There aren’t too many affordable sports cars left in the United States, particularly if a customer specifically wants the machine to be rear-wheel drive. Among the options are the stalwart Mazda MX-5 Miata and the slightly newer twin nameplates of the Subaru BRZ and Toyota GR86.
Summer is the prime buying season for cars like these, and with fall almost here, recently released sales figures show there’s still a small but dedicated group of folks looking for sports cars. And they have a clear favorite.
Sales Are Up, Except For One
Mazda Miata PS Edition JapanMazda
Despite being exciting to drive, these three models aren’t high-volume sellers, with none of them moving more than 1,000 units in August. However, the Miata’s numbers were up 10.1% for the month, with a roughly even split between the convertible version at 505 units and the RF retractable hardtop at 420 examples. Still, the Miata’s volume easily beat the BRZ and GR86. In fact, it beat both of those cars combined.
Sales Comparison
Model
August 2026 Sales
August 2025 Sales
Percentage Change
Mazda MX-5 Miata
925
840
10.1%
Subaru BRZ
235
220
6.5%
Toyota GR86
512
987
-48.1%
The numbers are hardly staggering, but the growth of the Miata and BRZ is a good sign for the segment. As long as people are buying them, there’s at least a little demand left for affordable, entry-level sports cars.
In terms of sales through the first eight months of 2026, the ranking for this trio looks similar. The Miata is most popular, moving 6,909 units (up 2.0% year-over-year). Meanwhile, the GR86 is in second place at 5,182 cars (-30.5%), and the BRZ is the least popular at 2,020 examples (-4.1%).
Last time we checked out the sales figures for this trio, things were slightly different. In July, the BRZ was the only one of them to post a year-over-year increase. It was a very minor boost, though, with the company selling 233 of them – just 11 more cars than the same month last year. For the same period, the GR86 was down 36.3%, moving 663 units, and the Miata dropped 16.3% to 974 cars.
While these models are showing only modest success, Subaru may be demonstrating the type of performance car people want today. The WRX’s volume is up 37.7% for the year, with the automaker moving 10,324 so far. Even in August, the all-wheel-drive sports sedan did quite well by delivering 1,778 vehicles, which was up 191% from August 2025.
What’s New With These Sports Cars?
Mazda Miata PS Edition JapanMazda
Mazda, Subaru, and Toyota all keep their sports cars mildly fresh to keep these models desirable. The Miata gained the new color Zinc Green Metallic (pictured above). There have also been rumors about the company preparing a fifth generation of the sports car, but there’s no confirmed launch date for it yet.
The BRZ is getting a revised manual shifter that benefits from what the company is learning from racing in Japan. The exact changes are still a mystery, but the expectation is that the motorsport knowledge should yield an even better feeling when going through the gears.
Toyota has kept the GR86 interesting by launching a variety of special editions. Models such as the Hakone Edition and the Trueno Edition pay tribute to the model’s spiritual connection to the AE86 Corolla as a legendary platform for drifting.
CarBuzz Insight – Why This Matters:
The Miata won the sales race among this trio for August 2026, but we’re still talking about small numbers in the grand scheme of things. Auto enthusiasts need to understand that while the BRZ, MX-5, and GR86 are exciting and fairly affordable, they still aren’t the right fit for the vast majority of people. Many folks have families, pets, or other needs where a two-seater or even a cramped 2+2 coupe aren’t practical enough for daily use. These are niche products and appeal to a very specific demographic.
At this point, it’s virtually guaranteed that Miata will beat the Toyobaru twins to claim the inexpensive sports car crown for 2026. But we’ll have a better idea if it can beat both of them combined when Q3 2026 sales drop in early October.
