I guess the good news is discount and incentives will HAVE to come now - they can't sell them without. I wish I knew how many of the 1,001 they sold were 2004 models.....

Dennis



Mazda North American Operations - April 2005

Month-To-Date Year-To-Date

April April % April April %
2005 2004 Change 2005 2004 Change

RX8 1,001 2,207 -54.6% 5,918 8,234 -28.1%

 

Oh well, less on the road = more unique car.

 

yeah....down 54.6% is pretty damn bad

 

they didnt have any to sell- fire

 

That is BOGUS!

Every dealer I talked to has tons of 05s just sitting on the lot and most have several 04s as well.

Mazda and the dealers are lucky they had the plant fire, or they would have had to stop production - or the dealers would be swimming in 8s (and they are already).


Dennis

 

350z sales are off too (but still 2.8x more sold):

Apr 05 Apr 04 YTD 05 YTD 04
350Z 2,883 3,123 -11.1% 9,477 11,266 -15.9%


G35 coupe numbers (2.5x sold):

G35 Coupe 2,556 2,532 -2.8% 8,637 9,551 -9.6%


Honda has not released the S2000 numbers yet, but I bet the 8 out sold it.

Dennis

 

I think I'm going to join a lawn-bowling league.

 

Well, 241 more 8s sold than S2000s...

S2000 760 856 -14.5% 2,276 2,687 -15.3%

Dennis

 

did they tell what their allocations were and how many of the allocation they actuallyt got? they got stuck with whatever was here with nothing new coming. whatever options were on cars in their areas is what they had to sell period. less choices for the customer=less sales

 

^true true. i'm not too worried didn't the rx-8 out sell teh 350z 2:1 last year?

 

^ in Canada

 

more unique sounds fine to me

 

I'd definitely be inclined to agree with the fire affecting sales to some extent. I doubt it's accountable for even half the decline though.

Out of 6 local dealers, many of which are some of the biggest Mazda dealers in the nation, there's only 90 RX-8s; just a couple weeks ago it was less than 50. Less than half are MTXs. And now, even with a bunch more coming in, not a single one are equipped how I want mine to be equipped, they're almost all either Base or Loaded. Not much of an option. Makes me a little uneasy about getting one that I want later this summer on clearance too.

 

In Puerto Rico too

 

The car looks great, so the only thing I can think of is that either people think it is too expensive, or they are scared away by it's quirks and issues. If I had not test driven a car, and I heard from someone (or came on this forum), and read that it had issues with flooding, oil, horsepower, torque, and fuel economy, I would probably never give it a second thought. I am glad that I test drove one before I got too heavily involved in this forum though. I don't think most people are open minded enough to give it a chance, especially with the sticker price nearing or exceeding $30K (before the incentives obviously). And I think gas prices and the threat of even higher prices are making people think long and hard about their car choices. Will this effect future RX-8 releases? Is our resale going to take another hit?

 

The S2000 is a super car, and has been since it was introduced. Good gas mileage and not many "issues". The 8 out sold it last year and will this year too. Just not that big a market for $30k and up convertibles. The issue with both cars is lack of torque and low end power - most folks just don't "get" these cars and those that do not all can afford them. Pretty unique cars require unique owners, I guess. The Z/G35 are more "mainstream" so they sell a lot more. For those that put a premium on handling and a "tossable" car - they "Get" it.

Dennis

 

The main reason why the RX-8s numbers are down? MUSTANG GT. The Mustang is cheaper, has way more power than the 8. Even if it's not as good a handler or doesn't look as good, it will outsell the 8 and I bet if half of the people interested in the 8 would drive one they probably buy one. Also, there's the new Cobalt SS, Pontiac Solstice, The prices have come down on the GTO, etc. There are too many cars out there that are direct competitors to the 8. The RX8 needs more power.

 

i agree with the new mustang statement, but not so much w/ the cobalt, solstice, or GTO statement.

 

I think the front end on the new Mustangs is great. Whenever I see one in my rearview, I always have to stare. But I think the rear end is absolutely hideous. Plus, I think I would have to describe the interior as spartan. I've never driven one, but I don't imagine it handles as nicely or accelerates as smoothly as the RX-8. I'm not so sure the people who would be interested by the 8 would be the same people who would buy a Mustang. One is raw power, the other is refined performance.

 

The US sales of the Prius are up 196% ...to 11435 in April . That's more than the S2000, RX-8, 350Z and G35 coupe combined.

April RX-8.............1001
April G35 coupe....2556
April 350Z.............2883
April S2000...........760

Gomez.

 

sheesh, those numbers are pathetic. i'm starting to worry now. I sure hope this car is not a flop.

 

Looks like the oil price are having an effect. Wonder how it will take for Mazda to come out with the hybid rotary engine sport car?

 

March 2005 sales figures were up on March 2004.

March 2005 RX-8 sales in the US.....2489 units. Same time last year there were 2373 RX-8's sold.

I'm sure this is just due to the factory fire and reduced supply. Sales are not going to drop from 2489 to 1001 in one month without some exceptional reason.

Gomez.

 

While I do agree reduced supply plays a large part (as noted in my earlier post), it is possible to get that kind of sales loss, not from one exceptional reason, but from a variety of them both big and all.

In March, not only was the supply from Japan still trickling in, there were also considerably more '04s to be found than in April. With the prices of '04s and the amount of them in inventory, they definitely ballooned sales figures beyond what a non-incentived RX-8 inventory could maintain.

So, yes, March of '04 looks pretty decent compared to March of '03 -- but there weren't thousands of previous-year models on the lots for $8000 off sticker in '03 either. Remove '04s from March's sales and I bet you find a large difference somewhat comparable to the distinct decline we're seeing in last month's sales.

And then there's a variety of other reasons -- a general decline in the market for sport-coupes, increased competition from other sources (namely the new Mustang), and a rather significant increase in gas prices (over last year) and matching drop of overall consumer confidence in the short and long-term oil market, amongst some other reasons, all lead to a decline in sales.

 

Mazda has already sold more than 100,000 worldwide, so it can't be considered a flop, not yet anyway. However, whether it's the fire, gas prices, or just the changing tastes of trendy sporty car buyers remains to be seen. Regardless, Mazda needs to inject something new, "ehemm power boost", for the 2006 model year. An EVO killer Mazdaspeed version would surely spark up more interest as well.

If they don't do something and sales are worse in '06, that can't be good news for fans who want to see the rotary succeed. It could even cause senior Mazda brass to axe any plans for a 4th gen RX-7.