I met the Mazda rep at the dealer today. He is a Mazda employee.
This rep covers Philly down to South Carolina.

He said as of today.... Production will start 2/15/03. Cars should arrive to U.S. in May if production date holds.

I just placed my deposit and I get to choose out of the first cars they get! cool!!

 

hmmmm... produced day after valentines, and here by May??? well, i guess that's believable...

BUT GREAT NEWS FOR YOU FELLAHS WORRIED ABOUT IT COMING LATER!! :D

 

Hey roachman, don't agree to "choose out of the first cars they get"- if you put a deposit down, you should be able to request whatever you want! And don't let them tell you any different- they've got to spec out the cars anyway to order them, so make them at least get you exactly what you want!

 

Thanks for the advise.
I will not settle for less than what I want. They said if they cannot get what I want in their first allocation, of course I can wait. Also the deposit was refundable.

Thanks again,
Roachman

 

I am glad to hear that. I was getting worried hearing about late summer release dates.

 

Hey whats up everybody. I stopped at my dealer yesterday (Showcase Mazda) and was talking to the Sales Manager and seen a production report he had received at the end of January, it said the his first allocation of 4 cars were still "TBD" on production start date but his second allocation of 7 cars were to be started on "May, 1st week" is what it said. I'm one of the first four and we couldn't determine the reason they were TBD other than the fact mine is the only one of the bunch with blk/rd interior and navigation but the other three have the same packages as some of the others in 2nd allocation so we didn't think it had to do with colors or options just maybe they don't know when they are gonna start production (for the US models at least).

 

My dealer called a few weeks ago with a production date at beg. of April. I didn't think Mazda was making vehicles ordered with the nav system until later this Fall (Nov.?) and those pre-orders with nav were not going to be in the first few allotments.

 

I haven't seen any actual indications of holding off production of the nav but if thats the case I will drop it off my order, I wasn't sure if I wanted to spend the xtra money anyway. However there was one car on the second allotment which I spoke of that did have the navigation so until further notice I think all systems are go on the nav.

 

Why would they start production on a Saturday?

 

A saturday of a 3 day weekend none the less.

 

anybody worrying about the navigation not coming until fall, you have nothing to worry about. I have 11 rx8's on order, 6 have prodution dates of march week 1, and the other 5 in april. two of the march cars have the navigation option. another one of the march cars is an automatic, incase anybody was worried about later prodution of them.

 

I originally didn't either. I was pushed into the second batch, (Irvine dealer had exceeded 8 car allotment in 3 days!) and then saw the AWESOME IDEA of using the LCD as additional guages on the MazdaSpeed version. I asked about it and the dealer said that he confirmed it would not delay my car.

 

puppy1, did the irvine mazda give you any info on production and delivery date? just wondering cuz i'm in the second batch too.

 

He said it would still be in July.