- Newly-released figures show the winners and losers in the sports car market during 2024.
- A few models, including the Toyota GR86, Nissan Z and BMW Z4, found more buyers than in ’23.
- Many models performed worse and some were axed, causing the segment to slump by 18.8 percent.
Update 1/19: With the final 2024 US sales figures in from Mercedes and Porsche, our list is now complete. One standout takeaway is just how successful Porsche’s 911 series was last year. The sports car secured the 7th spot overall with a massive 20.8% sales increase, pushing its total to over 14,000 units—and possibly even higher in the list when you consider that cars like the BMW 4-Series diluted sales by including four-door models in their figures.
In fact, the 911 alone outsold entire brands like Alfa Romeo (8,865 units) and Jaguar (11,563 units). That achievement becomes even more impressive when you remember that the 911 is by far the priciest model on this list. Porsche already had the highest average transaction price among non-exotic automakers in December at $115,407 (per Kelley Blue Book), and the 911 blows past that, starting at a base MSRP of $120,000.
Original story follows below.
Americans bought more electric cars than ever before in 2024, but another segment is increasingly falling out of favor. Sports car sales slumped by a little over 13 percent last year to 247,631 according to the figures we gathered, but the misery wasn’t universal and some models even managed to find more buyers than in 2023.
Now, before we get into the nitty-gritty, let’s clarify what we’re calling a “sports car” here. For this piece, we’re sticking to two-door models in coupe or convertible form. However, there’s a caveat: some automakers don’t separate sales data for two-door variants from their four-door counterparts, even when the two are fundamentally different. Take BMW’s 2-Series, for example. The four-door Gran Coupe rides on a FWD platform, while the coupe and convertible are built on a RWD architecture. Despite the distinction, BMW lumps all versions together and declined to provide a breakdown when asked.
With that out of the way, let’s take a closer look at the numbers. Sales of the Toyota GR86 for example, increased by 3.1 percent to 11,426 units, putting it miles ahead of its Subaru BRZ sister, whose registrations dropped 20.1 percent to 3,345. So strong was the GR86’s showing that it outsold the BRZ, Nissan Z, BMW Z4 and Toyota’s own Supra combined.
Related: Corvette Crushes It, Sells Nearly Twice As Many As Supra, Z, GR86, MX-5 Combined In 2024
Supra sales dropped 1.4 percent to 2,615, but the Z enjoyed a surge in popularity. Its sales grew 78.7 percent to 3,164 outpacing its Toyota rival for the first time, while the addition of a manual transmission option helped BMW Z4 registrations almost double to 2,129. Other winners included the Lexus LC (up 5.8 percent to 1,854 units.
Porsche Dominates with the 911 and 718
Porsche had a banner year with its two core sports cars. The 911 recorded a remarkable 20.8% sales increase over 2023, climbing to 14,128 units and securing 7th place on our list. In reality, its ranking is likely even higher, when accounting for the fact that BMW’s 2 and 4 Series figures include sales of the Gran Coupe variants, muddying the waters. It comfortably outsold the far more affordable Toyota GR86 by more than 2,700 units.
Meanwhile, the smaller 718 Boxster and Cayman lineup outpaced the 911’s growth rate with a 25.9% jump to 5,698 deliveries. Much of this surge for the 718 can likely be attributed to buyers rushing to snag one of the last combustion-powered models before the lineup transitions to an all-electric future—although recent reports hint that this change might be pushed back.
BMW’s 2-Series also appears to have performed strongly, although we can’t be sure how well the two-door coupe fared because BMW lumps its registrations in with those of the four-door model (as it does with the 4-Series). We reached out for a breakdown of the figures, but they declined to provide them.
The Axed and the Bruised
Plenty of automakers, however, won’t be drawing up plans to extend their sports car programs into the 2040s and beyond. Some had already taken the decision to axe their models before the 2024 model year started and you can no longer order a new Dodge Challenger, Chevrolet Camaro, Audi R8 and TT, or Infiniti Q60, though they all appear in the table below.
Cars that are still with us but took a bit of a beating last year include the Mazda MX-5 (down 9.7 percent to 8,103), Nissan GT-R (down 31.5 percent to just 267 units), Mercedes SL (down a scary 56 percent to 1,608), Chevrolet Corvette (down 3 percent to 33,330) and Ford Mustang (down 9.5 percent to 44,003).
The Mustang ought to have done better considering its Challenger and Camaro rivals were both only available for part of the model year, but it – and the Corvette – are still comfortably outperforming every other two-door on sale in America.