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Mazda scores a coupe -- RX-8 outsells Monaro
By Joshua Dowling
The Sun-Herald
Monday September 22 2003

The sports car race was neck and neck between two unlikely rivals last month: the new Holden Monaro and the quirky RX-8.

The Holden Monaro has been overtaken for the first time since it went on sale three years ago. The Mazda RX-8 pipped the Monaro at the post in August after just three months on sale, figures from industry statistician VFACTS show.

Holden sold 240 Monaros last month, but Mazda sold 242 of its RX-8 coupes.

Holden's hero car was also narrowly beaten by one of its own, the Holden Astra convertible, which recorded 241 sales, Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries data shows.

The Monaro's August tally is a drop of 12 percent on its monthly average for this year, but the car is still ahead of its yearly sales forecast. Holden expected to sell just 2000 Monaros this year, but has already recorded 2183 sales.

Even though the RX-8 and Monaro are both coupes and similarly priced, they are not classed as competitors by VFACTS. The Monaro is in the sports car category; the RX-8 is considered a prestige car. But the industry tends to ignore this technicality and compares like cars.



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The RX-8's narrow lead might not last long. Mazda Australia is limited to 950 cars for the rest of this year.

"We ask Japan for more cars nearly every week but we can't get enough," Alastair Doak of Mazda Australia said.

"The world is supplied by the one factory so we have limited production capacity. If more cars become available, we'll take them."

The worldwide popularity of the Mazda RX-8, best known for its rear-hinged, so-called "suicide" rear doors, has surprised industry observers.

Sales of all new models are strongest in the first few months on sale as dealers register demonstrators and the car makers add the vehicles to their fleet. Pent-up customer demand also ensures strong performances out of the blocks.

This was the case for the Mazda RX-8, for which there were 400 orders before the car went on sale.

Of all the vehicle types, coupes are the most fickle and go in and out of vogue faster than any other type.

This is why Holden made conservative sales predictions. The previous king of coupes, for example, the Toyota Celica, is selling at a fraction of the rate it sold at when it was introduced four years ago. Sales of Honda's Integra, introduced two years ago, also settled after an initial burst of popularity.

The success of the Mazda RX-8 is believed to have prompted other makers to investigate the merits of coupes with rear-hinged rear doors, which enable easier access to the rear seats.

"Even if they don't carry four people in the car all the time, people want to have the flexibility to do so,"

DMRH

For the Americans that don't know what a Monaro is.

Its the Aussie GM-H original to the Pontiac GTO.

I remember a news piece in the Aussie papers quoting. The US version was called a GTO & was being exported to the USA at a "selected" production rate.

Mazda Australia sales of 242 for the july month was limited to the shipment. Mazda Japan say Australia is getting just 900 2003-models shipped down under this year.

I assume there will be few restrictions next year for the the 2004 models as demand levels off.

Hymee

iTrader: (1)

Gotta love that bit about the '8 not being a sports car, rather a "prestige" car, while the Monaro is sports. Stupid VFACTS :p

Cheers,
Hymee.

pepe

Guys, who needs an article to tell you which car you should have bought? Have a look at the dinner plate eyes on any monaro driver as you cruise past them...

Winning

Pfftt, wait until you see the "try not to perve" 350Z drivers!!
They really make my day!!! Very very funny the way they roll their eyeballs!!! :D :D :D

pepe

Carry a box of tissues in my car just for them and their tears...

My new boss has a MY03 WRX wagon, tried to tell me it'd be a CLM by not letting him drive it :D Needless to say, I'm still employed and he's not driven my car yet :D

Winning

Let him drive it for a promotion or at least a raise:p :p

Kev

A pretty much colour blind friend of mine recently got a Monaro - it's to sort of green you see in salads...

I'm quite proud that the Monaro was made in Australia, it's just not my sort of ride. If I'm not immediately impressed by a car when I sit in it, I usually don't take it for a drive :D

M6Gr8

Not to nock the Rx8 as I like the car too,but I do think the Monaro do have it's strong point and deserves it's own respect.I got the feeling the market is steered toward a new models,wait for a bit of time and should see which is the hottest in demand

rpm_pwr

While I agree the Monaro deserves respect for what it is (a cynical marketing exercise j/k) you do realize that Monaro sales have been in a steady decline for nearly 9 months now don't you?

kev => Love the salad comment, never though of that!

-pete

M6Gr8

I agree with you over the decline but this is the models been on the market for so long, and this may be the reason Holden needs to upgrade it a bit, to lure buyers back to it I guess.

msydd

Guys, I think we're getting a bit too excited about this...

It's great that the 8 beat the Monaro in it's launch month, and no other sports car has done this... but in any other month the Monaro will continue to outsell the 8 by a mile. (Although if we could get enough into the country... who knows?!)

So, don't want to put a downer on things (remember I love this car, and cant understand why anyone would buy anything else).... just don't want to get too carried away.