Sport Compacts Rule!

Automotive Industries, August, 2001 by Ken Gross

There's brand loyalty at stake here for OEMs and suppliers. Capture these young buyers and they'll trade up when their needs and wallets permit.

You've seen em: slammed Mirages, impossibly low Integras. You've heard em, with stereos thumping and exhausts blatting through oversized stainless steel tailpipes.

You may have puzzled over their wild graphics and 20-inch wheels, muttered something caustic about zero suspension travel and wondered how spike-haired drivers, slouched in buckets reclined to the max, can see the road.

But you can't ignore them: sport compacts, rice rockets, whatever you want to call them, they're today's hot rodders. They're online, and when they're not, they read Super Street, Sport Compact Car, Import Tune and EVO. Some of these monthly magazines run to 300-plus pages. Readers spend big bucks on hop-ups, estimated at $1.2 billion, last year. Customized compact cars dominate SEMA, and the NOPI Nationals, their own show, is growing. Traditional after-marketers like Edelbrock, Meguiars, Borla, Eibach and Summit cater to them, along with dozens of suppliers you may never have heard of like Racing Beat, FocusSport, R1 Racing Sports and every audio, tire and trick alloy wheel marketer on the planet.

Although the phenomenon is loosely called "the import scene," they're not all imports. Ford cracked the code with its Focus and offers a 160-hp sport version for those who want a hopped-up ride but prefer to buy it ready-to-wear. Souped-up Chrysler Neon SRTs are fine, too. And I think BMW's new Mini Cooper S will be a player.

But the Japanese continue to rule this profitable segment which their cars created. Acura's new 200-hp RSX Type S coupe has eclipsed the Integra GS-R, a favorite ride among the faithful. The battle is joined by Honda's cool new '02 Civic Si; Nissan's hot new SE-R; Mazda's MP3 Protege -- four doors (OK with this crowd) and a wing with the soul of a Miata. Mitsubishi's O.Z. Rally edition Lancer and Subaru's rally-bred WRX are aspirational items.

Say what you will about big American V-8s and lazy torque curves, its hard to ignore engines producing up to four horsepower per liter, tachs that redline north of nine grand and the ability to build beaucoup style and performance into a car for a lot less than you'd pay for a Bimmer or a junior Merc.

Fueling the fire is a booming import drag-racing scene. The cars, which wear their slicks on the front, routinely crack the nine-second barrier. Hero-drivers Stephan Papadakis and Kenny Tran are the Prudhomme and Garlits of today's front-drive set Street racing, nitrous injection, hot computer chips, custom bodywork, tall wings, and curvy babes in bikinis...

A hip, younger generation has clearly emerged from the boring-car doldrums of the 1980s - they're doing their thing and everybody who can sell something to them is lining up to do so. One payoff that's understated but understood is brand loyalty. It's at stake here, now and forever. Sell these customers on fixed-up old models (with support from captive suppliers like Toyota Racing Development or Mopar Performance) or new ones and they'll trade up when their needs and wallets permit.

The most visible non-player is GM. Despite start-up kits, Chevy's aging Cavalier doesn't cut it. If the next generation Cav isn't a barnburner, perhaps GM should consider borrowing the Opel Astra 2.2 SRI, or Fiat's Punto HGT Abarth from overseas. Or even better, the Alfa Romeo 147 Selespeed 2.0. MG, which may return to the States, has just announced a 500 hp V-8 RWD Xpower version of its ZT sedan; Toyota sells the Yaris T-Sport overseas; VW has the Lupo GTI - why not here to battle Mini?

Unlike hot rodding before the musclecar era, most automakers aren't waiting to see if speed and great looks catch on. Trucks won't last forever in the U.S. If your company doesn't sell a hot small coupe, sedan or sport wagon - or the go-fast equipment to make one - you're missing out on some fast, phat times.

KEN GROSS is an internationally known author and marketing consultant. He has been writing about automobiles and the auto industry for nearly 30 years.