Japan takes the soft road with its performance sports cars

In the 80’s and early 90’s some of the sports car offerings from Japan were quite sensational. The twin turbo RX7 for example was an exceptionally good handling and performance oriented vehicle. Some of the Toyota Supras were also fireballs and even the Mitsubishi 3000 GT was no slouch.

Not so long ago, the Japanese sports cars all seemed to follow the same recipe - performance, performance, performance, regardless of cost. That meant one-off chassis platforms, engines, suspensions, interior modules, even steering wheels, running well past the $1 billion mark to develop.

Unfortunately, the market seemed very fickle. Initial sales of the Toyota Supra, Nissan 300ZX, Mazda RX-7 and Mitsubishi 3000GT were excellent, but they soon tapered off. After the initial period of desire, the honeymoon quickly ended.

It did not help that all four were priced above USD35,000 when equipped with all the bells and whistles that the enthusiasts wanted. Despite the price (or perhaps because of the price) industry analysts projected that all four were big money losers for their automakers.

“We learned our lessons from the last generation RX7 in terms of pricing, and in terms of the cost of the program and its componentry,” said Jack Stavana, a former Mazda North American Operations product planner. “We still have to capture the purity and essence of a sports car, but compensate for the lack of utility and function the last car had, which led us to the concept of a four-passenger sports car for adults.”

The Japanese automakers have decided that they can no longer afford the kudos that comes from production of these vehicles “de novo” and have reverted to raiding the corporate parts bin for platforms and power trains. The main reason, like most things in life, is money. It is estimated that to build a new sports car from scratch is in the vicinity of 1.4 billion dollars. Yes, billion. Costs are broken down as follows - Platform: $500 million, Sheet metal: $400 million, Engine: $250 million, Powertrain: $250 million. You would certainly need to be sure you could sell enough of the vehicle at the end of the day to cover that sort of outlay.

Even to just give your sportycar a rocketship engine is $250 million, so you can blow the others away at the traffic light Grands Prix and Japan has decided it ain’t worth it. They have decided to take the soft option and stick in an “off the shelf” engine which will be “good enough” for all but the real hero drivers.

Here’s where the Japanese automakers will source their bits. Nissan Motor Co. will use the 3.5 litre V6 from the mainstream Altima and Maxima sedans for the 2003 3.5 Z car. The Z’s platform architecture will be shared with several other Nissan branded vehicles, details of which will be unveiled at the Tokyo Motor Show in October. Nissan President Carlos Ghosn has demanded a car capable of 0-100 kph in under six seconds, priced under USD30,000. And it must be profitable, he has warned, or he’ll pull the plug, are the reports which have been slipped to the press gallery.

Mazda Motor Corp.’s RX-8 will also be on a shared platform. The underpinnings of the four-seat sports car also will be the basis of the next-generation Miata, but the Miata will not get the RX8’s rotary engine. Although four seats should increase interest from consumers with families, Mazda also may add an even higher performance two-seat version of the RX8 to increase volume from the platform.

Toyota Motor Corp. is considering the Lexus IS 300 rear wheel drive platform as the basis for its successor to the Supra. With Toyota Racing Development already building a supercharger for the Lexus’ 3.0-liter inline 6 cylinder engine, Toyota could quickly borrow the boosted engine for its sports car.

What the Japanese are doing with their sports cars is hardly new or earth shattering. Sharing major components across model lines has become common practice. Remember Lee Iacocca’s famous Mustang? That was a fancy Falcon in a racy ponycar shape. Or even today, the new Aston Martin Vanquish has switchgear from the cheaper Ford lines.

In the USA, there is a new wave of American marque niche products such as the Ford Thunderbird and the Chevrolet SSR that are borrowing major components from mainstream vehicles, while creating a separate interior and exterior to market the vehicle as appearing distinctly different.

“You borrow where it doesn’t matter to the consumer, but it’s a fine line you don’t cross,” says one of industry’s forecasters. Stated another way, they borrow where the consumer doesn’t realise where it came from.

