![]() Mitsubishi has always seemed to follow Toyota and Nissan, but its Starion sports coupe had a turbocharger well before the competition did. Like the Nissan 300ZX, sales are again trending to zero. Next, the team would go to full supercar production with the LFA. With prices now well into the $75K range, the folks at Toyota and Lexus had evolved their ’69 2000GT to its final destination. The IS evolution leveled off with a V8 IS F, and in 2014 Lexus brought out the RC 350 coupe, and then the V8-powered RC F. The doors were later dropped on one IS trim, the IS 350C. Lexus stepped the performance of the IS back a bit and added a pair of doors, but prices were well into the premium levels. ![]() Lexus brought back the Supra without telling anyone in the form of the first IS sedan in the late 1990s. Rather, the team continued with the car’s engine and basic design in Japanese models. market in 1998, the folks at Toyota in Japan never really stopped work on the Supra. The Celica Supra began its evolution arc from affordable sports coupe to supercar.īy the 1990s, the Supra Turbo had become one of the top-performing coupes in America.Ĭapable of being tuned and modified to as much as 1,000 hp, the last-generation Supra had evolved well beyond affordable, and well-beyond being a simple car for commuting and weekend fun. By the end of that decade, Toyota had followed Datsun’s lead by introducing an in-line six-cylinder engine with about 123 hp. The 2000GT wasn’t really affordable, though, and Toyota’s Celica GT coupe/hatchback became the everyman’s sports car in the 1970s. The 1967 200GT was a similar car in many ways to the Datsuns of the age and had the classic cabin rearward, front engine, rear-wheel drive layout of the cars that would do battle for customers’ dollars for the next thirty years. Like Datsun/Nissan, Toyota’s affordable sports coupes also have roots going back to the 1960s. The fun and affordable 240Z had evolved from an entry-level runabout to a near-supercar and sales had trended toward zero. Over the next quarter century, the car would eventually evolve to the mighty 300ZX turbo with power reaching 300hp, top speeds exceeding 150 MPH, and prices that in today’s dollars would equate to roughly $75,000. The 240Z had a 2.4-liter, in-line six-cylinder engine with 151 hp. The first 240Zs showed up in America late in 1969. This being the ’70s, cars like the 240Z were, of course, rear-wheel drive and most came with a manual stick shift. ![]() Datsun combined the classic formula of a compact size, great handling, and a fun to drive experience that epitomizes a great sports coupe. These cars actually had their genesis in the Datsun 1600 Fairlady roadster cars from the mid-’60s. ![]() One of the most iconic Japanese sports cars of the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s were the Datsun and Nissan Z cars. – Looking for a new or used car? Start your search at. The good news is, Mazda, Toyota, and Subaru are again bringing it all back to the baseline. Here’s an informal look at how the Japanese automakers started and ended a golden age of affordable sports coupes in America. Coupled with changes in the dollar value relative to the yen, prices had also gotten out of control. The Toyota Supra and Nissan 300ZX had evolved well beyond anything offered in America at that time in terms of sophistication and real-world performance. Heading into the 1990s, that all fell apart. The Japanese companies eventually created a “gentlemen’s agreement” of sorts to limit published hp to under 276, and to keep the cars under the level of true supercars. Over the next two decades, a slow arms race developed among Nissan, Toyota, Honda, Mazda, and others. However, by the beginning of 1970, Japanese automakers were ready to show off the fun and affordable sports cars they had that could rival anything in the world. ![]() Here’s how it began, why it ended, and how it may well rise again.ĭuring the glory days of American iron from the 1950s through the end of the 1960s, Japanese automakers in American didn’t have the marketing and dealership power to make their affordable sports cars available and well-known in the U.S. Some of the most iconic affordable import sports cars were built by Japanese companies in the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s. ![]()
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