Pontiac launched the 'Fiero' with styling inspired by the Ferrari 308 in the mid 80s [1]. Around the same time, VW also launched the 'Corrado' as a possible 'su

Pontiac launched the 'Fiero' with styling inspired by the Ferrari 308 in the mid 80s [1]. Around the same time, VW also launched the 'Corrado' as a possible 'successor to the Porsche 944'. Both models were pulled from the market after a few years of production and now have somewhat of a cult following among car collectors. They had good initial interest and sales, but were regarded as too expensive and unreliable, and so eventually so lost out to other, more practical competitors. In my opinion, cheap luxury clones don't work because the market is too small. Plenty of people like the idea of a 'cool' car, but the car is a big ticket item for most people, so practical, reliable and having a good resale value tend to trump 'cool' as an important feature. You'll also note that classic, 'boring' colors tend to outsell flashy, 'cool' colors. Even the best selling sports cars in the mid-price segment, e.g. VW GTI, tend to have a hatchback and a large, useful interior that is workable for a family car. Fun fact: The Fiero was featured in the movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off as the car owned by the feature character's sister. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontiac_Fiero https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontiac_Fiero [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_Corrado https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_Corrado