J, What is Kia's and Hyundai's After Sales like in the US??

I heard that getting some Kia/Hyu parts is a bloody nightmare and their "systems" are pretty poor??

But yes Charlie, even down under the Koreans will overtake Mazda Australia to be #3 this year, may even knock off Ford to be #2.

IMO, PRICE will be the issue, unless MA drops their margins which they could well do, same Mazda here sells for almost twice the price of a Hiroshima made USA model...exhange rate is same.

So there is plenty of room to move, no wonder MA is sending back to Japan around $7,000 Nett profit per new car.

 

Well, i have the same perception of brand Mazda here in EU, an economical BMW and in competition with Alfa Romeo (ok, those guys of big snake now have big problems with product and placement).

I'dont see a direct competition with Hyundai for Mazda, i see H. more "mainstream" than M.

But is true that not all H. models are sold here in EU....genesis and RWD coupè are not.

 

as am I, on a permanent basis that is. I can tell you from what i've seen that for the average person to survive in Europe, they must lead a very different lifestyle than we are used to as Americans. That applies to all things, not just our cars.

It's not any one easily definable thing, rather a collection of most/many things that looked at individually would seem only to be an insignificant annoyance. Costs of the fuel pump, housing, insurance, food, energy, everyday goods, etc. It adds up to require a very different outlook on life than most of us are accustomed to. The single best summarative example I can think of was something I heard asked once: "Do Americans really get in the car and drive to go eat dinner or to the store for a bag of snacks, on a whim?" This was said in utter shock and reference to how its no big deal for us to do things like this without ever thinking about it, whereas over here the average person goes out to dinner by walking to the local village/town restaurant and rarely ever makes a special trip to the store that isnt already in passing on the way home. If you can apply and imagine that mentality to a larger scale, you'll start to get the picture.

But more to the point, to toy with cars as we are used to doing, while living in europe requires some things. Either very deep pockets, or (what we would consider) very serious sacrifices in other areas to support it financially.

Some quick things to think about that I see everyday, comparing dollar to dollar here:
-fuel is at least twice as expensive
-with no change in driving record my auto insurance went up over $200/mo, liability minimums here are 8-10X's higher than most states(for starters)
-you simply avoid any kind of electric consumption during daytime hours due to cost, you certainly dont ever run appliances unless it is nighttime(dual meters here for day/night) I'm talking people dont even leave electronics plugged into the wall while away unless they truly turn off(not standby modes)
-It's not normal to take a road trip out of your immediate area, trains are the way due to costs
-winter heating- to say that you don't heat rooms not in use, or heat the house on timers based on your daily presence - doesnt really get the point across
-importing anything(web purchasing) is extremely cost prohibative

 

Distance traveled by Europeans or British is far less than Americans, Australians.

It can only take a few hours to travel to say a close Capital City in another Country.

Here it takes a minimum of 8 Hours, then 16, then 20 then 48...like US State Capitals.

So the price for Gas/Petrol is relative to the distance they travel.

As far as the rest goes perhaps I could say Europeans are not as lazy, they are prepared to walk, and are not wasters of resources, I think it is a good, why heat/cool rooms you do not use.

I guess as always much depends on what you do and how much you earn, many things in Australia are way more expensive than the US, but our average weekly wage is just over $1000.00, or $25 an hour...minimum wage is $15 an hour.

Aged Pension is $720 per fortnight tax free Single Person, $540 each for married couple.
From age 65 on-wards.

Disability Pension $720 per fortnight, any age.
Unemployed Benefits $510 per Fortnight.

Then they also get concessions for Electricity, Registration of Car, Public Transport, ALL Drugs $5.60 Per Script, some cancer drugs are $25,000 a year, but all you pay is $5.40 per monthly drug prescription.

Free Public Hospital for all Australians and a Private Hospital system which about 40% belong to and pay around $1500 -$3000 a year for Full Cover including Dental and Optical.

Income Tax..
No Pensioner or Unemployed pays Income Tax...unless Superannuation Interest or Large Investments or Share Dividends.

Employed, Tax rate of 22% starts at $9500+ a year, 30% up to $70K, 38% up to $150K, 45% $150+.
Tax rebates apply to Family Man, say with 3 kids under 16 years, earns total of $70K they get ALL Income Tax back, plus some...even if wife works.

10% GST (VAT) on 95% of all goods and services, except fresh food.

We have Dual Power meters here also, Day tariff and Night tariff, night tariff is only for storage hot water services, another separate meter if you also have Natural Gas for central heating, stove or hot water.

Why not a Natural Gas Powered RENESIS???...
Next to Zero Emissions..
little Carbon Issues.

