Sporty Car Sales And Premium Sporty Car Sales In America - April 2012

April 2012 Sporty Car Sales Chart
Click Either Chart For A Larger View

In beating the Ford Mustang by 1826 sales in April 2012, the Chevrolet Camaro expanded its muscle car year-to-date sales lead to 3617 units. Dodge's Challenger is another 13,308 sales back of the Mustang.

April's German roadster battle was won by the Mercedes-Benz SLK. The SLK finished 189 sales ahead of the BMW Z4. 

According to Cars.com, there are only five new, third-gen Porsche Boxsters for sale in America as we speak, priced between $64,205 and $68,280. Two of the Caymans in U.S. inventory are R models priced above $90,000. 

One might be inclined to spend significantly less than is required for an SLK and choose a Japanese sports coupe or roadster instead. Nissan 370Z sales slid 17% in April, or 6% on a daily sales rate basis. (There were only 24 days to sell cars in April 2012, three fewer than there were in April 2011.) Nevertheless, sales of the Nissan Z hit 785 units in April, not far from four times what Audi achieved with the TT. The Z's two-door cousin, Infiniti's G37, outsold the Z by 87 units.

New to GoodCarBadCar's charts this month are sales figures for the Volkswagen Golf R. In fact, if you go back to the bottom-of-the-post tables for January, February, and March, you'll now see monthly data for the Golf R, as well. Golf R sales have increased each month since it went on sale at the beginning of the year.

April 2012 Premium Sporty Car Sales Chart

After the jump, you can check out detailed April and year-to-date sales figures for sporting cars of all kinds. At the higher end, cars which you'll see at the bottom of this post, the Germans are in control. The ANDC estimates that Ferrari sold 145 cars in April, Lamborghini and Lotus another 29 and 20, respectively. 

Besides the unknown and the estimates, however, the Germans - particularly Porsche's 911 and BMW's 6-Series - rule the roost. Between the 911, 6-Series, and Mercedes-Benz's three $100K+ two-doors, German automakers sold more than 2000 premium GTs and sports cars in April. Plus 92 more Audi R8s. And who knows, maybe even a Wiesmann or two. 

It should also be noted that Bentley sold 203 cars in April 2012. Maserati sold 203. Sales reports for specific models (from automakers who make such numbers available, which includes most of them) are available in the dropdown menu at the top right of this page. Click either of the accompanying charts for a larger view.

Sporty Car	April 2012	% Change	Year To Date	YTD % Change
Audi A5	1420	- 1.2%	5131	+ 2.2%
Audi TT	207	+ 3.0%	754	+ 18.4%
BMW Z4	278	- 7.0%	888	+ 0.6%
Chevrolet Camaro	9627	- 11.3%	31,551	+ 2.4%
Chevrolet Corvette	1396	- 4.0%	4328	+ 0.8%
Dodge Challenger	4102	+ 13.4%	14,626	+ 9.5%
Ford Mustang	7801	- 4.6%	27,934	+ 18.4%
Honda CR-Z	334	- 81.6%	1699	- 69.0%
Hyundai Veloster	3192	-----	11,973	-----
Infiniti G37 Coupe/Convertible	872	- 31.2%	4201	- 26.1%
Mazda MX-5 Miata	692	+ 5.0%	2146	+ 8.7%
Mazda RX-8	17	- 81.5%	79	- 72.9%
Mercedes-Benz SLK	467	+ 216%	1558	+ 126%
Mini Coupe	290	-----	1026	-----
Mini Roadster	258	-----	512	-----
Mitsubishi Eclipse	142	- 89.5%	604	- 71.6%
Nissan 370Z	785	- 16.7%	2850	- 6.7%
Porche Boxster	36	- 81.9%	137	- 80.4%
Porsche Cayman	67	- 56.2%	349	- 27.1%
Scion tC	2008	- 24.9%	7241	- 11.3%
Subaru Impreza WRX	1352	+ 1.1%	4181	- 15.0%
Volkswagen Eos	735	+ 10.0%	2183	+ 10.5%
Volkswagen GTI	1717	+ 0.9%	5910	+ 5.0%
Volkswagen Golf R	352	-----	1087	-----
Volvo C70	406	- 41.6%	1540	- 14.2%

Premium Sporty Car	April 2012	% Change	Year To Date	YTD % Change
Audi R8	92	- 19.3%	335	- 14.8%
BMW 6-Series	513	+ 92.9%	2210	+ 324%
Dodge Viper	-----	- 100.0%	20	- 78.7%
Jaguar XK	113	- 24.2%	667	+ 31.3%
Lexus LFA	5	0.0%	19	- 13.6%
Mercedes-Benz CL-Class	63	- 28.4%	273	- 29.5%
Mercedes-Benz SL-Class	250	+ 47.9%	520	- 27.2%
Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG	104	+ 92.6%	390	+ 26.2%
Nissan GT-R	118	- 54.3%	344	- 42.3%
Porsche 911	1090	+ 69.0%	3094	+ 47.7%

Source: Manufacturers & ANDC
Clearly GoodCarBadCar is not suggesting that the cars in the two tables above are all direct competitors. Establishing categories among cars as unique as even the Audi TT and Porsche Boxster has never pleased a single reader, so cars have been lumped together so you can simply see how buyers looking for sports cars, roadsters, hot hatches, convertibles, GTs, and wanna-be sports cars spend their money. Greater categorization of cars would only lead to problems that automakers create by not isolating model-specific sales figures: we don't know how many M3s BMW has sold or how many Civics are Si models, for example. The numbers we do have are listed above.
Related From GoodCarBadCar.net
Sporty Car & Premium Sporty Car Sales In America - May 2012
Sporty Car & Premium Sporty Car Sales In America - March 2012
Sporty Car & Premium Sporty Car Sales In America - April 2011
Top 30 Best-Selling Luxury Vehicles In America - April 2012
U.S. Auto Sales By Brand - April 2012