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Luxury Sports Cars That Never Made It to the USA

European car manufacturers have produced some vehicles so powerful or unique, that they decided to keep the vehicles for themselves. Here are some of the most interesting luxury sports cars that never made it to the USA.

By Joseph D. N. KendrickPublished 6 years ago 7 min read
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Photo by Vlad Grebenyev on Unsplash

The world's most iconic sports cars come out of European manufacturers. In particular, Italy, Germany, and the United Kingdom are home to some legendary luxury car manufacturers. This isn't an issue for supremely wealthy Americans, who can generally import whatever they want from wherever they want. As the world's largest trade destination, the United States generally has it pretty great when it comes to experiencing all the luxuries the world has to offer. A few special cases exist, however, of luxury sports cars and some car brands that never made it to the USA. In some cases, these cars never made it past the prototype stage, or the cars weren't street legal in the United States. Regardless of why, here are some of the most impressive luxury sports cars that have never made it to the USA.

Isdera 1993 Commendatore 112i

Photo by Ralf Grimm on supercars.net

Eberhard Schulz was one of the most prominent sports car designers in the mid- to late-1900s. After beginning his career as a car designer for Porsche, he joined Mercedes-Benz, where Schulz designed and built numerous prototypes of the mid-engined C111 Concept car. After numerous revisions, Mercedes-Benz decided to halt production of the C111. This move prompted Schulz to start his own company, Isdera, where he would be free to design his ideal vehicles without limitations.

After a number of moderately successful, limited-production luxury vehicles, Schulz dropped close to four million Euros in designing and producing the Commendatore 112i, which featured new and experimental technologies. This 1993 high performance super car is one of the most infamous luxury sports cars that never made it to the USA. In fact, it never made it anywhere past the prototype phase; despite plans to put the 112i into production, Isdera became bankrupt before these plans could see fruition. The lone prototype 112i survived, however, and is still turning heads to this day.

Fiat Coupé 20v Turbo

Photo by Rudolf Stricker on Wikimedia

Today, Italian car manufacturer Fiat is experiencing a resurgence in popularity and awareness on American soil. However, there was a period of nearly thirty years when Fiat quit distributing to North America. Despite an American presence in the early 1900s, Fiat's New Jersey plant closed when World War I broke out. Fiat returned to the United States in the fifties, only to experience incredible backlash to their unreliable and malfunction-stricken vehicles. This led to a drought between 1983 and 2011, during which Fiat refined its vehicles considerably to a primarily European market. The Fiat Coupé was perhaps the pinnacle of Fiat's improved craftsmanship during this period, with the 20V Turbo model likened as the Ferrari for the working man.

Alfa Romeo MiTo GTA

Photo by Fiat500multijet on Wikimedia

The MiTo was a functional supermini produced by Italian luxury car manufacturer Alfa Romeo SpA from 2008 until July 2018. Near the beginning of this run, Alfa Romeo displayed a sports car model of the MiTo known as the MiTo Gran Turismo Alleggerita (GTA). The GTA featured a 1.8-litre turbocharged engine, and a reduced weight thanks to the use of carbon fiber and aluminum. These traits combined to give it a much higher top speed than an other vehicle in the MiTo line, peaking at 250 km/h (or 155 mph). Despite promising construction and the success of similar vehicles from other European sports car manufacturers, Alfa Romeo decided not to put the MiTo GTA into production.

BMW Z1

Photo by Karrmann on Wikimedia

The BMW Z line of vehicles is one of the most successful sports car lines of all time. In particular, the BMW Z3, featuring a five-speed manual transmission, appeared as James Bond's vehicle in the 1995 Bond film Goldeneye. Before this massive success, however, the Z3's immediate successor was the ever-peculiar Z1. The BMW Z1 featured interchangeable plastic body panels and a modern aerodynamic design, but the most unusual feature of this sports car is the design of its doors.

Traditional doors, obviously, swing outward. Gull-wing doors, which swing up, are another common design in high performance luxury cars due to their aerodynamic properties. The Z1's doors, however, don't swing at all: they vertically retract down into the body of the vehicle. Despite initial popularity, the design of the Z1 was just a little too experimental for most markets, and production ended with only 8000 units in distribution, none of which made it to the USA.

