C8 vs. NSX?

"KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time" (kngt)
07/25/2019 at 11:41 • Filed to: c8, C8 Corvette, nsx, acura nsx, corvette c8

Even assuming a $70K out the door price, Do you think the C8 will absolutely demolish NSX sales? Put a slight dent? or No effect because you feel customers won’t overlap?

specs refresher:

Source: !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!

DISCUSSION (32)

Textured Soy Protein > KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time
07/25/2019 at 11:41

I think NSX sales are struggling enough already so they can’t get much worse.

KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time > Textured Soy Protein
07/25/2019 at 11:42

But do you think the C8 will prevent it from getting any better tho?

HammerheadFistpunch > KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time
07/25/2019 at 11:43

NSX sales can’t get much worse.

412GTI > KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time
07/25/2019 at 11:45

I don’t think they’ve sold enough NSX’s to make a difference. The C8 will sell many more.

Not sure if it will take away sales though, they’re very different takes on the mid-engine sports car.

lone_liberal > KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time
07/25/2019 at 11:45

If a general consensus forms that the C8 is great then only a few iconoclast-types will go for the NSX. ( Then again, that’s pretty much the demographic that the NSX has now.) If the consensus builds that the C8 is good but flawed then snob appeal will help the NSX.

Textured Soy Protein > KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time
07/25/2019 at 11:46

I think the C8 overlaps a lot with what people wanted out of a modern NSX.

But I think that the people who like classic NSXes don’t appreciate the new one and the people who are buying NSXes are buying them either because they really like the idea of a hybrid supercar, or because they know you can get a crazy deal on one.

I also think that in spite of all the hype on the C8, once it gets out in the market, brand image will play more of a part. Sure there’s all these people who weren’t into Corvettes who suddenly are into the C8 but we’ll see how well that really translates into conquest buyers.

Shift24 > KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time
07/25/2019 at 11:55

100% it’s the price difference. If you were going to create a $70k super car pool it would be a hard choice. NSX sales would definitely increase by name alone. But it would still be hard to pull me from the C8.

Here is another scenario. What if the NSX was just RWD and just a turbo v6 at that same price point? Even if it only made 425-450hp but better handling (some how, lightness?)

I bet sales would drastically improve. The C8 would out sell it because ‘merica, but the NSX would have become a much more interesting car.

H onda was aiming for the wrong car and unfortunately for them the C8 wasnt out.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time
07/25/2019 at 11:58

Very different buyers.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > Textured Soy Protein
07/25/2019 at 11:59

Okay, how many years before I can pick up one of these for 50 grand?

Arrivederci > KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time
07/25/2019 at 11:59

I think the customer bases are far too different. Now, if Chevy comes out with a C8 Zora that uses that empty nose space for a hybrid AWD system, maybe.

Until that happens, I think of the NSX as the poor man’s hypercar and the C8 as the poor man’s supercar.

For Sweden > KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time
07/25/2019 at 11:59

Buy whatever car Takuma Sato drives

WiscoProud > KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time
07/25/2019 at 12:09

I don’t think there is as much overlap as you may think, due to one thing. Scarcity. People buying a $100-200k sports car don’t want to see a half dozen of them during their commute. As great as the Corvette is, its also going to be mass produced (at least as far as two seat sports cars go).

It may eat into the Carrera sales some, but the Corvette and 911 have been at war with each other for decades, so I don’t see a lot of overlap.

My guess is most of the C8s market is going to be the people who were thinking about buying a used R8 or Carrera, but can now get a new rear-engine car for the same money.

ShrimpHappens, née WJalopy > KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time
07/25/2019 at 12:09

If you *can* afford an NSX, is the price savings for a C8 relevant?

I know, yes, ~$100,000 is $100,000, but the world of actually buying an NSX is not the world I live in.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > WiscoProud
07/25/2019 at 12:13

My boss has a Z4M and has been thinking of something new for a while. Might actually buy a Supra (ostensibly for this wife - LOL).

He said the same thing - if you buy a special car, you want it to feel special/unique. Definitely a problem with anyone who buys a Corvette/Mustang GT/Camaro SS.

WiscoProud > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
07/25/2019 at 12:16

I’d be lying if i said that wasn’t part of the reason i bought my Land Cruiser. They’re legitimately rare by me.

