What happened?

[bishir]

Ole g body's were some of the last real cars... Full frames...two doors that were each half as long as the car, real bumpers, rwd...

[Beagle]

That explains it...they're on the Pacific shoreline.

Used to be, some good stuff came out of the Detroit area.

some of my favorites came out of some guy named Shinoda who was a Californian.

[anotheridiot]

It preaches more towards responsibility as a culture than car companies not wanting to build 2 doors. Get your teenage son insured in a coupe (any coupe) over a 4 door or station wagon and you will see double the insurance easy. Its just the mindset that people are less responsible in 2 doors. You see most of those pictures on the last page are the imports that want us to be irresponsible because that makes us continue buying their crap over our crap.

[Javelin]

Is the Subaru BRX/Scion Fr-s a collaboration or what's the story?? Nice looking little car.

Yes, it is. Subaru did most of the engineering and builds them (and the motor is a Subaru boxer) and Toyota paid the bills, provided the direct-injection, and did the styling and tuning. They are RWD sports cars with low weight and a really low COG.

The Toyota version (Scion in the US) is tuned for neutral handling and has less standard equipment (lighter). The Subaru version is tuned for understeer and has a touch screen standard (heavier, more complicated).

[tedly]

One of the big things is the profit margin on small cars is very narrow. If the manufacturers don't get it right, they are going to lose money. One of the ways to cut down on the expenses of manufacturing is to just offer one body style. The style that sells the best by a long shot is four doors, so everyone makes those. With the Big 3 still digging out from the financial mess they were in minimizing costs and risks was essential. I wouldn't be surprised to see some small coupes start popping up again soon, but it may be another couple of years depending on if sales and profits keep on the upswing they have been on.