Australia's love of sports cars is growing

The new car market may not be performing but sports cars are.

The latest VFACTS figures show Australians are racing to performance vehicles in record numbers and are happy to spend more than $100,000 to drive their dream car.

The $80,000-$200,000 sports car segment is up more than 20 per cent so far this year and dedicated sports vehicles overall account for about one in 20 new cars sold.

That doesn’t include go-fast versions of regular models, an area where the Germans continue to dominate.

The move isn’t limited to prestige European brands: HSV is on track to eclipse 3000 sales in 2014. HSV marking boss Damon Paul says there’s still strong momentum for
the Gen-F range.

Range Rover Sport sales have doubled this year to 2200, while Jaguar sales are up 15 per cent.

Iconic sports car maker Porsche has had 44 per cent growth, with 2224 vehicles.

The German trio — Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz — are all posting records.

Audi’s S and RS models are the fastest movers and are likely to rival HSV in terms of overall sales this year.

More than 2400 buyers have chosen Audi performance models, against about 800 sales at the same time last year. That number should surge over the next couple of months with the introduction of the S1 Sportback, which at $49,900 is the cheapest quattro model in the four-ringed line-up.

Benz has shifted more than 2200 of its AMG-badged cars and can likewise expect a surge in sales after last month’s GLA45 AMG compact SUV launch.

It is a similar story at BMW, despite a gap between the run-out of its old M3 and the launch of the new M3 sedan and M4 coupe/convertible.

BMW has sold 1142 M-badged cars to October’s end, a 75 per cent increase on 2013.