1967 Cosmo 110S (10A)
1968 R100 (10A)
1969 Familia SS (R100 4 Door - Japan Only)(10A)
1969 R130 (Japan Only) (13A FWD)
1970 RX-2/Capella (12A)
1971 RX-3/Savanna (10A-12A)
1972 RX-4/Luce (12A-13B)
1974 Parkway 26 Bus (Japan Only) (13B)
1974 REPU/Rotary Engine Pick Up (USA Only)
1975 Roadpacer AP (Japan Only with Australian HJ Holden Made Body) (13B)
1975 RX-5/Cosmo (13B)
1978 RX-7/Savanna (12A)
1985 RX-7 (FC) (13B)
1990 Eunos Cosmo (Japan Only) (20B)
1992 RX-7 (FD) (13B REW)
2003 RX-8 (SE,FE) (13B RENESIS)

 

Nice find! I wish I still had the 3 RX4's. They would be collectors items now. Not to mention my REPU.

 

didn't the 80s 929's have rotaries? or is that the Luce?

 

rx-8 it's (more and less) at level of sales of FC....not bad at all....

less price= more sales (see FD vs. rx-8)

 

I wish I still had my RX-2 and Rx-3. My RX-2 was perhaps the most fun car I've ever owned........

 

I thought that Mazda made over 100,000 RX8's in it's first year. Can someone confirm/rebut this?

 

Mazda made over 110,000 2004 model year models.

Remember you have to combine both the 2003 and 2004 production to get the 2004 model year numbers.

 

Sweet find.

 

I'm glad to see that production was never seems to fall below 1000 for all that time.

 

Someone's selling an RX-3 at my local craigslist.
http://vancouver.en.craigslist.ca/cto/1079256112.html

 

And here's an RX-2 that's a lot closer:
http://sanantonio.craigslist.org/cto/1084159077.html

 

yea ...2nd gear in my Rx-2 would smoke nearly anything I was sitting next to when I was a kid ... Mostly 'cause they couldn't conceive of such a lame looking 4 door orange sedan (but I liked it!) being any threat...mistake!
Two blown engines and 30K miles later I sold the poor thing

 

With Wind turbines, Geothermal, and Solar technologies making huge strides, lets cross our little fingers Hydrogen, more specifically Mazda's hydrogen Rotary, will make greater strides to be around in the future. The world needs this technology!

 

hydrogen is NOT the future. the future is electricity.

 

IMHO NOT.

The entire world can't work battery-operated.......

 

the future is rotary....

 

Good luck finding the power for that. Requires one hell of a lot more nuclear power plants :P

 

Great find!
I'm adding this one to my bookmarks!

 

I'm glad to see that the early RX-8 numbers were so strong, but the production numbers have really dropped off. I think the question has to be asked if it is profitable for Mazda to keep producing them when the sales drop below 10k units, etc. (which would appear to be the trend for '09 production)

If I'm remembering correctly there are ~100 Mazda dealers in Canada. Let's say the US has 10x as many because it has 10x the population. Let's say the US is 50% of the total RX-8 market (rough guess). That means the average dealer is going to sell 5 per year for '09 production. That's pretty hard to order/stock, etc. Dealers don't like ordering cars they can't sell. We all know they've often had trouble unloading RX-8s at the end of the model year. It creates a viscious circle where RX-8s aren't going to be available for people to drive/see and sales are going to keep droping. I think this is also why we haven't seen the 16X appear in a car. Mazda is trying not to spend money on something that won't make them much money. Their marketing folks are likely telling them that even a nice HP and torque bump isn't going to cause a massive increase in sales.

 

Possibly true, but if so their marketing folks are not only idiots but incompetent.

1st off, they don't even try to market the car...no TV adverts, few if any print adverts...just how is anyone going to know the car exists if they don't read the few car mags that still refer to it' 'long in the tooth' model design? Even my dealer complains Mazda NEVER EVER markets the car ... and he's got a vested interest in seeing the marketing...and he can't find it!

2nd, practically the ONLY SIGNIFICANT COMPLAINT about the car from DAY ONE in 2003 was the lack of power, compounded by Mazda's FU on the HP rating. The bitchings never stopped, both from owners and car testers alike. And in 6 years what has Mazda done about it?

ZILCH! Aside from LOSING HP, theoritically at least, at the start, not one FREAKING HP was ever added to the original design...not one! There was never a chorus of requests for a Shinka edition, no one asked for an upgraded interior or a black overhanging moustache, no white leather interior...but we got those wonderous 'marketing driven' enhancement FCOL.

If Mazda actually employes RX-8 marketing folks, they should have joined the flood of unemployed idiots out there years ago.

end of

Give us a faster car and virtually 6 out of 10 current RX-8s would be traded I'd wager. That's marketing ...

 

if they make a faster rotary, i'll buy it and keep my 8. take it to the bank, mazda.

the R3 is a horrible mistake. it's like the kid you didn't want to have just before retirement. it's nice looking, at least.

 

There's a real difference between the purist performance enthusiasts and technical nuts in the RX-7 forum and the people who frequent the RX-8 forum. The RX-8 is a very pure performance car by today's standards. IMO most people who bought it liked the performance, etc. but they like the exterior/interior appearance, the ammenities, etc. too. While a 60hp bump in power would likely increase sales, I think it makes sense that it wouldn't increase them night and day and justify a massive reinvestment.

Keep in mind that Mazda has not bothered to automate the engine assembly process because it's not worth spending the money. It's the only true mass production engine that this is is true for that I'm aware of. I honestly don't think they've made much or any money from the RX-8, it's a halo car. A lot of the engine tooling, castings dies, design, etc. are the same as they have been since the 70s or slightly modified. I don't buy that the 16X would acheive fuel economy numbers better than the 13B renesis. Going to the 16X would mean a lot of new equipment, designs, etc.

I don't think they can get more power out of an n/a 13B without effecting emissions or fuel economy. They've gone to extremes with the intake system to get power. Take a S5 RX-7 n/a engine at 160hp. If you look at the simple performance intakes people have fabricated for racing, they get a big bump in power. Essentially the RX-8 intake systems allows for maximum power while allowing optimal power through the rev range, driveability, etc. Add in tuning for premium fuel (and better overly FI tuning) and the higher CR, a little extra power for the large intake ports (but worse exhaust ports), better exhaust and I think it more or less explains the extra 72hp.

 

Who knows? It's possible.

 

New Rotary Production Numbers Chart Added To OP, sorry about the quality.

 

Excellent! All-In-One-Place history of the rotary. It does seem to show there's a true 'core buyer', that, once satisfied, doesn't seem to buy again...perhaps due to the lack of updated model(s). Only the RX-7 w/several models kept up sales numbers.