To luxury European marques like Ferrari, Lamborghini, Koenigsegg, Pagani, McLaren etc? Always struck me as a bit of an anomaly...
Really, the Venom GT is the only American hypercar that can take on the likes of LaFerrari, P1, 918, Agera R, Veyron SS etc. The Japanese have the GT-R Nismo as their flagship and that's not even in the same league....
You have to take into account the history behind those brands & the market they're known in.
The Americans & the Japanese have built cars over time that competed in that realm of supercar like the Ford GT, ACR, LFA, GT-R, etc. The issue they run into is their brand's image. Toyota or Ford could match the budgets of Ferrari or Lamborghini behind one of their supercars, but they don't have the history or image those manufacturers convey to convince folks to pay those kind of prices. 99% of folks can accept a $300,000 Ferrari, that's just the type of manufacturer they are. It's normal. When Toyota came into that realm with the LFA, it wasn't as easy; they're not known for that sort of thing in the public market. Even going under the Lexus brand, there were still questions about it. The GT-R went through the scrutiny of being $70,000 when it finally went on sale. Plenty of folks scoffed at a $70,000
Nissan. Preposterous. It didn't really matter (in the US at least) that it had the GT-R history behind it, Nissan wasn't simply recognized for that kind of market of sports car. Back at the beginning of the C6 Corvette, you could have seen the same response if you told folks that car would eventually ask $120,000 in the ZR1 form. Was an easier pill to swallow with how well the Z06 did at $70,000 and fought the big name exotics, but hindsight is 20-20.
Because of their image in these 6-figure+ markets, it's very hard to compete toe-to-toe with the European exotic market. Whilst the ZR1 & GT-R are performance monsters that run with a $300,000 Ferrari, that's where the comparisons stop typically. There's a limit people will pay for a GT-R or Corvette name and the manufacturers know that. To really compete with Ferrari, the cars would have to be much more expensive; build materials, interior quality, the personalization that comes with them. If you want an American or Japanese car to have that same sort of offering, the prices for the aforementioned ZR1 or GT-R, would have to come up a bit more. Thus, focusing solely on performance remains an easier area to market. People are more willing to shell out $10-20,000 more for performance increases than the car receiving some high end, full glossy-carbon interior that's hand assembled. As long as that performance keeps the cars on par with the Europeans, it's an easier sell than sharing the same quality interior. Folks in the Corvette/GT-R world probably aren't that crazy about that stuff anyway.
So, yes, Americans & Japanese manufacturers can every so often, attempt to compete with those marques. The issue is whether or not people will buy it with the name associated with it, or if someone like Toyota, is willing to lose money on them. With the help of some great models placed in the $70-$150,000 range over the last decade, they're becoming more acceptable. But, the cars you referring to in the hypercar category, are still a very long way out. Those vehicles are in the market of $1 million+ and you'll never convince the clientele in that market that a Ford or Nissan is worth the same money. Hell, you could even undercut them and say, "Well, they're not as nicely built all-around, but they do match the performance for half the cost". Even at $500,000, the Americans/Japanese will find trouble moving the units; Ford will be able to do so with the new GT at $400,000, but that's it. In the hypercar market, you have to offer more than just crazy performance. One of the biggest differences that the exotic marque offers is the relationships they build. Dealerships and Service departments absolutely cater to these people hand and foot whilst your ZR1 shares the service drive with a Sonic, and you talk to a service writer in a barely acceptable waiting area because truthfully, whilst you spent a lot of money with Chevrolet, you're not a majority of their buyers. You want nice chairs and snacks/drinks, you buy into that with a higher marque. Exotic marques don't even want you at the dealership these days; kick back at home, they'll take care of everything.
It's just another world with those luxury marques, a different breed of people. The sports cars the Americans/Japanese offer do a fine job on their own, anyway, and allow us regular folks to have fun without breaking the bank. That's their niche, and one you won't find those same Euro marques trying to break into any time soon b/c their high class image keeps them from doing so.
