Originally posted by nicholas421:
i'm not quite sure what figures your looking at when you refer to performance? from the stats i've seen, the nsx can run with the best of 'em.
The usual. Horsepower, torque, 0-60 acceleration, 1/4 mile times, top speed, lateral grip, etc. Sure the NSX is almost as good in those categories as a Viper or a Z06, but that means it loses if you are making a typical comparison. 'Running with' the competition is not good enough when you cost (a lot) more.
As far as converting buyers from other makes, the task should not be as difficult as you make it sound. They don't have to convince all Vette buyers to switch. Run the numbers and see what happens if 10% of Vette sales go to the NSX.
As far as performance numbers making a difference, I would argue the reverse of your position. Performance matters less in the lower cars and more in the high end cars. That is, after all, what you are buying (often in the guise of 'prestige') when you make that purchase. If performance mattered more in the lower cars, Mustangs would not be outselling Camaros by 3 or 4 to one.
Sure Ferrari is a special case. No other brand has their special combination of heritage, exclusivity and performance. They also have the advantage (in that niche) of not having a brand that has to support a broad product line. However, there does not seem to be any problem selling Vettes, Vipers and Porsches.
Even Ferrari suffers when the performance is lacking. You mention 'high Mondial sales' but the reality is that this car sold very poorly. As did the 308 and 328. Dealers in the US were hard pressed to unload 308s through much of its production run, especially in the early years. That's why you see early ones with 'Boxer' paint jobs. US dealers were so desperate to sell them, they were painting them to look like 512s to get some of the Ferrari perfomance cache. It has high sales numbers in relation to previous models, but that is because it was the second true production run for a Ferrari badged car, after for the Daytona. Ferrari sales jumped nicely when the 348 came out, because it was a gaint leap over the 328. However, things did not really start going well until the 355, which is a very nice car and finally delivered on the performance expectations of the brand.
You are correct in that they need to focus on creating a market for the NSX - that is essentially the arguement I made in my previous post.
[This message has been edited by David (edited 03 August 2001).]