Lock & Load

According to car guide they wont have a mps (Mazdaspeed version of the RX8 )in Australia/or overseas Mps will only be available for major model line ups , AND NOT FOR THE ALREADY SPORTY RX8 or the MX5 according to Joe Bakaj Mazda japans product development head and Doug Dickson Head of Mazda Australia .

cheers
michael

RXE16T

Bunch of idiots they are!
Someone at the marketing department should be shot.

Gomez

Good news for Hymee, Richard Paul, Rotormaster and the others working on a FI upgrade........

takahashi

They have committed to NA for life even before the launch of the RX-8. Fujita engineering in the reason interview together with Blitz and Trust... said the same thing. Although Blitz and Trust tease Fujita with their FI... Fujita (same as Mazda Japan) will not give it.

There will be no turbo/supercharged RX-8 from Mazda Japan (period)

RXE16T

That's what they said about the MX5 all those years ago, but now.............

Lock & Load

Yes if we wait for 13 years they may release FI one year before the RX8 is supperseded .

The new MX5 should be here mid 06 .

Mazda does not want to cause a power war between the RX8 and the possible next RX7 IMHO

cheers
michael

Gomez

Either that, or they know the yanks will scream blue bloody murder when the factory RX-8 turbo/SC consistantly gets 13mpg. Look at all the carry on over the fuel consumption with the atmo one. And they have the cheapest "gas" on earth.....

Double the cost of the standard RX-8 in the States and that would solve the problem of the 17 year olds whinging about the cost of gas :D .

RXE16T

It's funny how different designers and importantly, the manufacturers have different agendas............

The designer of the MX5 always believed that it should have remained NA with its power being adequate enough for sporty driving.

Obviously Mazda changed its stance on this 13 years down the track and decided to release a factory turbo.

Guess anything may be possible for the RX8's future development..........

On a side note, it's interesting to see a performance orientated manufacturer such as Honda refuse to go FI on their sport models.......... after all, it's not like they haven't got the experience with this technology (80-90's F1).

Could you imagine if they decided to build a turbo Type R or even a S2K?

labrat

You can see that both Mazda and Honda are positioning themselves as offering "pure" sports cars. They're happy to let the US makers (read also Holden) (and perhaps Misubishi and Nissan) have the monster muscle cars. It's easier to assume the "responsible" mantle (which will increasingly have traction in the marketplace) when your cars aren't blown and have huge capacities.

It was interesting to note that Honda went on record to say how important it was to maintain sports cars in their line-up. They said Toyota was dumb not having a replacement for the Celica, although looking at Toyota's market position, how stupid is that?

Did I detect a "when the RX-7 comes" comment? If you read Mazda's rationale for the RX-8, this negates any role of an RX-7 in their line-up. This is especially so when you see what a smashing success the RX-8 has already proved to be for them. Around Brisbane, RX-8's are dead common. The fire in the paint shop in Hiroshima will have them spitting chips!

Lock & Load

"Around Brisbane, RX-8'S are dead common ".............labrat


Not if you have the Lightining Yellow one

cheers
michael

rpm_pwr

I see a yellow rx-8 pretty much every day of the week.

The point Joe Bakaj was trying to make was that sports models don't need the MPS moniker. That is only to show people that they can make their bread& butter stuff interesting.

You'd have to be living under a rock to still think that an atmo rx-8 is going to be Mazda's last word in sports cars, NC MX-5 notwithstanding.

labrat

I would only make the point that Mazda tried the "iconic sports car" thing with the RX-7 and nearly went broke if not for Ford baling them out. There may be some hairy-chested unrepentant RX-7 revivalists in the Mazda skunk works, but Mazda has a plan to not only stay alive but to make money. The RX-7 didn't make money and didn't act as a drawcard to get people into showrooms. That's what an icon car is supposed to do. Perhaps somebody who is up on Mazda statistics might be able to compare the number of RX-7's sold in the last decade of its manufacture with the number of RX-8's sold in the last 18 months.

Maestro

Hold up Mazda SuperGeek on a mission.........

Maestro

6,560 RX-8 Units (Domestic Market) Jan to Jun
2,255 Series 8 2002 RX-7 Jan to Jun

The statistics should be pretty similar to the above numbers

DMRH

Am glad to see you guys are learning about the culture at Mazda Australia for yourselves.

Remember, anywhere overseas. You the customer are the most important part of Mazda as all employees are paid by looking after you. Thesemeans doing what ever is possible to create excitment & customer satisfaction.

However, here in Australia. You the customer are a burden that must be fobbed off as quickly as possible & only dealt with if they really are forced into it.

Explains somewhat why the RX-8 is 55% higher priced here than Japan doesn't it.

I'm not talking about the hard working dealers, even some of them get the same treament from the culture that is Mazda Australia.

rpm_pwr

You made that up. Mazda lost it's money in the early 90's because it tried to create several niche brands (eg Efini,Eunos, Autozam etc) and poured enormous amounts of money into this with negative return. This compounded against a spiralling yen meant even mazda's mainstream products were losing money at a rapid rate.

The pittance Mazda lost on US warranty claims on the FD3S at the time had absolutely no bearing on its collapse.

Who said anything specific about an RX-7? Regardless, the FD3S was bulit to boost mazda's reputation by competing in group A. By the time of it's release group A was dead so the exercise failed. In Australia, annual sales closely followed Mazda's success in the enduro racing however. Mazda openly admit to having an RX-7 project in the off-line stage anyway so your argument is flawed.

Perhaps we could compare RX-8 sales with early MX-5 sales too? Or just go straight for apples with oranges?

AMG

The MX5 SE was only brought out to increase sales of the MX5. A car which is very much long in the tooth and whose sales numbers are seriously dwindling.

The turbo comes with a tiny little intercooler and hardly offers much in terms of decent increase in power.

Two months ago you could get a brand new SE with 50% deposit to get the rest of the price as a three year interest free finance deal. With an offer like this they must have seriously misjudged the "saleability" of that particular model.

RXE16T

True, unfortunately the MX5's image over the years has become tarnished by the countless number of women and effeminate men who purchase them.

It's no longer perceived as a sports car, but more of a hair dresser's car.

Mazda failed miserably in their attempt to grant it some '*****' (literally) :D

DMRH

Good news on that front.

The NB series MX-5 is near the end of its production life & with the pending NC generation will come an option that should have been made available right from the start.

This option should bring back the traditional buyers who want the MX-5 as a purest open top Roadster. In "NoJooc" terms, it will have ***** even in Atmo form.

REgards

RXE16T

Woo hoo!!!! S2K get ready to be owned!!!!! (I hope :o )

Lock & Load

Sadly i dont think so there is a S2.2K Out in japan thats really hot

cheers
michael

RXE16T

More torque, same hp, lower redline........... Spoon Sports S2K, now that's hot!

Lock & Load

This is the ride i am hot for A Zagato... Aston Martin Vanquish V8 Roadster

Hopefully available around 2010 in Australia .

cheers
michael

RXE16T

Bling bling.

Gomez

Having bought British once with the pussbucket Peugeot, I'll never be tempted to go down that route ever again. And to think I once considered a Series 3 XJ6 as a project car.....brrrrrrrgh, sends shivers down my spine just thinking about it.

There's still time to reconsider, Lock........