In the world of over consumption and over spending we live in these days why can’t car manufacturers produce a truly affordable sports car anymore? When my MGB GT was new it wasn’t overly inexpensive in 1968 at $3,000 but in today’s dollars that works out to about $20,000. What cool sports car can you buy for about $20,000? Mazda Miatas are probably the closest with the base price around $28,000 or so.
Granted, the 2020 Mazda Miata is more of a car than the primitive MGB and certainly has many more safety features, more HP and just about more of everything else, including weight.
I started thinking about this when I read an article on the “new” Lotus captioned:
Lotus’ last gasoline car will be an affordable daily driver, says CEO
“The practical coupe should rock Evija-inspired styling and a $100,000 price tag”
Is this really an affordable sports car? The least expensive Lotus available in the USA at present is the Evora at approximately the same price. What we need is a modern MGB or Lotus coming in below the price of a Corvette, perhaps $40,000 or so maximum. And then we need a very basic sports car to come in around the $25,000 range. It doesn’t need to be mid-engine, doesn’t need 250 HP, just a nice handling package that’s cheap to maintain.
Of course, we already have that sports car which is why the Mazda Miata sells so well. Come on manufacturers, if Mazda can do it so can you.
