Yes, it's time for a European Mustang-Killer

More than 40 years ago, when the Ford Motors Company launched the Mustang, it would create an all new market niche, void of any competition. A cheap sports-car full of options, targeting young customers, backed by tons of marketing efforts. The success was huge : more than 2 million units of the first MK1 iteration were produced, and to this day the Mustang remains the clear and constant sales leader before main competitors Dodge Challenger and Chevy Camaro.
This recipe consisting of cheap speed in an aggressive package has since become the hallmark of American sports-cars, with their European counterparts entrenching themselves in the more exclusive segments.

The European sports-cars market has consolidated itself into what can be grossly broken down in 3 categories : roadsters, hot/super hatches, and higher-end cars/sports-cars. The everlasting European monopole on luxury (both in quality and design) ensures the continuity of their higher-end segment ; but Japanese and American carmakers have seriously caught up in both the roadster and hot hatches segments, where they successfully compete with the Old World. With mainstream coupes partly dying out and/or moving to uninspiring FWD platforms, the market for fast, stylish coupes fell into the hands of German premium brands, while American and Japanese super hatches and Japanese roadsters took the respective markets by storm.

In fact, the higher-end segment is the last real bastion of European carmakers, and not since the Ford Capri have we seen a euro car that is comparable to a muscle car in that it is both cheap and sporty : roadsters are roadsters (i. e. they are 2-seaters and hence an entirely different sort of sports-car), and hot hatches are (pardon the blasphemy) “just” supped up versions of normal cars. Yet, there is a very real market for cheap fast 4-seaters, as the huge success of the Mustang has proven. And the Europeans are not shy with engine power either : in fact, more Mustang V8 are purchased in Europe (about 70% of orders) than in America itself (52%) !
Now obviously, American carmakers, for example Ford and Corvette, already have a rock-solid pedigree within this segment. One can only imagine the skepticism a cheap sporty European 4-seater that is trying to be a muscle car would be confronted to. But considering the high demand and especially the big profit margin that can be drawn from these types of cars, the leap might be worth it for some carmakers.

Evidently, German and other more competitive carmakers would profit the least from a downgrade to try and compete with the Mustang, as comfortably reigning upon their own categories as they already are. Mercedes, BMW, Audi and most notably Porsche are all very much supreme in their establishments, and have no need for such an investment. The move may, however, be a good idea for French or Italian carmakers who are struggling to compete with the Germans in their respective category. Take Alfa Romeo for instance, who is still trying (and thus far failing)[https://www.carthrottle.com/post/n4gz54g/] to compete with the Giulia’s German competitors. A cheaper, meatier, less trying-for-the-M3 version of the Giulia could in turn find the appeal it needs, both in Europe and the U.S.

Another potential contender could be Alpine : the newly resurrected Renault-subsidiary will soon make a much noted comeback with a modern reinterpretation of the mythical A110. With this car, it’s clearly aiming for the Porsche Cayman, yet it would also do Alpine good to ambition a lower price range than the German champ. In its history, Alpine has built cars that could be compared to the Mustang of the time in terms of power and price/performance ratio, with performances worthy of any Porsche of the time (such as the Alpine GTA). Yet they were often too expensive, trying too hard to emulate the 911. They also had troubles taking off outside from the French market because of Renault firmly maintaining Alpine in close association with its own name (it was called RENAULT Alpine, after all).

Nowadays however, Alpine’s fresh start and its market appearance as an autonomous brand could pave the way for a more overt competition with cheaper sports-cars, rather than trying to compete with the Germans with expectably sober results.

Some European brands are already headed in the right direction by trying to revive cheaper sports-cars (which in terms of European cars translates to roadsters) such as the FIAT 124 Spider. A good move, since the higher-end of the euro sports-car realm is already clearly saturated, with Porsche reigning supreme. Newcomers have little chance of surviving in such a harsh environment, as demonstrated by the rather modest success of the Peugeot RCZ despite being more than worthy of the segment (at least at entry-level). Now it’s maybe time those same ugly-duckling-brands look into cheaper, more aggressive and more powerful cars.

What’s clear is that the car needs to start at a base price lower than 30.000 $, otherwise is won’t need to try in the first place. The aforementioned potential candidates have already too unstable a reputation to even consider a higher price claim anyway.