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Coupes Making a Comeback

Will New Models and New RivalriesHeat up the Market for Sporty Two-Doors?

Special to The Auto Channel
By Jim Koscs,AIADA Contributing Editor

Are coupes making a comeback? Some new models aregetting attention, and there’s a lot of buzz around certain upcomingdesigns. High incentive spending for sport and luxury coupes, however, is areminder that these two-door models are more susceptible to changes in theeconomic climate.

Once a mainstay of the domestic makers, coupes are now a relative rarityin Detroit Three showrooms. Meanwhile, a new rivalry has developed in theinternational midsize segment, with Honda’s fresh Accord coupe goinghead to head with the Nissan Altima coupe introduced last year.They’ll lose a competitor when Toyota drops the Camry Solara coupeafter 2008.

Honda introduced its first Accord coupe 20years ago, and the new-generation model puts a much sharper focus onupscale performance and luxury than its predecessors. Nissan jumped intothe fray last year with the first-ever coupe version of its popular Altima,and it is attracting new and younger customers to the brand.

Two upcoming coupes are generating lots of interest before they evenarrive. Hyundai’s rear-drive Genesis coupe, due next spring, istouted as a lower-priced competitor to the Infiniti G37, as well as a moremodern alternative to the Ford Mustang. Top engine is a 300+ hp V6. Hyundaiwill discontinue its front-drive Tiburon sport coupe after this model year,but the company is also considering a front-drive successor to that model.

Showroom Stars
While coupe salesrise and fall, it seems coupe appeal never goes out of style. George Kang,marketing analyst for Edmunds.com, says that coupe models, when done right,still spark interest even if they don’t become sales starsthemselves. According to Kang, when Nissan introduced the Altima coupe ayear ago, consideration for Altima jumped by 30 percent. And when Audiintroduced its A5 coupe last year, it became the primary draw for over 60percent of Audi showroom traffic. “That is the ‘haloeffect’ in action,” Kang said.

At the same time, Kangreports that overall coupe consideration has declined by about 10 percent.“Coupes still can be trendy – hot today, but cool soon after asbuyers look to the newest thing,” he says. To maintain“newness,” Kang explains, coupes need more substantialmid-cycle updates than their sedan counterparts. Luxury coupes, he says,are more sensitive to economic trends, because they are often the second,third, and even fourth cars for many buyers.

Still a Star at Four
Toyotaessentially invented the import sport coupe with the Celica in 1971, butthat model disappeared after 2005 due to slumping sales. It was largelysuperseded by the company’s own Scion tC model, which offered broaderappeal, as well as more performance and practicality, and a lower price.

Coupes have long been associated with “youth” buyers,or at least “younger than sedan” buyers. Here, the Scion tCstands apart. Scion spokesperson Allison Takahashi confirmed that the tCstill has the lowest median driver age for all Toyota products, at only 24.

Although just four years old, the tC design is “old” bycoupe standards. Yet, even with a 30-percent sales drop compared to 2007(through April), the tC was still the brand’s second-best sellerbehind the boxy xB (14,409 vs. 15,890 for xB) and still one of theindustry’s top-selling coupes. Through March of this year, the SciontC had the lowest incentive spending ($131) and fewest days to turn (72) inthe coupe category, according to Edmunds.com data.

The tC may begetting some more competition. At the New York Auto Show in March, KIAcaused a stir with its KOUP Concept. The front-drive sport coupe’sdesign recalls some Acura and Audi cues. “We see opportunity here asa large portion of Gen Y is just about to get its drivers’ licenseand they are a formidable group that values affordable and stylishcars,” says KIA spokesman Alex Fedorak. “KOUP, should it gointo production, would be aimed at the entry level portion of the marketwhere price and fuel efficiency are important.” He added that theconcept car’s 290-hp turbocharged engine was “underdebate.” Also playing in that segment is the Honda Civic coupe, whichoffers a performance-tuned 197-hp Si model.

New Midsize Coupes Draw Younger Buyers
Manufacturers are doing a better jobat differentiating their coupe models from the sedans on which they arebased, Kang points out. And that is attracting morebuyers.

“Altima Coupe is not just a sedan with two doorsremoved – it was an all-new, unique product with sportystyling,” says Nissan spokesman Darryll Harrison. The“unique” claim pans out: the Altima coupe is shorter and lowerthan the sedan, with the hood the only shared body panel. The coupe modelaccounts for 11 percent of Altima sales and is attracting more younger,single buyers to the brand: 47 percent married vs. 71 percent of Altimasedan buyers, and average age of 41 vs. 47 for the sedan.

Nissansold 99,037 Altima models through April, an 8.6 percent increase over 2007.That would put coupe sales at about 11,000 for the first four months. Coupecustomers like their power, too.  About 40 percent choose the 270-hp3.5-liter V6 engine over the standard 175-hp 4-cylinder. In contrast, onlyabout 10 percent of Altima sedan buyers go for the V6. (That’sdown from the nearly 20 percent Nissan indicated in our report onthe midsize automobile segment last fall.) About five percent of coupe buyerschoose the manual transmission, compared to three percent for thesedan.

Nissan product planners’ goal, according to Kang, wasto expand the coupe’s appeal beyond the “boy racer”crowd. “They really wanted to fine-tune the automobile for women, right downto suspension tuning,” he said. “Luxury brands, meanwhile, tendto focus models toward men.”

Honda’s new-generationAccord Coupe made a significant jump in style and performance with the 2008model. And customers have noticed: According to Honda spokesman Sage Marie,about 15 percent of Accord sales are for the coupe, up from 10 percent forthe previous model. As with the Altima, 40 percent of Accord Coupecustomers choose the muscular V6 engine, an increase from 30 percent withthe previous model. The highest volume coupe model is the top-of-the-lineEX-L V6. Demographics are similar to Altima Coupe, as well, with theaverage age of 42 compared to 48 for the Accord sedan. Motor Trendmagazine called the 2008 Honda Accord Coupe “a now bona-fidesport coupe, with the specs to back it up.”

Ups and Downs among LuxuryCoupes
Honda’s luxury division, Acura, had had less luckwith two-doors, having offered coupes wearing Integra, Legend, CL, and RSXnameplates over the years. All were front-wheel drive models, and in theluxury and performance coupe category, customers do not prefer front-wheeldrive.  Acura does not currently offer a coupe model.

BMW,meanwhile, has long enjoyed success in this segment with its 3-Series coupemodels. The company reported that 29 percent of its 38,414 3-Seriesyear-to-date sales through April were coupes, for 11,140 sales. And 32percent of those were equipped with all-wheel drive, a rare feature amongcoupes.

Nissan’s Infiniti Division has likewise found successwith a coupe. Its G37 coupe, introduced last August, is a more powerfulredesign of the G35 coupe. Infiniti sold 7,600 of them through April, awhopping 80 percent increase over last year’s G35 coupe model.Infiniti notes that the G37 attracts 83 percent more 20-34 year-old buyersthan the sedan does. Sedan buyers’ income, though, skews a bithigher.