In this way, Chrysler made the Prowler for only USD200 million because it came from the corporate parts bin. What was even more important was the fact that it didn’t look like the parts bin special!

Despite the risks inherent in the high costs of a new car project, Mazda’s Stavana says the automaker feels it must proceed with the RX8. “We see building the RX as a requirement and expectation,” he said. “But of course you are faced with business realities as well. So we’re looking at a more usable, yet true, sports car.”

Back to the future for the ‘Vette too? In 2003, the Corvette will turn 50 years old. Remember the first model? When Chevrolet gets around to celebrating the 50th anniversary General Motors may not have far to go to find the right car for the occasion. Retrovette? Automotive supplier Magna Steyr, which provides support in Europe for the production of everything from Saab convertibles to Mercedes-Benz Gelaendewagens, is showing off a conceptual Commemorative Edition Corvette combining design cues from 1950s ‘Vettes with performance and technology from the latest C5 Corvette. The pure white concept car was first spotted by enthusiasts at its debut at the Route 66 75th Anniversary Festival in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and subsequently at Detroit’s massive Woodward Dream Cruise. Designed by Magna Steyr’s William Miller the car was built by Advanced Automotive Technologies of Rochester Hills, Michigan, and the car sports design highlights such as rounded, retro fenders and wire-covered round headlights with the existing C5 body style. The C5 is most evident in the car’s doors and white convertible top, which are carried forward almost unchanged, and its interior, which retains the same design but is redone in red and white leather trim. Similar to the concept behind the “new” Thunderbird, “We had an idea - we needed a nostalgic twist on the Corvette,” said Miller, who was assigned to the project two and a half years ago. Underneath, the car is all C5 Corvette - 350 bhp 5.7 litre V8, four-wheel independent suspension, four-wheel disc brakes, traction control and active handling. But it could be even better says John J. Thomas, executive vice president of business development for Magna Steyr. Thomas says the concept could easily be fitted onto a 2003 Corvette Z 06. GM officials reportedly have expressed interest in the idea, but no decision has been made about building the car. We shall see, but if the Thunderbird takes off, expect to see the retrovette as well.

Autotrivia Quiz Last week I recalled that Air Vice-Marshal Donal “Pathfinder” Bennett produced what he hoped was the British “peoples car”. What was it called? (I lied about it being easy.) The answer was the Fairthorpe Atom bubble car, and that had a few of you scratching through the www didn’t it? So to this week and let’s go to Europe for this one. The New York Museum of modern art has kept a Farina bodied Italian car as an example of what they called “sculpture in movement.” It was a coupe with a 50 bhp engine, so it was certainly no fireball in acceleration, but it would do over 160 kph in standard tune. They built 485 of these cars and there’s the photograph to look at as well. What was this car? For the Automania FREE beer this week, be the first correct answer to fax 427 596 or email [email protected]

Next year’s F1 calendar

The media was pleased to receive the calendar for next year’s F1 circus nice and early. Then two days later we were told that it was not the finished product and we would have to wait till later this year to get the definitive calendar. However, having looked at it, I think it would be fairly safe to use as a guide at this stage. The only difference from this year is the reversal of the French and British GP dates, so for what it is worth, here is the “unofficial” calendar.

Melbourne-Australia Sepang-Malaysia Interlagos-Brazil Imola-San Marino Barcelona-Spain Zeltweg-Austria Monte Carlo-Monaco Montreal-Canada Nurburgring-Europe Silverstone-Britain Magny-Cours-France Hockenheim-Germany Hungaroring-Hungary Spa-Belgium Monza-Italy Indianapolis-USA Suzuka-Japan

03/03/2002 17/03/2002 31/03/2002 14/04/2002 28/04/2002 12/05/2002 26/05/2002 09/06/2002 23/06/2002 07/07/2002 21/07/2002 28/07/2002 18/08/2002 01/09/2002 15/09/2002 29/09/2002 13/10/2002