The 8 still seems to be lagging behind the 6 and the 3. Roughly 500 more 8s were sold in March than February.

Mazda Sales (http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/04-01-2004/0002139435&EDATE=)

The 8 is supposed to lag behind the 6 and the 3.

People like fuel efficient grocery go getters not sports cars. That’s for us enthusiasts.

But anyway those are actually some pretty good #'s for the 8 (2373).

Wow, those are great! Close to the best month it's had. Go Mazda!

So, 6,027 RX-8s on the road. All I have to do is get 5,443 more RX-8 owners to put the 3rd light RX-8 logo mod on their 8s and I'll have conquered the third brake light logo RX-8 world. :D

Glad to see that there are more out on the road, however, I have still only seen 2 others around here and that is an extreme rarity. I think my dealership still has the same stock when I bought mine from them almost 3 months ago.

It's nice to be unique! However, I am looking forward to the Mazda Rev it up in Chicago and St. Louis so I can meet a few of our members there. :)

Originally posted by Frankenguy
The 8 still seems to be lagging behind the 6 and the 3. Roughly 500 more 8s were sold in March than February.

Mazda Sales (http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/04-01-2004/0002139435&EDATE=)
It would be a BIG surprise if it DIDN'T lag behind the 3 or 6. That might only happen when the 3 or 6 is discontinued. Sports cars don't sell well compared to more mainstream cars.

Take a look at Nissan's, Honda's, Toyota's, or GM's sales to see what I mean:
http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2004/04/01/187450.html
http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2004/04/01/187468.html
http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2004/04/01/187455.html
http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2004/04/01/187460.html

Not quite. It's 6,027 for this year. Dont forget to add the ones sold in 03 (12,346). So you are looking at a few more cars than originally expected before the world has been conquered.

Just call me Pinky :D


Originally posted by D MENAC 7
So, 6,027 RX-8s on the road. All I have to do is get 5,443 more RX-8 owners to put the 3rd light RX-8 logo mod on their 8s and I'll have conquered the third brake light logo RX-8 world. :D

It will always lag behind the 3 & 6. What's important is if he 8 is meeting its sales goal which I believe is 2500 per month. If so, it's right on target and that's great news. Is 2500 p/m the goal?

Here's the Figures and Comparison for Canada.



Vehicle sales decline for 8th straight month
Business slumps

at Ford, Honda Only incentives prop up market


TONY VAN ALPHEN
BUSINESS REPORTER

Slumping business at Ford, Honda and some smaller manufacturers pulled down Canada's auto market marginally last month.

Sales and leases of new vehicles dipped 0.2 per cent to 145,975 in March from the same month last year, manufacturers reported yesterday.

It marked the eighth consecutive month that car and truck sales, a key economic indicator, have declined in the country despite continuing heavy incentives.

Sales for the first quarter were off 6.4 per cent or almost 22,000 vehicles to 321,037 from the corresponding 2003 period.

Industry watcher Dennis DesRosiers said incentives continue to support the market.

"The economy is showing some signs of growth and hopefully getting better but sales are almost totally dependent on incentives," he said in a brief analysis of March sales.

"If they (manufacturers) back off incentives even slightly, the market heads south."

DesRosiers said he believes the current level of incentives will be difficult to maintain for the remainder of the year and sales will decline.

He also noted that a drop in used vehicle prices is negating a lot of the impact of incentives in the market.

DaimlerChrysler, General Motors, Mazda, Toyota and Nissan posted good gains but the over-all market couldn't overcome steep drops by other major players such as Ford and Honda.

Ford Motor Co. of Canada reported its sales tumbled 11.6 per cent to 21,548 during the month. Car volumes plunged 19.9 per cent to 5,811, while truck deliveries slid 8.1 per cent to 15,737.

Sales at Honda Canada, including the Acura division, fell 5.3 per cent to 12,532. Hyundai Auto Canada said its business slid 10.7 per cent to 5,004.

But sales at General Motors of Canada Ltd., the country's biggest auto maker, climbed 3.1 per cent to 43,728 during the month. Car sales improved 6.5 per cent but truck deliveries dipped slightly.

