VW Has a Miata-Killer in Its BlueSport -- If the Price is Right
Volkswagen could have a huge hit in the U.S. with the inexpensive BlueSport Roadster, a mid-engined two-seat sports car planned for 2014 or 2015 that could steal sales from the aging Mazda Miata -- which has long had the market to itself.
Go back to the late 1960s and America's number one auto trading partner, believe it or not, was England. And what people bought were tiny, wind-in-the-hair double-occupancy "roadsters" like MG's famous B, the Triumph TR4 and Lotus Elan. The fact that these cars were about as dependable as a Mickey Mouse watch didn't deter buyers at the time. The MX-5 Miata, which borrowed many design touches from that Lotus, is like a British sports car that actually works, and it also sold hugely.
Up against the world's most popular sports car
Now the $23,000 Miata, which modestly claims to be "the most popular two-seat sports car in the world," is getting old, without any clear competition in its cheap-and-cheerful category. Most of the rivals are far pricier (and German, too): BMW Z4: $47,450. Audi TT 2.0T Roadster: $41,300. Porsche Boxster: $48,100.
The pricing is crucial here. Britain's Autocar predicts a European BlueSport price around $29,000. It is likely to be a few thousand dollars cheaper here, and definitely should be, if it is going to make it in the U.S. VW has gotten religion at pricing its cars to compete with Japan and Korea, so it needs to really tighten its belt here. An entry level of $25,000 seems right to snare annual sales in the 40,000 to 60,000 range.
VW's latest products, including the new U.S.-made Passat and the Jetta, have gotten some criticism for built-to-a-budget blandness. The likely-for-the-U.S. BlueSport, as well as the Microbus-reviving Buli, could change that perception. VW is exciting again!
Introduced in 1989, the Miata had its biggest year in 1990 (75,000 sold), but it still sells 20,000 to 30,000 cars globally. More than 800,000 have been produced.
Three cars on the platform
The interesting thing about the Miata-killing BlueSport is that it sits on a sports car platform that will also be used for more upscale cars by Porsche and Audi. So the VW will go after the Miata, but the danger is that it could also cannibalize sales from the more expensive sports cars in the VW-Audi-Porsche family.
As a mid-engined car, the BlueSport could really appeal to Boxster buyers who want to save money but still get the "German engineering." A model is the affordable Porsche 914, a mid-engined sports car actually developed by VW that sold a lot of cars when introduced in the late 1960s. The VW will be powered by a turbocharged 1.4-liter four-cylinder engine producing 170 horsepower. In concept form, with size and weight around the same as the Miata, it hit 62 mph in 6.6 seconds. The Audi R4 and Porsche 550 variants will obviously be more powerful: they get two-liter turbo engines and up to 380 horsepower.
The BlueSport, first shown as a diesel at the 2009 Detroit Auto Show, was, as High Gear Media put it, "one of the best looking concept cars of recent memory." It should look just as good as a production car, too. It's like a cross between the Saturn Sky, the Miata and the Audi TT -â€" with VW styling references.
GM's failures had other causes
That Saturn Sky is a good reference point, because its failure could be seen as a cautionary tale as to why entry-level two-seat roadsters don't work in the U.S. market. But the car (which had a sister in the Pontiac Solstice) was released at the wrong time, as GM was in turmoil and struggling to find a directionl. (It ultimately axed both Pontiac and Saturn.)
Plus the Sky/Solstice, styled by Fritz von Holzhausen, now the genius behind the Tesla Model S, looked great but totally failed on every practical level. There was no storage, the tops were fussy, and the cars didn't handle nearly as well as they should have.
All reports are that the BlueSport handles very well indeed, and that's critical to take on the turn-on-a-dime Miata. Autocar drove the diesel concept car, and gave a thumbs-up:
This is a terrifically exciting car: good to look at, fun to drive and, on the strength of the early mechanical package we sampled, it should be able to hold its head high on the dynamic front with cars costing twice its projected base price.All right, I'm sold, bring on the BlueSport. Just don't price it too high. An even worse mistake than sticker shock would be a decision by VW not to bring the car to the U.S. at all.
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Photo: VW