Tapas > KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time
07/25/2019 at 12:16

It would be awesome if Honda ups the electric power on the next NSX dramatically as an FU to GM :)

Ash78, voting early and often > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
07/25/2019 at 12:18

Not even a special car — I find myself doing this with my own shopping. It’s not rational, but I want to be one of just a handful of something that I see every day. In my current ride (on its last legs; 2001.5 Passat wagon) I’ll often go months without seeing another one. Or YEARS without seeing another V6 4motion model. Or NEVER in the same color. I enjoy that. It makes cars resemble the rest of life, such as humans and landscapes and homes (usually). Each one is different.

That’s a hard thing to achieve in a mass production world.

Thomas Donohue > KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time
07/25/2019 at 12:18

The C8 is going to be 5 inches longer and 5 inches wider than the already-bloated 911? Yikes.

I think the R8 is also 76 inches wide, but only 174 inches long. I guess they really wanted to fit two golf b ags in there.

For comparison, the Cayman is 71 inches wide (w/o mirrors) but I can’t seem to find an accurate spec for the GT4, which is a better comparison.

Tripper > KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time
07/25/2019 at 12:25

As others said, I don’t see NSX sales getting any worse. However, one of the first things I thought (maybe the first thing), was “what would anyone want with an NSX now?”

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > WiscoProud
07/25/2019 at 12:32

Yep. Only 3,135 manual E90 M3s in the US/Canada. =)

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > Ash78, voting early and often
07/25/2019 at 12:42

Yup!

PS9 > KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time
07/25/2019 at 13:05

“Well the C8 can’t be compared to [X] because...”

Among buyers, you’ll never hear this sentence. Among armchair product planners of the internet? You’re gonna hear that a loooooooooot.

Vicente Esteve > KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time
07/25/2019 at 15:03

“The C8 just killed new NSX!”

As if it wasn't dead already.

ShitboxesAreBest > KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time
07/25/2019 at 22:21

Everyone who wanted the new NSX and can afford it already owns it, no one is gonna cross shop th e two. The C8 isn’t gonna eat the NSX’s lunch cause they don’t eat at the same place. The C8 eats at the casino buffet while the NSX eats at like a hibachi grill, this is i f the NSX eats at all. From their sales they probably eat the goldfish crackers that my kids leave in-between theor car seats.

STEALTTH > KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time
07/25/2019 at 23:40

Yes. Without question.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > Textured Soy Protein
07/26/2019 at 01:05

NSX is NSX . C8 is a mutt: Camaro mates with a Ferrari. Or is the NSX now not an NSX any longer, like the Corvette?

My opinion is irrelevant on this, but they should have retired the Corvette and called it something else. I’ll never own one, nobody will ever let me drive one, so who cares what I think?

Conscious robot > Tripper
07/26/2019 at 07:50

For people who can afford an NSX, it’s a better car. The C8 is a supercar in d esign and performance, but not so much in quality. T he NSX is more high tech, more attractive, and better put together, most likely more reliable. You get what you pay for, as they say.

Jean Girard > KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time
07/26/2019 at 10:18

I think it absolutely will. The C8 is all anyone wants to talk about lately in the NSX owner groups on FB.. I feel a lot of that has to do with the C8 ticking more of the boxes for current and potential NC NSX owners than the actual NC NSX does. Does away with the hybrid stuff (though the torque fill is fun) and adds two cylinders for half the price.

PardonMyFlemish16 > KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time
07/26/2019 at 11:18

Honda should honestly take whatever money it earmarked for future NSX development and spend it on Acuras people actually buy.

TicTac#2018 > KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time
07/26/2019 at 13:58

I have always been a Corvette owner. Had 13 of them now. In January I traded my ‘17 Z06 in on a 2019 NSX. I wanted something different that isnt seen 5 times a day. I wanted to try mid-engine and electric. I got just that, having the only NSX within a 3 00 mile area or more. I consider myself a Vette guy but LOVE that NSX. If Acura produces the rumored NSX-T, I’d take that over the new C8 and probably C8 Z06 when it comes out. The NSX feels like a special car... and I think it looks better. Its proportions are just right. Just needs a bit more power which the NSX-T is said to address. Basically, I wanted something more than a Vette but couldn’t buy a McLaren or Lambo. NSX fit bill.

someoneatacura > Textured Soy Protein
07/26/2019 at 18:44

Actually, the NSX is outselling the 2018 model by 64%, so it’s sales are going up. I would hope a car that is half the price sells more, but remember the NSX is made to order, there isn’t stock shipped to dealers automatically. The only reason stock is sitting at dealers is because they placed orders themselves. A lot of dealerships also want one NSX on hand at all times to display, we currently have 2, with a lease return coming next month.

Wolfpack86 > Shift24
08/01/2019 at 12:28

yeah that would make a much better NSX IMO.