Sports cars getting a look from buyers

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OK, maybe we just needed an excuse to run yet another picture of the new Camaro, but it’s still worth reporting scattered signs of rising consumer interest in sports cars.

An indicator of better economic times ahead? Could be, says Craig Beiner, purchasing manager for CarMax, the nation’s largest used car dealer. Online searches for sports cars at carmax.com were up 6% last month compared with August.

“Consumers may now be feeling more comfortable with the idea of getting a ‘fun’ vehicle that has an enduring appeal,” Beiner said. Certainly, with the stock market up more than 50% since early March, car buyers might be thinking more about what they want than simply what they need.

The top shopped sports cars on Beiner’s site were, in order from the top, the Ford Mustang, Chevrolet Corvette, Nissan 350Z, Chevrolet Camaro and BMW M3.

Online auto shopping site Edmunds.com is seeing the same uptick. More than 11% of the site’s visitors researched sports cars in September, up from 7.9% in August. (Granted, August was a big ‘cash for clunkers’ month, and many sports cars didn’t qualify for purchase under the program.)

Edmunds.com sales analyst Jessica Caldwell thinks the plethora of attractive new models, such as the Camaro and the new Mustang, may be driving the consumer interest, as well as the lure of sweet deals dangled by dealers anxious to pump up sales after the post-clunker slump.

Indeed, as any retailer will tell you, window shopping — be it online or in the showroom — doesn’t necessarily translate into sales. Sales of luxury sports cars tumbled 18% in September compared with a year earlier. That was worse than the 16% overall decline in car sales -- although better than the 23% drop in light-vehicle sales, which include pickups and SUVs. And individual models such as the Camaro and Mustang showed some strength.

-- Martin Zimmerman