A Comeback for Coupes?

I was stopped at a light on Woodward Avenue in suburban Detroit, enjoying a beautiful fall evening recently in a borrowed, silver 2008 Nissan Altima Coupe. Glancing to my left, I realized that the attractive, 20-something woman in the car next to me had rolled down her passenger window, and was flashing me a smile as bright as the October sun.

"Hey!" she said.

Freeze the frame.

I am a middle-aged guy with a wife, a mortgage, two kids and a cat. I proudly declare allegiance to reality. Still, she had my attention because in 33 years of navigating public streets, an encounter like this had never happened to me. "Dude!" Yelped my inner 17-year-old. "We gotta get a car like this."

Car companies appear to be betting that a lot of people will want to experience moments like mine -- when it feels great to be in a sleek, sporty car. Over the next four years, forecasters at J.D. Power & Associates expect 31 new or redesigned coupe models to hit the U.S. market, including 16 from luxury brands. Among the coupes J.D. Power sees coming are a two-door version of the Cadillac CTS and, maybe, coupes from Italian brands Alfa Romeo and Abarth (an offshoot of Fiat), that currently don't compete in the U.S. market.

Auto makers have had good reason to be wary of the coupe market, despite the affection many car executives have for sporty cars. Since the mid-1980s, demand for coupes has waned significantly, coinciding with the heart of the baby boom's practical family-hauling years. As boomers slogged through their minivan and child-seat phase, interest in low-slung, two-door, midsized, midpriced cars cratered. It didn't help that many of the offerings in the midpriced coupe segment were fairly bland – such as the outgoing 2007 Honda Accord coupe.

In 1985, U.S. auto makers built 3.1 million two doors out of a total of 8.6 million cars, according to Ward's Automotive Yearbook. By 2005, Ward's data shows the number of two doors built in the U.S. fell to 745,058 vehicles out of 5.8 million. Through the end of September, coupes accounted for 4% of the total U.S. market, down from 4.1% the year before, according to data from the Power Information Network.

Now, however, there are some signs of new life in the coupe segment.

At the low end, sporty little cars such as the Scion tC and Honda Civic coupe are attracting younger buyers. At the high end, luxury car makers are courting empty nesters, and those wealthy enough to have a car for every purpose, with sleek new models such as the Audi A5.

I tend to use the term "coupe" interchangeably with the term two-door, because that's how I still think of the segment. But European luxury marques define a category of "four-door coupes." These are cars that have the swept back roofline of a sporty two-door car, but have four doors. An example of this breed is the Mercedes-Benz CLS, which has enjoyed considerable success. The Porsche Panamera will be another of this four-door coupe style when it arrives in two years or so. BMW recently confirmed plans to build a large four door coupe based on its striking Shanghai concept car, the CS.

In the $20,000 to $30,000 price range, the success of the retro-styled Ford Mustang has inspired a "Back to the Future" replay of the pony car wars of the 1960s. Chevrolet has been touting the return of the Camaro in 2009 since early 2006. Chrysler LLC's Dodge brand is expected to field its Mustang fighter, the Challenger, sometime next year.

More striking – because they seemed to come out of nowhere – are the two new designs from Honda and Nissan. The 2008 Accord Coupe represents a significant departure from its bland predecessor. Honda designers created a distinctive profile for the coupe compared with the Accord sedan, and gave it a unique powertrain option – a V-6 with a six-speed manual. For more than a decade, "sporty Accord" was an oxymoron. The new Accord Coupe restores some meaning to that phrase.

The Altima Coupe, which I test drove last week, is lighter and smaller in most dimensions than the Accord Coupe, but it has more power in both its four- and six-cylinder versions. Consistent with its recent product strategy, Nissan emphasizes horsepower and sporty touches such as a push-button start.

The Altima Coupe's exterior profile – with flaring rear fenders and narrow side glass -- hints at the aggressive lines of the Nissan 350Z or the Infiniti G37. Not that you'd mistake the Altima for one of those more expensive models. But it works as a budget-minded alternative.

The Altima Coupe asks you to overlook the fact that the trunk is surprisingly tiny, the back seat is hard to access and rear leg room for anyone you squeeze back there is 1.4 inches less than in the sedan. But with coupes, it's really all about the driver. Given the demographics of an aging population looking for self indulgence, car makers may be smart to put some effort into this segment.

Oh, right. Let's roll that video.

"Hey," the young woman said, beaming. "Are you from Santa Monica?"

Huh? Why no, I replied, unsure how to process this. Then I remembered. My test car had a California license plate. I live here, I explained. This is just a car I'm test driving. I just moved to Michigan, she offered. You'll get used to it, I said. The light changed. I waved and drove away.

It wasn't me. It wasn't even the car. It was just the license plate. I ordered my inner 17-year-old back to his regular job, compelling me to listen to 30-year-old rock music during my commutes. The Altima went back to Nissan.

It's really for the best.

Source: Wall Street Journal, 10/08/07