The Genesis coupe was supposed to slay the domestic ponycar dragon.
Without a V8? That was never it's mission. Ever. It was meant to play in the same field as the performance RWD sports car segment...not the pony cars. The magazines were the ones who decided to try and make a "pony car fighter" with comparos to the V6 ponycars (which the Genesis won I might add). Now if they drop the 5.0R V8 into the Genesis Coupe, I'll change my mind.....
But the Genesis (like the G37, 370Z, etc) are not true pony car competitors, even though they may outhandle/outbrake them...
Wasn't one of the first genesis ads a shot at the Mustang? The genesis burning rubber to create a big 50 on the ground? The pricing was right up against the V8's too. The turbo 4 was meant to be up against the base models, the V6 against the 8's. They were power competitive with the Mustang when it came out.
So the Supra Turbo was not put up against the American V8's cause it was only a 6?
The Genesis took pot shots against the Mustang AFTER Ford refused to allow a magazine to do a direct comparo of the Genesis vs. Mustang. As I said, some import RWD coupes offer similar performance, but they are not definitely NOT ponycars. In the same way that pony cars aren't really sports cars per se. Although over the last couple of years, they sure do handle better than a pony car ever has!
And no, the Supra was not put up against American V8s, because at the time they were too damn slow....
The only V8 they compared it to was the original ZR1 (it got owned by the Supra) and later the C5 Corvette (it got owned also). Never against a pony car....And by the time some REALLY good V8s starting to come out, the Supra was not available here anymore....