My tin can full of douche makes me smile every time I drive her.
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shpuker
> BlazinAce - Doctor of Internal Combustion
01/09/2014 at 21:30 |
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I could see the Wrangler, the Mustang is actually a bit surprising though. Doesn't seem practical down there. However that does make me grin a bit, good to see the enthusiast spirit shine through the practicality factor.
offroadkarter
> shpuker
01/09/2014 at 21:32 |
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the Gen Coupe and Toyobarus are marketed to a younger crowd that can't afford the cars in the first place, thats why they are selling less. I still see gen coupes and toyobarus all over
YSI-what can brown do for you
> shpuker
01/09/2014 at 21:37 |
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I like how you insult your car. . . well at least the people that own it. The FRS/BRZ also has people that have a most, shall we say, poor taste in mods. I want to compile a photodump of pics I have found, cause it is kind of funny.
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BlazinAce - Doctor of Internal Combustion
> shpuker
01/09/2014 at 21:38 |
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Haha, that's true.... It probably isn't very practical, but the people who can afford it probably aren't very worried about that. I know this will probably sound a bit cynical, but I usually wonder if these cars aren't purchased for ostentation as opposed to actual enthusiasm... I mean, there's a song called Camaro Amarelo about a dude's father passing away and the guy using his inheritance money to buy a yellow Camaro so he can be a success with the ladies... :p
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FlimFlamMan
> shpuker
01/09/2014 at 21:54 |
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and mine!
King Ginger, not writing for Business Insider
> shpuker
01/09/2014 at 21:56 |
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A big part of it is also this: the US if far more diverse and geographically mixed than other uniform 'entities' used for market strategy. There is not as much cohesiveness and so what works in LA won't always work in Chi won't always work in Detroit etc. etc.
ihm96
> YSI-what can brown do for you
01/09/2014 at 22:45 |
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Pretty much every car has people who have poor taste in mods
andriukas
> shpuker
01/10/2014 at 13:20 |
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2.0T genesis starts at 25k
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shpuker
> andriukas
01/10/2014 at 15:58 |
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Shit... It does. I don't know how I read that wrong.
That changes my conclusion a bit. Why the fuck does no one buy the Hyundai.
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andriukas
> shpuker
01/10/2014 at 22:47 |
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I bought one albeit used. Lots of tuning potential in the turbo version of the car.
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shpuker
> andriukas
01/12/2014 at 12:04 |
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I always kinda figured there was. Same with the Veloster turbo.