Muscle cars are moving okay, but the rest of the sports car market is stuck in neutral. A 1,000-unit-per-month pace for a given sports car is becoming the norm, leaving some to wonder how long some automakers will - or can - support such frivolities, the cost-saving advantages of increased platform-sharing notwithstanding.

One example that will concern all car lovers is Chevrolet's Corvette. The car already endured its worst sales years in a half-century in 2009 and the mighty Corvette's prospects don't seem to be improving: sales were off in April by 22.6 percent and Chevy moved just 1,089 units. Corvette sales through April stood at 3,522 - a 21-percent plunge from its moribund 2009 total - and a pace that would have the Corvette barely cracking the five-figure sales mark for the full year. Not likely to help matters: a recall of more than 40,000 2005-2006 models for steering issues.

Mazda's legendary MX-5 Miata may be the world's most revered affordable sports car - and the best-sellling roadster of all time - but its 20-year love affair with buyers appears to be on the rocks. Sales in April dribbled to 577, a 55.9-percent plunge from last year. The Miata's year-to-date tally of 1,840 sales, a 42-percent drop, seems a resolute indicator of the ongoing troubles the segment faces.

In April, another storied favorite, Nissan Motor Co. Ltd's 370Z, dropped 39 percent to a meager 952 sales, while year-to-date figures put the 370Z down 42.3 percent to a total of 3,419 units.

Nissan's high-profile, high-priced GT-R can't be thrilling company accountants, either. When the car launched in mid-2008, the GT-R had enthusiasts of means jostling for position on dealer waiting lists - now there is considerably less demand: just 106 GT-Rs found buyers in April and year-to-date sales are off 42 percent to 331 units.

Staying on the segment's high end, Mercedes-Benz shifted a meager 182 SLK roadsters in April, a 40.3-percent decline, while year-to-date SLK sales stand at a miniscule 578 - a 46-percent plunge from like-2009, a year that saw Mercedes sell a total of just 2,566 SLKs.

Nor is the segment's most ubiquitous marque, Porsche, immune. Year-to-date sales of the seminal 911 line are down 18 percent compared with a mighty weak 2009. The Boxster/Cayman sportscars are down 21 percent year-to-date. As with the Corvette, a recall of all of its brand-new Panamera models casts a cloud over the brand.

The sales trajectory of Mazda Motor Corp.'s RX-8 is one that bears watching. The company sold just 128 in the U.S. in April and 428 in the first four months. Mazda reportedly will not sell the car in Europe after 2011 because its unique rotary engine cannot comply with new Euro V emissions standards beginning that year - and speculation is running widely the situation will prompt Mazda to discontinue the car altogether next year.

With U.S. sales tracking for barely 1,000 units this year, the RX-8 is not making much of a case for its continuance. And its sales decline may be viewed as emblematic of a prolonged struggle for relevance that now goes beyond the traditional boom-and-bust cycles of the past. This time, is it the recession, or are sports cars just not that desirable anymore? - Bill Visnic, Senior Editor

In one fell swoop, Chevrolet achieved permanent ascendancy in the performance war. Nothing short of a Porsche — or a Corvette — could touch an LT1 Camaro in full song. I drove an early-production ’94 through the hills of Kentucky lo these many years ago and was absolutely crushed by the speed and power. Coupled to a six-speed manual, the original fourth-gen F-body was easily the most capable vehicle ever offered at that price level.

Wouldn’t you know, the SN95 Mustang outsold it from Day One. The general public preferred the friendly accessibility of the Ford to the rocketship performance and Countach-esque seating position of the Chevrolet. The men from GM had backed the wrong horse. As young buyers moved to import brands in record numbers, the market for these increasingly expensive and difficult-to-insure ponycars shifted back to the same men who had purchased them a decade or two previous. Those men didn’t want a road-going rocketship. They wanted to sit up straight and enjoy themselves.

GM’s response was typically bizarre: they restyled the Camaro a bit and dropped in the LS1 aluminum V8 from the then-new C5 Corvette. This simply emphasized the model’s existing virtues — speed, power, supercar proportions — while doing nothing about the problems that led to the Mustang’s runaway sales victory. The good news: for the first time since the Trans Am SD-455, you could buy a thirteen-second car for a working man’s wage. The bad news: nobody wanted to.

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/rev...et-camaro-ls1/