 

Based on the limited conversation I think I'll be sticking around Phoenix, Arizona.

 

Well I can just say that importing my '04 RX-8 in 2008 cost me about $60,000, and other European countries will be more and more like Norway when it comes to CO2 emisisons (and perhaps also hp seen as a luxury).

Needless to say, it's all about priorities, I also own a small flat, but I think I spend more money on my car monthly than I do on my home.

(but there's other advantages, you don't need very comprehensive insurances for health, you get a shitload of offtime if you have kids and so on. Not awesome if you love to be alone forever, but still)

Still, it does reflect the fact that high CO2 new rotary won't happen if they plan to actually sell it.

 

Norway is a limit case in Europe, playing with cars is a very expensive hobby.

Why not an Hydrogen rx-8, NeXib?

 

holy ! never mind !

hahahaha

 

What were you thinking? Life is GREAT in the USA.

We take much for granted and we are more wasteful than we need to be but European governments have figured out how to keep a large swath of their populous as minions. Don't worry, many of their methods are coming like a tsunami to a city near you .

Paul.

 

from a consumer point of view USA is ALWAYS (past and present) better than Europe.

from some other P.O.W. ...NOT

 

I do hope we get a new rotary car for people of EVERY region of the world to enjoy. It is the ultimate expression of Mazda's driving experience. While some complain for lack of torque I yearn for reduced weight (I'll take extra torque if I can get it).

Paul.

 

There's a great difference from a consumer's point of view in the 2 systems. We put the rights first, you first think about remedies. The school of chicago pretty much dictates the rest so you've got a different kind of freedom from an economy point of view.
Still, you have ethanol in your fuel though :p

I'd love to see a huge comeback from mazda anyway. Maybe something like the gt3 rs vs the gt3

 

Definitely YES.

I hope Mazda do not confine next gen rotary to just a single, "special" model. this engine can be used for different type of cars like in the past IMHO.

 

I thought for Audi it was RS was the High performance bastard child like the M3 and C63 AMG

 

Yeah..thats because the vast majority of the Television viewing audience has no idea what 16x9 and 4x3 are...I'm sure you followed the fiasco that occured from switching from Analog to Digital Signals and we were given years of advance notice with an increase in notification as the date drew near...people still got on tv and said I didnt this was gonna happen. I have no hopes for this country whatsoever and I live in it.

 

S in higher performance, RS is highest performance. Both S and RS are the badging on the cars. The company that produces the S and RS models is called quattro GmbH.

 

Then there is NZ - a bit like Australia (not as prosperous) .................................................. .................................... Just better

 

This is awesome news! My car will get more unique over time. I'll drive the common crass piston engine cars daily and take out the cool rotary on weekends and special occasion. It will be a treat.
If I have more money, I would go buy myself a white R3 now and lock it up in a vault.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOo1T...layer_embedded

I wonder if the next Rotary can go faster than this ...

 

I want them to build this for the new RX?

 

agreed, I'm simply referring to taking a 2-3 hour road trip on a weekend day. Regardless of if the destination is some countryside or another countries capital

Again I agree, and that is a large part of what I was trying to convey for nycgps... different strokes than americans are accustomed to

Not sure if you are referencing AU or EU here, but at a glance that appears to be on par with EU. And it looks great, but before anyone gets wet over it they need to remember that what supports such things is giving away a significantly larger portion of your income to taxes throughout the years(than Americans are accustomed to). And before you decide I'll just retire there, take a good look into immigration policies.

 

Well it's mostly it's price of $1,300,000 that scares me away :P They do drive around here though, as the Hydrogen project goes from this town to our capital, so you can fuel Hydrogen on that stretch. I made the first web site for the Hydrogen project (RX-8 wasn't involved at that point).

 

Yeah, that's why up until a decade ago, New Zealanders next to Poms were our largest immigration numbers, to get on our Unemployment Benefits, there is no real time limit you can be on them here.

Thankfully previous Government finally stopped the NZ "tide" of immigrants, only took 30 years....now you stay where you are....like Victorians..

 

I was into my Mazda dealership on Wednesday having some work done and when talking to the head of service he mentioned that it is now confirmed that a new rotary engine is being unveiled at the next big auto-show.
He didn't remember which show, but said the engine is along the lines of a 1.6 litre with about 300 hp.
He was claiming the new rotary was about 20-30% more fuel efficient but was still plagued by one high reading for the emission standards.
Not sure which emission he ws referring to.
This could be exciting!

 

all of that is basically correct and previously confirmed info about the 16x except for a debut