2024 Hyundai Elantra N (Top Gear)
By James Kelly | Oct. 25, 2024
If we take a deep-dive into the mathematics of it all, the inexpensive sport compact segment sees an average price increase of 30% between the base models and sport models. The luxury sport compact market, a comparable segment that shares the same tuning philosophy as the former, has an average price increase of only 24% between regular and sport models.
The increase between base trim and performance trim are more evident in the luxury segment because of the drastic changes in powertrains. It is interesting to note that the increases in the compact sport luxury segment between the trim levels are less on average compared to the increase found across the cheaper end of the market.
At face value, it looks like Audi and BMW can spend less than Hyundai or Toyota to get their cars juiced-up. But is that really what that means? The increase to move up in performance between both segments seems like that’s the case. In that market, it takes less to move up given the already higher price and platform available, where more work has to be done to revamp less expensive cars to get them up to muster. This is most certainly the case as smaller luxury cars tend to lean more towards sport tuning rather than a softer ride like their larger counterparts.
What a nice middle ground could look like for economy cars could be a platform that uses the same powertrain as the base model, but is already designed to feel great in its base form. The performance versions’ driving dynamics being amplified by this would just become a byproduct since manufacturers wouldn’t have to spend so much money changing the structure or other aspects of the base vehicle to perfect the driving dynamics.
All this is just a commentary on how manufacturers could drive the price down of top-tier performance cars based on cheaper models. If the base models’ chassis tuning was already leaning toward a sporty feel, it would become the perfect base for a full-blow performance version. This would most likely drive the price up anyway, but Volkswagen already did that with the Golf when they decided to make the GTI the base trim offered in the US. What this does is close the gap between the base model and the performance model, but still gives owners a taste of that performance even when they haven’t checked all the boxes on the paperwork.
Honda exemplifies this with the Civic. Just like Mazda, the base models are unassuming and bland most of the time. The Civic Si sits just above the regular Civic, and the best part is, that’s not even the most expensive model within the regular offerings. The Si has little options to choose from and it comes tuned like a go-kart out of the box. If you want more power and a gaudy rear wing, go get the Type-R and spend nearly $20,000 more. Toyota should be applying this logic to the Corolla given that the price jump from the base Corolla to the GR is $15,230.