Wikipedia entry for the RX-8 says:

The Spirit R is a limited edition RX-8 built to celebrate the end of RX-8 production. The name "Spirit R" was based on the final limited edition Mazda RX-7, the RX-7 Spirit R. It is the fastest and most expensive RX-8 ever made. Limited to only 1000 cars and exclusively sold in Japan, it's also the rarest RX-8 ever made. With the car having such a limited run, the Spirit R was mainly bought by car collectors and die hard enthusiasts. Mazda claims that over 40% of their buyers were car collectors. Because it is so rare, prices skyrocketed, with low milage used Spirit Rs costing much more than when new.

But then a bit later the same Wikipedia entry says:

A small number of Spirit R RX-8's were sold in Indonesia, Malaysia, and New Zealand.

So the statement "Limited to only 1000 cars and exclusively sold in Japan" would not be entirely correct if some were sold elsewhere, as indicated above.

So does anyone know if the Spirit R model was sold in North America? Sounds unlikely.

 

That's a negatory. The closest thing in North America is the R3

 

That's pretty much what I thought. There's an RX-8 for sale in my area advertised as being a "Spirit R", but looks like the seller just stuck a "Spirit R" badge on his R3.

From what can be seen in the pics of the car, it doesn't have the Spirit R features. And it's LHD.

 

Weren't the Spirit R and the R3 essentially the same car anyways?