Ahhhh. Ye olde "Opinion masqueraded as fact" routine. And a retarded opinion at that.

Grow up.

 

Ford sez ..May RX-8 sales were 1071

 

ugh..only 1071?!? can somebody confirm this?

 

The number is confirmed to be correct, down 53.7% year-over-year. See http://media.ford.com/mazda/article_...ticle_id=20943 for official Mazda North America's press release.

Keep in mind that the figure applies only to NA market. For global number, see http://www.mazda.com/publicity/product/seihane.html where data is updated on a two-month-lag compared to one-month-lag in NA.

 

Say bye bye rotary and bye bye MS8 if this keeps up.

 

Around 4500 RX8 but a drop in the ocean i believe will be sold by the 2nd anniversary of its release being the1st of august 2005 here in Australia

cheers
michael

 

In regard to the RX-8 sales - the number may be down in the US, but I just saw a Mazda TV commercial (Richmond VA) for the RX-8. Mazda previously has advertised the Mazda 3 and Mazda 6 in our area of the country. I can tell – our company parking lot has multiple 6’s, but only 2 RX-8’s. Most incentives have been for the Mazda 6, with the 3 costing less with good reviews.

I for one, waited to buy an RX-8 with incentives. Saved me money and I got the car I wanted while paying a lot less by being patient. Plus, the rotary engine is different, cause for concern for some.

 

The troll might be right. Winter numbers being down was a bit disconcerting, but not something to be worried about as that's not abnormal for a car like this... but in that case the desirable trend is for sales to pick up for each month throughout the Spring.

Hopefully selling 12k-15k RX8s per year in the US is profitable enough for Mazda to stick with it (the platform being shared with the upcoming Miata may help). But the pessimist in me is wondering if these numbers will prompt them to discontinue it in our market in the next few years.

That would make me sad because if anything were to happen to my RX8 it'd be tougher to buy a replacement. There is no other car quite like it.

 

I wonder how many RX8's does Mazda consider enough to keep it up in U.S. I think that maybe the numbers seem poor because it did well initially. They will do a mid-life cycle update and boost up sales a bit....it's no big deal...350Z sales have fallen off, and S2000 sales are a fraction of what they were when they came out. The S2000 is in a similar situation as the RX8...it has a unique chassis, an engine not shared with anything else in the lineup and is low-volume. Honda still makes it...almost 6 model years so far.

 

Yeah and Honda made the NSX for 14 years too despite nobody buying them . . . its important for certain companies to have halo cars.

If Mazda were Mazda they'd keep making it just to have it, but Ford penny pinchers might cut it.

They tried reinfusing the car with the white color, and the Shinka edition - I'm willing to bet it'll bow out in a few years with an MS edition and then we'll get something else.

 

If sales are bad it doesn't matter too much to me. The less I see on the road the more special I feel.

In fact, I saw three RX-8s just this morning alone on my commute to work. Two of them were only 6 cars away from each other. That's too many for me to see in one day and who knows how many I'll bump into tonight. Made me feel like I had a 350z. Good thing mine's yellow though.

 

The main reason why the RX8 has seen its sales plummet is because of the lack of power. If the RX8 had 260-270 hp and more torque it would be much more competitive and would be outselling the 350Z, and many other sport and gt cars. The RX8 is unique, but that's also works against it. It has too many weaknesses for a car that is so unique. Now with the new Eclipse out, (and it's going to outsell the RX8) and it being quicker than the 8, the RX8 is in for big trouble. Look at its competitors; Mustang GT, (cheaper and faster), Eclipse (cheaper and faster), GTO (way faster and not much more expensive), 350z (faster, about the same price), G35 coupe (faster, just a bit more), and on the cheaper side, the Neon SRT4, Cobalt SS, and a few others. The RX8 is beginning to look more and more like the oddball. Its uniqueness starts to hurt it when compared to many of these cars that are more mainstream.

 

Talan7: As for the new eclipse outselling the RX8, I doubt that...especially now. The new eclipse is pretty much mitsu's last attempt at selling americans on a car. Within the first week of selling them, they are recalling them because of faulty brakes. This is causing so much concern, that mitsu is sending technicians to peoples houses. A lot of cars that have such a critical safety mishap when they are first released, don't get the sales they would have if nothing happened. Sure, mazda lied about the HP numbers, but that wasn't as bad as having a 3472 lbs vehicle that cannot stop.

 

Of course the Eclipse will sell better than the RX8.....there's gonna be a million of those cheesy 4cyl automatic versions scooped up. They are way less expensive...plus dealers will discount the hell out of them....

 

For whatever reason, the drop in sales figures is never a good sign. The best thing Mazda can do now is to scale back production, or shift cars to markets that sell better.

First rule in marketing is to create a demand. Consumers always want what they can't have. Stop with the incentives. Fewer cars should translate into higher margins for the dealers, higher resale, etc....

They'll probably continue to produce the car since it probably helps sell their other cars.