Lancia Delta HF Integrale

Photo by Tennen-Gas on Wikimedia

Italian sports car manufacturer Lancia is best known for its rally cars like the Lancia Stratos, which won the World Rally Championship three times in the 1970s. The Lancia Stratos spawned a variety of imitative sports cars, but one of the most unique successors to the Stratos was the Delta line. Purportedly intended to be a family car, this four-door hatchback was built on a rally car's body with a high performance engine and, interestingly, four-wheel drive. One of the most powerful vehicles in the Lancia Delta line, the Delta HF Integrale, was the perfect combination of a civilian-looking vehicle with turbo-charged internal equipment. Sadly, it was produced in very limited numbers, and it became one of the coolest luxury sports cars that never made it to the USA.

Ford Sierra RS Cosworth

Photo by Lemmus on Wikimedia

You might be understandably surprised to see a Ford on this list. It makes sense to see a bunch of European-made luxury sports cars that never made it to the USA, but how does an American-made sports car not make its way to its home country? The answer lies with rally racing, which remains much more popular in Europe than the US. The Ford Sierra RS Cosworth was the result of a project to develop a high performance rally car for the European market, and, by all measurements, the project was a success. The Cosworth won several important races during its 1986-1992 production run. To this day, old Cosworth models remain popular on the amateur circuit and at other low-level rally races, but never made their way to the American roadways.

Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X FQ-400

Photo by IFCAR on Wikimedia

The Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution series is a surprisingly spunky line of high performance Japanese-produced sports cars. In the early 2000s, the Evolution VIII model was tested against Lamborghini's flagship sports car, the Murciélago, on Top Gear, and was more than capable of holding its own against the Italian behemoth. The subsequent models, culminating in 2016's Evolution X, only continued to expand on that success. Arguably the best out of the Evolution X models, the FQ-400 features a modified chassis, Eibach springs, Bilstein shock absorbers, and a number of other alterations that make it a formidable rally car. The FQ line was only distributed within the UK, but other models of the Evolution X are available this side of the pond.

Porsche 959

Photo by M 93 on Wikimedia

One of the most sought-after luxury vehicles of all time, the Porsche 959 was the fastest street-legal production car in the world when it came out in 1986. Originally intended only for rally racing, Porsche eventually released a limited run of 200 as a road legal production car. The 959 featured many innovations such as all-wheel drive and a twin-turbocharged engine, influencing future models like the Porsche Caymen and the Porsche 911, if there are things you need to know about buying one. Unfortunately, during its production run in the late 1980s, the Porsche 959 was not street-legal in the United States. If any models ending up making it to American soil, they did so on the gray market.

Opel Corsa OPC

Photo by M 93 on Wikimedia

Unlike one of the worst German cars ever built, the Opel Kadet E, the Opel Corsa line is one of the most popular supermini vehicles in the world, with a nearly-global presence and numerous variations on the market. Interestingly enough, no iteration of the Corsa has ever made it to the USA or Canada. It's disappointing for those of us in the United States to be missing out on such great cars. In particular, the Corsca OPC would be a welcome addition to many garages stateside. The "sports car" model in the Opel Corsa line, the OPC features a 1.6-litre turbocharged engine along with a number of design alterations. The OPC offers a top speed of 140mph along with surprisingly great fuel efficiency—around 36mpg. In the early 2000s, GM had begun to release a number of Opel vehicles under the Saturn label. Unfortunately, the Saturn label was discontinued in 2009 before the Corsa could make its way to the USA.

TVR Sagaris

Photo by Brian Snelson on Wikimedia

The TVR is a uniquely impressive luxury car, to say the least. Produced by hand in a small factory in Lancashire, England, the limited-run Sagaris could reach a top speed of 185mph. For this reason, it's not difficult to see why it never made it to the United States. TVR was one of the more unusual sports car producers when it was under the ownership of Peter Wheeler, who did not believe in the modern safety devices like anti-lock brakes and airbags. Wheeler believed these concessions caused "overconfidence" in drivers, so TVR vehicles produced under his ownership did not include them, despite EU regulations. The Sagaris was produced just after Wheeler sold the company in 2004, but his design influence remained. With extremely limited numbers produced, the lax attitude toward safety protocol ensured that the TVR Sagaris never made its way into the United States.

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About the Creator

Joseph D. N. Kendrick

Writer of words. Haver of cats. joeykendrick.com

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