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Some say sports cars are in serious trouble.
Generally speaking, yes, it could be argued that sports cars have lost popularity in recent years, and some reports say that sales are down.
Sports cars, it is argued, are losing ground because they can’t take the family to Costco, are surrounded by massive SUVs, and have no use in an Uber-dominated world.
But hold on a minute. Before we go writing the obituary for the high-performance sports car, let’s remember a few things.
I wonder why more car companies haven’t built competitors to the Subaru WRX.
There’s a great write-up of the entire history of the WRX over at Road & Track, which I encourage you to read if you’re new to the car’s culture. Established WRX fans are already well versed in the vehicle’s evolution and beyond stoked about the concept for a next version.
Speaking of evolution, the only real competitor to the high-performance Subie was the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, which has recently been discontinued.
While America was introduced to the WRX in 2002, other countries (including Japan, the U.K., and Australia) have known the rally racer since 1997. That’s plenty of time for competition to spring up, but it never really did, save for the Evo.
The WRX is so different because it came from rally racing roots, is all-wheel drive, and can be had in either sedan or wagon form. That makes the car perfect for families that need to haul serious… stuff. Other carmakers just don’t have the pedigree to build a car like the WRX.
Toyota, though, could offer something similar, but with its own twist.
If you’ve turned on your TV, logged onto the Internet, or picked up a newspaper in the past week, chances are you’re at least generally aware of what’s currently happening with Volkswagen. But if you’ve been living under a rock, here’s a summary: Volkswagen made an amazingly efficient, clean diesel engine…that ended up not being so clean. By using a defeat device, VW’s 2.0-liter diesel engine was able to pass the EPA’s emissions tests while actually polluting at a rate of up to 40 times the tested numbers. The audacity of the transgression is shocking enough, but now that the investigation has begun to expand beyond VW’s 2.0-liter TDI 4-cylinder, the entire future of diesel-powered cars may be in question.