 

Honda S2000 sales were 697 for April

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/st...3769473&EDATE=

350Z sales were 2883 for april
and 2556 G35 coupes were sold as well

http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2...03/057856.html


Wow....RX8 numbers are crappy compared to the FM twins.....

 

Yesterday I saw a new commercial (in this area) for the RX-8, it was pretty long as far as commercials go. It had a red RX-8 zipping around, and spinning, some real good action shots.


The RX-8 is NEVER going to be a big seller, too many people do not have the patience to check the oil regularly (and then add some), have to worry about flooding and have to put gas in it every 240 miles or so.


I like having a car that you don't see dozens of every day, I just hope Mazda (and Ford) don't get too discouraged by the sales.

 

I had disqualified the RX8 because of its flaccid performance numbers in the auto mags...was thinking of a G35. Since the RX8 is geared towards enthusiasts, they will do their homework before buying.

A 15.0 1/4 time is a show-stopper (I think that was C/D's number). Given the low 14s and high 13s of other cars in the segment, even mid-14s are not good enough. Yes, the car handles well, but so does a Miata, and it is a convertible to boot.

That was before I drove the car on a whim (was at the dealer looking at 6 SportWagon) and loved it.

If Mazda wants to sell this car in volume, or have many sales at all, they will have to turbo or supercharge it so it can spec on par with its competition.

 

Sales will sag during the winter months and something new (Fi?) should be introduced to interest people in the spring, but overall the RX8 is a success. The car strikes a balance that no other car I've ever driven does. Critics and engineers feel the car is a success, and the winning designs are being incorporated into other vehicles (rumored Jaguar is using the backbone frame idea).

The 8 is targeted at a slightly more mature audience. 1/4 mile times, 0-60 times, etc. really don't mean much when everything else about the vehicle leaves something to be desired.


When I was looking at new cars (Sept '03) I tried the following:
350z - Fun car, fast with torque. Cheesy interior, rear visibility a joke, comfort fair.
G35 - Cool car, fast with torque. Vague feeling, almost sluggish handling. Comfort good, visibility fair.
Evo - Fast as hell, handled well. Ugly, outside and inside. Cheap feeling. Comfort terrible, visibility good.
WRX - Fun car, felt fast, handled well. Uninspired interior. Ugly. Comfort fair, visibility good. (STi wasn't out yet).
Boxster S - Fun and fast. Handled well. Nice overall feel, too pricey for what it is. Comfort good. Visibility good (top down).
S2000 - Fun, fast, weak torque, revs high. Handled well, feels like the boxster with a different motor. Comfort OK, visibility good (top down).
Tiberon - Weak performance, handled like a Sonata. Comfort fair, cheap interior. Visibility ok.
RX8 - Fun car, felt fast, weak torque but revs very high. Handled well, excellent balance. Interior very cool, quality looked good. Comfort very good, visibility good.

Only the Tiberon and WRx had worse drag strip numbers than the RX8. On the road the 8 felt as about as fast as the others (The Evo kicks *** in performance, but was as comfortable as a park bench).

I picked the 8 over the rest and would do it again in a heartbeat (need to drive a lotus elise/exige to make sure). The RX8 is fun, fast and comfortable.

Performance numbers aren't worth much except for the plastic trophy award. If you want to really lower those numbers get a motorcycle, for $7000 you can blow just about any production car off the road.

My 2 cents,

Alex

 

The RX-8 is and was only ever meant to be a small sales volume seller, the factory knows at best after initial launch that it would be a 7 to 10 percent of passenger car volume.
Don't forget that Mazda are only just recovering from the Ujina paint plant fire with full production resuming in April 2005.

 

Maybe once and if a MS version is released, more people will buy our lower powered version for status, like people buy the base Mustang. Other than that, this niche might be about used up. Most enthusiasts probably want something faster in a straight line, and most people looking for convenience would probably go with something with more room in the back and a better trunk.

 

I worked for a Honda/Acura Dealership when the NSX was first introduced. MSRP sticker was $60K, but the hype (and Honda is great at hype) made the Sales Manager slap a $100,000.00 price tag on it.... we sold one for 100K. The other (we only had an allotment of 2 at the time) we sold at sticker. Both NSX's sold before they sat on the showroom floor for a month. Too bad MNA didn't use the same marketing agency for the RX8, as Acura did for the NSX.

On one hand the RX8 is still a scarce car (which like many others, makes me feel "special", no not the short bus special.), but if sales figures are down, I fear that the aftermarket won't develop like I'd like to see it grow.

 

I'm willing to bet that any enthusiast looking at the RX8 isn't concerned with straight-line performance, especially from a stop.

Convenience? I haven't seen a sports car (not sports sedan--how I still classify the Evo and Sti) with more room in the back or a bigger trunk--though the trunk opening could use some work...

--Massive

 

I saw the Eclipse road test on Car and Driver TV today. Definetely lukewarm, and kind of Ugly, not like the EVO, but the hate it quotient will be high. And the LOL part was that the 3.8L car got 15MPG!!!

 

1,217 rx8s sold in June.

http://media.ford.com/mazda/article_...ticle_id=21106