Can the RX-8 survive after the hype?
 

I saw a bright yellow SE-R V-Spec today and got to thinking. Will the RX-8 continue to sell well after the initial frenzy this summer? The new SE-R was hyped up big time last year, and now you hardly see any or hear anything about them. I don't think the car will attain a cult following like the original early 90s SE-Rs have.

So I wonder to myself if the RX-8 is going to be a strong seller year after year like the Miata, or a lame duck after the first year, following in the FD RX-7's footsteps.

Any thoughts?

I for one hope the RX-8 is fairly popular so that if worse comes to worse, I can pick one up easily on the used market 5 years from now without paying a premium. :D

Well, It better sell or we can say bye bye to the rotary in the USA. What do you guys think? Will this car sell well enough to warrant another RX-7?

When I see the unsold 350Zs in the showroom so soon after introduction, I wonder about both the RX-8 AND the 350Z. Maybe it bodes well for the RX-8... people want back seats.

Don,

Is tehre really a boat load of 350zs in the showroom? I see those cars all the time in socal.

Sup Rage... I'm sure that the 8 will bring Mazda back to it's roots. We are still months away and many of us here on the forum have already pre-ordered. The new Renesis should improve the performance and reliability of the rotary as well as the zoom zoom we've all been waiting for.

encouraging words renesis......let's all hope it does well......i noticed you are in sd too..maybe we can cruise when you get your 8. hehe

There are two in a showroom near my house. They have been there for a month. Two months ago the salesguy I had been talking to (I have long since blackballed the car) called me at least 2x to tell me someone didn't want a car and one was available. So, at least two people did not carry through with their orders.

When you say a boatload, do you see them on the road or at dealerships?

i saw 4 350z's sitting outside the nissan dealer near my house in socal...then again, i usually see atleast 1 daily on the road as well.

I don't think there's too much hype at all. I haven't seen any commercials on TV about the RX-8, or anything like that. For us car fanatics, sure, you can call it hype (because we've been tracking everything about the car), but for the general public, they probably don't know a thing about the car. They probably don't even know it's coming out.

I DID notice that the Mazda 6 is cranking up on the commercials. I'm guessing Mazda will do that a month or two after the RX-8 launch, when there's cars to be sold in Mazda Dealerships. It would be silly to advertise the 8 sooner, because there wouldn't be any on the dealership lots.

Zoom Zoom.....it's too catchy for some people to resist.....

the real hype for the car will be when X2 comes out in theatres :)

by then I'm hoping to see some really exciting RX-8 commercials like what the Z is doing right now :D

*dreams of spinning rotors on TV screen, ahh......*

Hey - some Mazda dealers don't know anything about the RX-8!
They still don't know that the car is going into production.

That Z.com video/trailer is so stupid it's not funny.

"No special effects have been used to increase the speed that you've seen." Any freaking car can go fast in a straight line. Thrash that thing on a course if you want a fun video.

yeah I saw that trailer when I went to the movies last time, silly, but still fun to watch though :D

but it's still just a trailer, the RX-8 will be FEATURED in the movie!!!! woot!

THe first few years should see strong sales.

Mazda will need to bring some special editions out like a convertible, supercharged/turbo, aniversary, etc.. in followup years to maintain good sales.

I'd also like to see a "stripped" model for cheap :)

More details are needed on the mazdaspeed versions.

Re: Can the RX-8 survive after the hype?
 

I think that is mainly because the SE-R just DIDN'T live up to the hype. Remember it was supposed to be this 180hp 6 speed monster car with speed and great handling? Well, it ended up being 175hp (and that might be pushing it still), with steering that is quite numb, and one of the most horrible shifters in a car today.

Hype is important initally, but people aren't too dumb to see past it and when the car just doesn't live up, they won't buy it. Same with the new Civic Si. The car was all hype, but when it comes down to it, it has a nice engine, great steering, fantastic shifter, but it just isn't nearly as much fun as the old ones, and now dealers can't give them away.

As far as the 8 goes, if Mazda can deliver what it seems like it says it can, and reviewers and the public agree that the car drives like it was hyped to drive, it will continue to sell well. As far as the Z sitting on showrooms, the car has been out for what, about 6 months now? Plus Nissan made sure there was no shortage of Z's, which is why you see some in the showrooms now. I promise Nissan is selling plenty of Z's.

A great car is what will keep the 8 and Z selling. Based on initial reviews, if Mazda can finalize the specs they way they had some of their better test cars done, I think they'll have a hit. If for some reason it ends up not driving like a Mazda sports car should, then yeah, you might see sales drop.

As far as it being another FD3S, I REALLY doubt it. First, it is much more practical. Second, sports cars are back in popularity, soemthing they weren't in the early/mid 90's. Third, the 8 costs 25-30K in today's money, not 35+K in 10 years ago money.

The 8 won't be for everyone, no car is for everyone. But I would guess it will be able to hold its own down the road.

Actually, DonG35Miata is right- Nissan isn't selling as many Zs as they were- as I said in another post, we can't get rid of them. We had 7 in on one of our lots last week, and when I asked our Nissan buyer about it, she said demand for them has fallen through the floor. Where they were originally selling for well over MSRP, we've got them a couple hundred under and they still aren't leaving. I hope it's not a preview of what we can expect for the RX-8. But, I think it may be that a lot of people are buying the G35 coupe instead, because I've seen an awful lot of them recently. I personally couldn't justify the Z when for a few thousand more I could get the G35- it's just way too much better in all respects. However, we don't have an Infiniti franchise so I can't make any educated guesses with accuracy there.

Ah, the folly of paying over MSRP... people NEVER learn. Brought to you by your friendly stealership, dedicated to value and your long-term satisfaction...

There was a frenzy for the Miata when it first came out and dealers were charging large amounts over MSRP. Very shortly after buying the cars, that dealer premium evaporated and the cars weren't worth any more to the owners than if they would have sold at MSRP. Resale values were in line with other cars.

Nothing against you, Elara, we appreciate the info you have provided. But I would not buy anything from any dealer that soid cars over MSRP. To me, it demonstates a lack of dedication to their customers if they are willing to take advantage of them. If a Honda dealer is selling S2000s at over MSRP, I would not even buy a Civic from them. I looked at the S2K last year and two dealers wanted MSRP+ $3,000-$5,000, one local dealer said, "We don't do that to our customers. MSRP+tax and $99 tag, no add ons."

Who do you think I would be more comfortable with as I buy family cars, bring them in for service, etc?

OK, off my soapbox... maybe I should wait before I get my RX-8... :-) and get a discount!

No offense taken Don- I have nothing to do with setting the price- I just work internal communications and copy editing and writing. I work for a no-haggle corporation, and most of the time we make almost NO profit at all on our new cars- so when something like the 350Z or PT Cruiser pops up, we tend to still sell them for less (at first) than many dealers, but still more than an experienced car negotiator can get them for. For many people, the tradeoff of paying a few hundred more but not having to argue over the price is worth it. And for the record, even from the beginning we offered the 350z (and the PT Cruiser when it came out) at $100 below MSRP. In fact, to my knowledge, we've never sold a new car over MSRP. :) Not that any of this matters, but I don't want you guys thinking I work for one of those jerky car dealers who, when you ask them how much a car is, ask you what you want to pay. I hate them as much as anyone else. I'm kind of dreading getting my RX-8, because I'll have to deal with a true dealer since we don't have a Mazda franchise.

I believe the RX8's uniqueness, price, and much nicer styling, will give the RX-8 a much more sustained run in the marketplace than the 350Z.