Gomez

Vafuncool and myself have just attended a market research function for Mazda about Mazdaspeed.

They wanted our opinions on the name, logo, product pricing, etc.
A sunlight silver 8 was there with all the gear...looked fat.

Sit down 'cos I'm gonna throw some prices at ya........

Proposed fitted prices for the body kit.....incl mirrors, skirts, front and rear bumpers, bootlid adjustable spoiler.......$9500

18" Mazdasport wheels with S03's........$9000!!....Hymee will like this.....$900 for rear muffler.

Water temp, oil pressure and oil temp gauge set....$2700 fitted.

The cheapest bit of carbon look trim cost $200, for the door switch panel, I think....sorry couldn't take notes! Swaybars $700 each.....They wanted our opinions on price, the front bumper at $2600 seemed O.K....rear was $1600 or so. These prices are suggested of course.....Most of us thought the gear was too dear, the shocks were good at $400 a pair.

There is a problem with the word "speed".....worried about the authorities.....Showed us a logo of MSE (Mazda Sports Enhanced) with the Mazdaspeed logo underneath, ie MSE by Mazdaspeed.

The Mazdaspeed decals on the car looked great, 2" square decals just above and aft of the flutes.....

Tony, can you remember anything else????!!

Regards, Gomez.

AMG

any talk of go fast bits or an SP model?

Gomez

No go fast bits or SP mentioned, suspension, appearance, interior and strut bars only.....

takahashi

Thanks Gomez... I should have been there!!!!!!

Sounds like the spoiler and wing will be cheaper than importing but the sway bar is way to expensive (I get it for less then $500 each). You may be confused with the strut bar.

Any idea when? Gomez.

Better call the bank now!

takahashi

Hang on... how much is the front bumper 2600? Too expensive!

I knew that I was quoted that price alone.... hmm...

Sounds like unless they drop the price japanparts.com still have my money at this stage.

I guess the only good thing about it is that it is sold via Mazda and so the AAMI will insure with no increase in premium for at least the bodykit. If similar price then what the heck! :D

takahashi

No SP bit from MazdaSpeed even in Japan AMG?!

pepe

Ouch, 10 grand for a body kit alone? Guess that's about how much I thought it would be a few months ago anyway, but even still... 9 grand for wheels and rubber? I'm not sure they're going to do a great amount of business with those prices...

takahashi

It is a MAGNESIUM wheel pepe... 6 Kilo EACH (without tyres)

it is about the right price.

vafuncool

No nothing else to add, I think you covered it all in your post Gomez.

The demo car with all the gear was extremely low and already one of the marketing people damaged the front bumber. OUCH. $2600 to replace that!!!

Taka, what happened to you? There were 2 vacant chairs in our session.

takahashi

THEY DID NOT CALL ME!

I should have just went there! What a shame.... but I might know much more then them about MazdaSpeed products. hehe

rpm_pwr

Are you SURE of that weight? That's insane! So's the price though, of course....

DragToys

That seems expensive.
It was cheaper than that to import my kit from takakaira.
my total kit was around $6500 without the rear bar.
about $1800 for the rear bar by the time you get it here

I guess once you add mark up and factory fitting then it comes to that price.

But once it is here I guess most people will just copy it and you can probably get the whole kit for $2500 in cheap fibreglass.

pepe

It might be what it costs and be the right price, but I doubt there's going to be a long line of people who want to pay 9 grand for wheels and rubber alone. Especially when there are nicer wheels out there for a lot less. Really, they're only worth what they can sell them for, just like everything else in this world.

rexi

Gomez,
Any idea when MS parts will be available in OZ.
Also would you know cost of MS springs and flywheel?

It would be great to fit the MS springs to reduce wheel gap and further improve handling without affecting warranty ,insurance and resale value.

Regards
Rexi

takahashi

THat is the only thing... but must pay in a price. I doubt it is any cheaper to buy from Mazda Australia than purchase through some Japanese sites.

MazdaSpeed component are slightly more expensive in Japan and not necessary cheaper. But what comes with reselling confident. Like STi parts in WRX, Nismo for Nissans and Mugen for Honda. hmmmm

rotarenvy

I hope you let them know how stupid their pricing was (not just expensive).
looks like the jap companies and au ones that import the gear will make more than mazda.

Gomez

Taka, no I specifically remembered the sway bar prices as I had been looking at Ric Shaw's prices earlier in the night....$700 each.

Front strut bar was dearer, not sure about the rear, must have been cheaper than $700....there's nothing to it!

They were a research group and had no idea of Mazda's intentions of when (or if, even) this gear would go to market.
I imagine there would have to be a significant adjustment to the prices tabled for the venture to be a success, we all made it clear the gear was too dear. We put forward the idea of marketing the car as a separate model, ie, a Mazdasport RX-8......there was probably 30 odd grand of retail gear at these prices, I don't think the package could wear that kind of mark up and sell, though.

The night was about whether we would buy at these prices....I thought the prices were double what they should be to sell in any numbers. Vafuncool and myself were the only one's who had even heard of Mazdaspeed......there is a good deal of marketing to be done, I'd say.

Rexi, no mention of flywheel's, springs were $400 pr, I think.

If the other groups that went through were thinking like us, maybe the stuff won't come in at all.....maybe this thread should be called, Mazdaspeed, maybe....

Gomez.

takahashi

Gomez...

Struts and Stabilizer bars are 2 seperated things. The 4 pointer under the bonnet is strut, so as the one in the boot. Ric is selling the sway (stabilizer) bar that goes under the car.

Gomez

Yeah, I know, that's what I said...

Maestro

LOL

:P

Hey Taka once again my appologies !!!!

I'm pulling my hair out over here with these useless monkeys !!!

"How am I supposed to soar like a eagle when i'm surrounded by TURKEYS !!!!!"

Maestro

Also reguarding MazdaSpeed Wheels.........

Look at my signature. I have them have had them for 3.5 years now too.

They are worth $9k but I can get them cheaper.

Maybe you should organise a group buy and i'll get a whole bunch from Japan at a cheap price.

Just an idea :D

Gomez

Hi Maestro, the wheels we saw on the night were 18" jobbies, can't recall the tyre or rim size....we thought it a bit much to expect someone to fork out 9K on 18" wheels when 18's came standard. The presenter thought you would receive cash on the return of your standard rims and tyres though....she didn't think you'd get anything back on any of the other stuff, however.

Regards, Gomez.

takahashi

Gomez.

In fact 1 kg lighter per wheel equate about 1 sec per lap in Tsukuba, one magazine tested.

The fact that MS wheel is 6.xkg vs 9.xkg in the stock wheel that makes it very very good mod

Very expensive parking incident too!!!

Gomez

That's great Taka, but I'll drop 60kg kicking Morticia out of the car if I want to go faster, less wear and tear on the imaginary passenger brake pedal as a bonus.....

takahashi

That is true but weight of wheels are spinning weight... it is more significant than dropping the wheel's weight than a passenger.

I ride push bikes, the difference in performance when I switch from normal hand made wheel and rim (1.5kg) to Mavic Ksyrium (1.05kg) is enormous. I average more than 1km/h+ faster! --- i.e. 5 minutes in a training ride (say 2 hours)

Taka