Is Sports Car Market Fading?

Demand for sports cars is up for now. But an aging baby boomer population and different attitudes among young buyers may portend a slow decline for the segment, Automotive News says.

Polk reports that one-fifth of Corvette buyers are at least 65 years old, the newspaper points out. And J.D. Power and Associates notes that the proportion of compact premium sports cars buyers who are 56 or older has grown 8 points to 36% over the past five years.

LMC Automotive says a broader array of vehicle choices gives young buyers more options, such as sporty crossovers and high-performance sedans, to traditional two-seat sports cars. Jeff Schuster, who heads LMC's global forecasting, tells AN the challenge for today's sports car makers is to attract younger buyers "while they still can."

Other research that shows that would-be sports car enthusiasts are increasingly interested in low operating costs and plenty of electronic entertainment features and less attracted to roaring engines and manual transmissions.

Sports cars and muscle cars have always sold in relatively low volumes. But they also serve as "halo" models to bolster the image of other vehicles in a producer's portfolio. The question carmakers are pondering now, AN says, is whether some other type of vehicle will be the halo car of tomorrow.