MarkW

All,

I have a reply from my recent email to Mazda with some interesting news.

I'll post up the details later this evening when I have more time.

Watch this space.....

Vancouver

News which is not news. Just a tease. As helpful as screendoors on a submarine.

Titanium Grey

Waits in antici............pation!

MarkW

Posts which aren't posts. As helpful as a bacon sandwich at a jewish wedding.

MarkW

And now for the rest of you here is my update from Mazda:

I have had a really useful reply from my contact in who has tried to be as helpful as possible. Overall Im much cheered up by this response and things are looking very positive.

Here is what I was told:

1. ORDER CONFIRMATIONS

"As we are processing the orders currently, part of the process is to clear funds with the dealers to secure your order. This has taken a lot longer than envisaged and we apologise for this, we did not want to send out a confirmation until we were certain that all the details were correct including the submission of your signed terms and conditions. We have now accepted the majority of orders last week and we are sending out confirmations in the post as fast as we can. Our call centre should be calling all pre-order customers to thank them personally and to ensure all their personal details are correct. "

2. JAPAN TRIP

"On the competition we decided at the last minute to go ahead in the hope that hostilities would not break out in the Gulf, which they unfortunately did, thus this explains the rush to obtain entries. The winners were selected based on the originality and creativity of their entries for the tiebreaker question. We are currently interviewing them to collect their testimonials, needless to say they all absolutely loved the car and we will be publishing these in full on our website in April and sending an email to all preorders where we have their email address to reassure them that they have made the right decision. I don’t believe any of them are on the RX-8 Forum, however one gentleman said he would be more than happy to speak to anyone regarding the car but we have to have his consent in writing before we could release this. "

3. WELOCME PACK/FREEBIES

"We are finalising one or two items that we will hopefully be able to communicate in due course." [Edited at the request of Mazda]

4. VIEWING THE CAR

"We are receiving a number of requests from customer to get an early view of the car, we are liasing with Mazda Europe to see if this is something we can obtain. If we do secure a unit, I would anticipate that we would use it for local regional shows that Mazda UK will have a presence at. I must stress that this is not confirmed yet, we are still in negotiation but I will advise you as soon as I have something definite"

5. INITIAL PRODUCTION

"We have been restricted on what we are able to order in the first months of production. These restrictions enable to factory to produce more units than they would be able to if we had usual order complexity. This is also the rationale behind restricting the colours for the first three months of production. You are right to assume that the majority of build will be high power ( the factory and indeed Mazda UK’s assumption is that those customers keen enough to pre-order would be after a high power unit). With regards to option, the only definite thing I can tell you is that the majority of units will be in leather (again, it was assumed that this would be the favourite choice"

6. EP NUMBERS

"Your EP number is in some cases relevant, it very much depends on what car you have ordered. If you have ordered a yellow low power for example, then regardless of your EP number you will not receive the vehicle until October/November as per previous communications. We are in the process of communicating with the factory to ensure we are ordering the cars that our pre-order customer have requested. This will take time as it is a complex process so it will be a while before we can give indicative timings on individual orders. "
"We will of course communicate updated production information to you as and when we receive it."

7. CUSTOMER SERVICE

"For your information - the responses below are from my-self and our customer relationship marketing department who control the pre-order process."

Titanium Grey

Based on what was said in point 4 'viewing the car', it sounds like Mazda UK don't have access to any RX-8's!

Therefore does this mean that the show, Formula Woman and press cars belong to Mazda Europe. Furthermore does this mean it's Mazda Europe who arranges the apperances at motor shows and other events.

It would explain why Mazda UK don't seem to know where the car will be on show. Perhaps we need to ask who is responsible for the cars that are in this country.

Lensman

Well it's a good response (not before time) and hopefully the first step in a clear dialogue. The book sounds nice but I'd still kill for a 'Rotor Keyring'. So the early orders will be hi-power and leather eh? I'll bet that doesn't include sat-nav though despite being forced to have the leather to get it (I wanted the leather anyway though). Just out of curiousity: how many of you folks with EP numbers ordered the sat-nav?
Finally, thanks to MarkW for pushing hard for this communication and finally getting it. Well done.
Can I have my car now please? No?! Oh-well....

oilman

Well done Mark W!!

Well done to Mazda UK for what appears to be a sincere answer.

I'm truly puzzled about the availability of a car for viewing, what about the ones at Geneva. (LHD if I recall)

As all cars in Japan would be RHD and are in production now, why can't you get hold of one Mazda Uk if you're reading this?!

Cheers
Oilman:D