Fataldawg said:
From what I remember reading, they were planning on having a V-6 model (to go against the 350Z/G35 Coupe) and a V-8 model with the 450+ hp engine that is being tested in the upcoming IS500. In addition, they are working on a Lexus "supercar" with a V-10 that should have well over 500 hp.
tennis_dog said:
oh come on, you keep taking my things outta context....i didnt mean, the solara "replaced" the supra... it was put in when the supra was taken out, right??? i did do the research, on wikipedia, and i know the solara is no where near the supra in performance, but like i said, they scratched the supra, and came with the solara...
Re-read your original post that I quoted, you specifically said "replaced," as seen here:
tennis_dog said:
i never knew the solara replaced the supra....supra was called "celica supra" then "supra", then they replaced it in the lineup with the "solara"...that is weird as hell...
I didn't take anything out of context, that is exactly what you said. But your reasoning isn't accurate, you're saying just because they Supra went out of production one year and the Solara went into production several years later, that makes it a replacement? I don't think so, that just makes it a new model in the lineup.
Anyway, the reason why the Supra went out of production (at least in the U.S.) after the 1998 model year was because the market for higher-priced Japanese sports cars was dwindling, despite success in the early 1990s. In 1996, the Mazda RX-7 and Nissan 300ZX were both removed from the U.S. market. In 1997, the Mitsubishi 3000GT (called the Mitsubishi GTO in Japan) was pulled. And as mentioned before, the Supra hit a dead end in 1998. All of these cars were about $50,000 and sold reasonably well in their first few years, but seemed too overpriced to American consumers (which is why the cars were either yanked or, in the case of the Supra in its last two years, had a significant price reduction) after their debut. Keep in mind that this was a time when American car manufacturers completely dominated the car market within the U.S., before consumers started to really think about build quality and reliability... hence why the Ford Taurus was the best-selling car at the time.
Fast forward to the end of the 20th century. A lot of the crappy domestic cars that were previously the best-sellers start showing their shortcomings, and Japanese cars start getting the recognition they deserve for their attention to fit-and-finish. Honda's Civic And Accord sales are currently dominating the market, followed by the Toyota Camry, so Japanese car manufacturers are starting to re-evaluate whether or not they want to bring over their sports cars again. Although Honda/Acura had their various sporty compacts (Honda Civic Si, Honda Prelude Type-SH, Acura Integra GS-R and Type R), none of them were really sports cars. In addition, Mitsubishi had killed off the turbocharged Eclipses and replaced them with a more traditionally American setup... a larger displacement engine with more cylinders. But by this time, Mitsubishi's Lancer Evolution VII was released overseas and various American journalists raved about it, and Mitsubishi officials hinted that they would keep the U.S. in mind when creating the Evo VIII. (The VII didn't meet U.S. bumper standards.) Honda started selling the S2000, which a lot of people praised for its handling and insane 9000 rpm redline.
However, I personally attribute the revival of Japanese sports cars to Subaru for taking a gamble and bringing the WRX to U.S. shores. While they expected to sell 10,000 of them in its first year, they sold that many within several months. After its first year, sales had totaled over 24,000, despite its "bug eye" looks that often received criticism. But it was the wild performance that was available for under $24,000 that made it such a hit. This lead to the definite green-lighting of the Evo, which further encouraged Subaru to bring over the WRX STi. But within a year of the WRX's release, we saw new sporty imports costing over $30,000 reach our shores... Nissan 350Z, Infiniti G35 Sports Coupe and Mazda RX-8, all of which have seen lots of success and have paved the way for a lot of exciting upcoming cars that offer more performance but for a bigger pricetag, like the revived Acura NSX, Lexus supercar (codenamed the LF-A), Nissan Skyline GT-R and Toyota SUPRA.