DaimlerChrysler Canada Inc. bounced back from recent declines when its sales shot up 9.1 per cent to 21,491 in March. Car sales plunged a whopping 43.8 per cent to 3,387 but its truck deliveries, including minivans, soared 32.5 per cent to 18,104.

Company officials expect sales to continue rising because of a "product offensive," including new minivan and sedan models.

Sales at Toyota Canada, including the Lexus luxury division, improved 1.5 per cent to 13,754, a record for March.

Tony Wearing, Toyota's managing director, said the market is giving "mixed signals" but his company still has set sales records in 11 of the last 12 months.

Mazda Canada said its sales shot up 24.5 per cent to 7,113, while Nissan Canada reported business jumped 21.5 per cent to 6,560.

Subaru Canada and Volvo Cars of Canada also set March records. Subaru reported that sales increased 3.9 per cent to 1,341, while Volvo said its deliveries improved 6 per cent to 1,193 during the month.

Elsewhere, sales at Volkswagen Canada slid 37.2 per cent to 2,124, deliveries at Kia Canada dropped 25 per cent to 2,122 and volume at Mitsubishi Canada fell 21.3 per cent to 1,114.

Sales in the United States, the destination for most Canadian auto production, rose 3.8 per cent in March. GM, Ford and Toyota led the sales gain south of the border.



source (http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1080861010885&call_pageid=968350072197&col=969048863851)

Notice in the Article it stated:

Mazda's stellar March was led by its MAZDA6 sedan. Mazda's flagship
posted sales of 6,428 vehicles-up 60.1 percent from a year ago.


Ahhhhh!!! out car is not the Flagship ! help help, I bought a lemon !!! ;)

the flagship SEDAN

easy therrr, you have a sportscar (4 door at that :p )

PaulieWalnuts,

From what I understand you're 2500 unit per month figure is right on the money. Sources from Mazda stated early on that the business case for the RX-8 was based on 30K annual U.S. sales. The interesting thing is that in the first 6 months, almost as many RX-8s were produced as in the entire first year of Gen 3 production. If the 8 sales stay on track they could nearly double the entire 3-year U.S. Gen 3 production numbers (1993-1995) in their first year alone. Not bad, especially considering the rising fuel costs in the U.S. Hopefully the gas crunch will be fairly short lived.

Finally, worldwide, Mazda is on track to produce more 8s in their first 12 months than in their entire 10-year production run on Gen 3s. Again, no small feat when you consider that most of the Renesis engine is still hand-assembled in Hiroshima versus the mass production methods used by most other automobile manufacturers.

Originally posted by ZoomZoomH
the flagship SEDAN

easy therrr, you have a sportscar (4 door at that :p )

Actually, the point I'm trying to make is that the guy who wrote the article did made a mistake of thinking the Mazda6 IS the flagship of Mazda. Read it again.

Yea, it doesn't mean anything, I was just joking around.

RCCAZ 1 - nice! If things keep picking up we'll be seeing more RX-8 versions and more RX models. RX-7? RX-9?

Look at it as a percentage increase over February. Of course the 3 and 6 are going to sell more in total. The 8's % increase almost equals the 6's.

Y'all are also missing my "good news/bad news" point. Is it good news the 8 sales are picking up, or bad news because it will become less "exclusive"?

In my opinion, more is ALWAYS better when it comes to car production if you're interested in aftermarket parts. If more are produced, then more aftermarket manufacturers get interested in designing parts. More numbers also bolsters the business case for additional future rotary vehicles. The only downside that I see to higher production numbers is faster depreciation. However, quality cars with exceptional fit, finish, reliability and "fun" appeal seem to hold their value longer. I think the 8 fits the bill in this category and will do fairly well in over time. Let's face it... the RX-8 will never be as exclusive as the Gen 3 RX-7, which is GOOD news. It brings more newbies into the rotary fold who previously had ZERO exposure to rotary powerplants. That type of support can only bring good things to current and future fans of rotary power.

lol, cant imagine what if 3 and 6 have less sales than the 8!

Is it good news the 8 sales are picking up, or bad news because it will become less "exclusive"?

yes

this great sales number of RX-8 is ver reminicent of the sales figure of the FC RX-7 back in the late 80s/early 90's, when Mazda was doing quite well :)