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Australians buying more sports cars for over $80K

Sleek new-generation two-door sports cars on the rise

Lotus Elise
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According to April 2017 sales figures, the $80,000-plus sports car segment is growing at a faster rate than every other new passenger car segment except one.

The latest new-car data reveals there has been a 16.5 per cent year-on-year boost in the middle-tier, two-door coupe and convertible class. While the sub-$80,000 sports car segment dropped 4.7 per cent, the $200,000-plus sports car class soared 7.6 per cent.

Arrow-Alfa-4C.jpgThose are heady numbers for the most exclusive parts of a new car market that overall is down 2.8 per cent. To say they are outperforming other segments is an understatement – the light car class is down a whopping 20.8 per cent, while the best any SUV class could manage was the medium brigade, up 9.5 per cent.

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Only $70,000-plus large cars are outperforming sports cars, up 36.9 per cent because the new BMW 5 Series (up 247 per cent) and Mercedes-Benz E-Class (up 123 per cent) are in a duel that is also crippling rivals. (Audi A6 fell 42 per cent, Jaguar XF plunged 55 per cent, while the Infiniti Q70 trickled to nought.)

Mercedes-Benz-E-Class.jpgSo far this year 3073 Australians have purchased a sports car costing anywhere more than $80,000 compared with 2680 last year. And growth among the flash-brigade is wide spread.

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The Audi R8 (with six times last year’s sales), Nissan GT-R (up 162 per cent), Lotus Elise (quadruple the haul on 2016) and McLaren (rising 270 per cent) stole the show, but Aston Martin two-doors are up 30.8 per cent this year, no doubt thanks to the all-new DB11.

Audi-R8.jpgRolls-Royce two-doors are up 33.3 per cent, the Mercedes-Benz SL by 66.7 per cent and two-door Benz S-Class by 9.4 per cent, and even the Porsche 911 (up 14.9 per cent) and Bentley two-door range (up 3.4 per cent) are up. It’s especially impressive in a market down overall.

Daniel DeGasperi

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