Originally Posted by el ess A
Urban Legend wants some numbers, so here is some. 147,503 Prius Liftback hybrid sales in the US alone in 2012. This doesn't count the 60K plus other Prius family sales in the US for 2012. That would push Prius US sales in 2012 to over 207,000.
84,391 total Camaro sales in 2012. Add the 82,995 Mustang sales 43,119 Challys and you're up there at 210,505 TOTAL pony cars for 2012. And not all of those are V8s.
So that's ALL pony cars vs. 1 model from 1 brand of jelly bean cars. Throw in Toyota Camry's 2012 US sales figures of 404,886 and Camry/Prius 1-2 punch is nearing 610,000 units. So even if 1/2 of all the pony cars are V8s, lets even bump that to 75% for ease- that's 610K vs 157K in 2012. That's 4 times the rate. Extrapolate all the other jelly beans, like Ford Focus' 245,992 in 2012 US sales, and it gets evident pretty fast that only about 4 models or so of the jelly bean cars production dominance gap gets even further out.
There's facts/figures. People don't flock in droves to pony cars in general, period. But with that said, sales figures alone does not a niche car make. The ZL1 is more of a niche vehicle aimed at a certain market. So is the SRT8, GT500, Z/28 and other purpose oriented cars. SS's start at $33K and depending on options, are in the mid 40s or so when you're done. Consider that an inflation-adjusted 1985 loaded out Olds Cutlass cost around $35,000 in today's dollars, I wouldn't say that they're priced in the "niche" market. I concede there are niche versions of the SS, such as the 1LE, HotWheels, etc., but the SS in general would not really be considered a niche vehicle on its own. Sorry. Just doesn't compute and I don't think the numbers could hold it up.
|