Will the pony car ever return as the sort of vehicle that sells in the tens of thousands, or will it be resigned to a niche product?
Car enthusasts, myself included, seem happy with the look of the new Mustang, but I have heard that average car buyers surveyed don't like it.
So what's the verdict, is this concept doomed? BTW this topic refers to pony cars in general, not just the Mustang.

Traditional pony car

http://www.er3.com/firebird/67firebirdT.htm

Extinct, yay or nay?

I think the reality of ever increasing gasoline prices and the trend toward increased environmental awareness have doomed the "pony car" as we know it to being a niche vehicle, and most likely, to it's eventual complete demise.

That being said, alternate fuel/power sources may allow auto manufacturers to retain some form of a performance vehicle.

Waxy

The high price of gasoline is an ominous warning, and that was the nail in the coffin of these sorts of cars 30 years ago. The latest GTO is a typical niche model, sells in small numbers, is expensive to buy and has a large displacement engine in a heavy car that attracts a gas guzzler tax.
If pony cars are to sell in any kinds of numbers they would have to be no more than 3,000 lbs in weight, and have a 3 liter V6 and efficient 4 liter V8, but no bigger than that. If domestic producers made something like that and priced it low then it might work. However, I don't get the impression that the new Mustang will be along those lines.

I was in the offices of the new biggest and best resort in Las Vegas, due to open 04-05, and parked on the polished granite foyer was a new Ferrari EF (Enzo Ferrari) model. $1,489,000. 11 seconds in the quarter at 133mph, 210mph top speed and fully emissions compliant. While not mass produced, pony cars have never left the scene for certain people.

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These are my principles. If you don't like them I have others. ~Groucho Marx~

A Ferrari is not a "pony car."

The way things are looking right now, Ford's Mustang is the only pony car left from the 60's. The Camaro and the Firebird are gone.

If you'll remember back to the 60's, the Mustang came out as an entry level car, with a little bit of "pep." So, following those lines, the current production cars that are peppy entry level cars don't exist.

The new Mustang isn't an entry level car anymore, and it has more than pep. It supposedly hauls ***.

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Joe

In the traditional sense, no. However in the north american car culture the pony car has been replaced by the sports compact class of automobile. Ie the Honda Civic SR4, the Acura RS and the like.

Pony cars from the big three lacked development and new engineering. The current Ford Mustand is based on the Ford Falcon back in 1979.

The new Chevy Cobalt SS will be the best example of a big three new style pony car.

There's some irony in the new Japanese cars being called sport compacts, because the Mustang, Firebird, Camaro were compacts in their day. The Firebird and Camaro were small cars under the medium sized intermediate Chevelle/Tempest. Below the Mustang, Firebird, Camaro were the sub compacts, cars like the Ford Pinto, Chevy Vega, AMC Gremlin.
I'm sure a 3,000 lb 4 liter V8 rear drive domestic coupe could compete against the turbocharged Japanese imports, and that's the sort of car the Camaro/Firebird should be if they return. Trends could turn around, who would have thought at the start of the 80s that people would one day be buying 4-5,000 lb SUVs that get less than 20 mpg?

Cost would be a strong issue, the pony cars of the 60's and 70' were strongly based on other cars at the time. Currently the sports compacts of today are generally developed from other popular cars that are generally affordable.

Currently there are no " affordable" rear wheel drive platforms with V8s. The new Ford Mustand is being developed on the Ford Tunderbird, the Lincon L and the Jag Stype platorm which has helped in its development. Dodge might be able to build a "pony car" fromt the Dodge Magnum platform.

However the economics might not make it worthwhile. V8s will consume more gas and the insurance rates might limit the market for them to much.

The platform thing is the problem. What you need to end up with is a car roughly the size of a BMW 3 series coupe, curiously one of the few rear drivers in that size class.
This mythical affordable coupe would have a 4 cyl, 3 liter V6 options and finally the 4 liter V8. I don't think getting the engines would be a problem because Olds Aurora V8 of recent times was 4 liters. The 4 liter V8 version could be an alternative to something like a WRX or 2.5 turbo Skyline.
In Europe you have manufacturers making compact rear drive cars, but in the US Japanese influence has led to the trend of smaller cars being mostly front drive. Remember when Ford almost replaced Mustang III in the late 80s with the front drive Mazda based Probe?

Hey lets bring back the Ford pinto wagon with rear wheel drive and most of all a redesign gas tank.

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Watch out for the White House cover up's

You used to see customized Pintos with 302s, I don't know how they got around the infamous gas tank problem. Maybe because with a 302 they only had to worry about front end collisions.?

You know I hate small cars as a rule. But I did like the pinto. Hmmmm 302 I like it already. I think the Pony cars can make a big comeback if we got rid of the imports. There are too many of them out there.

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Watch out for the White House cover up's

The Pinto was a cute looking car. Vulnerable gas tanks aside, they were cheap buys in the 70s and more than a few enterprising people dropped in 302s, but at least you could do that sort of thing in those days because the Pinto was rear drive. Cars like the Monza, AMC Hornet, Gremlin could all take V8s because although they were small they happened to be rear drive.
Legend has it that when the V8 became available in the AMC Gremlin in 1972 (304 V8) one dealer offered a swap package that replaced the 304 with the big 401 (6.6 liters!!), and that car did 12 second 1/4 mile out of the box as an automatic. In the dying days of the Yenko operation they offered the little Chevy Vega with the Camaro Z/28's 350 engine (1971/72), before government authorities found out.
A smallish, affordable rear drive coupe with a normally aspirated V8 would be a fun alternative to the turbo imports, easier to hot up too.

A poster on the Fordnatics list just finished a Pinto, built 302 with nitrous. He likes it.

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These are my principles. If you don't like them I have others. ~Groucho Marx~

I just saw a blue Pinto in the 1985 film Moving Violations, and no the Pinto didn't have anything to do with the film's name.