Ask HN: Why aren't there middle class cars shaped like Ferraris?

I always wondered why car companies like Mazda or Hyundai or Honda don't produce cars that may not have the performance capabilities of a Ferrari but resemble one in their shape? Thus advancing the way the car market looks now a days. Does anyone have a clear answer?

Additionally, outside of the complexity required to bend the alloy to shape a Ferrari - I would imagine a car that looks like a Ferrari, but behaves like a Civic would feel ridiculous, or out of place, from a cultural standpoint (much like driving an F1 car around your neighborhood).

I think sports cars balance their aesthetics as a compliment to their function, whereas a Mazda dressed like a Lamborghini would almost feel "phony" as the aesthetic value would not be in line with functional purpose of the car at all. Thus, they are optimized for their functionality, which is to store stuff and to be safe.

For reasons of economics, they need to be able to share parts with other models so they can't deviate too much in terms of design. When regular car companies do build unique sports cars (e.g. Nissan GTR, Lexus LFA, Ford GT, Acura NSX), they end up being more expensive anyway, so they would have to put in the performance to match to justify the cost. Even swapping in a cheaper drive train wouldn't make the car dramatically cheaper.

Aerodynamically, they do to a meaningful extent although there is often a lag of several years due to the length of development cycles: for example the Datsun 240z and the Ferrari 275GT or the wedge shape of a 2012 Civic Coupe and the Lamborghini Countach of 1980's college dorm room walls. And there's decades of Camerys and Regals sporting spoilers on their trunk.

On the other hand, a lot of supercars are mid engine (or depending on your definition of 'supercar' sometimes rear-engined) and this dictates some of the features.

People buy Ferraris for the status as much as the performance.

Something that looks the part but doesn't have the gravitas just doesn't appeal to a large enough audience.

Pantera tried to make something like a cheap Ferrari in the 1970's. It was about $10k when average cars were $3k, and a Ferrari was $20k+. It did okay, but not a spectacular success.

And, there have been a few cars that tried to look the part, without the performance, but they did about the same. Pontiac's Fiero, for example.

Basically, the people that want that look also want you to think they paid a lot of money.