RoyalPain

I get a lot of that car looks extremely expensive. It was mentioned a number of times that people think the car would be in the $60,000 to $80,000 range. That assumption may be driving people away. When I tell them that it was only $30,000 their chins drop. Most people here in LA think that they have to either have a BMW or a Mercedes to fit in. It is all about status. I have never had the question what kind of car is that? But I do get a lot of "Nice car" comments. alot of people think it is an Exotic car and they tend to drool from the other side of the glass rather than go into the dealer and actually look at it. Maybe they are just intimidated by the design. Who knows? But I like the fact that I see few of them on the road. But I wouldn't feel bad if there were more.

SDB

The RX-8 is heavily advertised on some shows. Formula 1 on ESPN has quite a few. I guess that isn't mainstream but then the 8 isn't a mainstream car. I bet that they don't advertise on NASCAR shows (but I really wouldn't know), that is most likely SUV territory.

psbjames1970

at least around here people know it's an RX8.

But they think it costs at least 50K

When I tell them its 30K then they go OMG. How did they build that for only 30K.

Even I was kinda shocked at the price initially.

If Mazda advertised it as the 60K looking vehicle for 1/2 the price, they may get some mileage out of it.

I wonder if the RX8 is better known or more popular outside North America???

Any comments from folks in other continents?

millyard

funny here in vancouver most of the asians drive BMW and Benz, there is more M3's then RX-8's here, I see at least 1 M3 a day and usually see a RX-8 every 2-3 days, it's sad when you see a asian girl not even 20 that barley knows how to drive in a M3 or a S55...

at work there are 4 M3's in the parking lot and 1 RX-8, hopefully I ill make that 2 soon i just need to score a good deal...

beachdog

I prefer when no one knows what it is. If debadging didn't require filling holes and painting mine would have been nekkid from day 1.

skc

When I purchased my vehicle my dealer told me that this is an exclusive vehicle with a limit on production. Therefore they will not produce large quantaties as they do with the 6 and 3.

Therefore it would be silly to promote the vehicle if they do not have enough stock or plan on having it as a mass marketed vehicle.

If they are not promoting the model then they must be meeting thier sales goals.

skc

williamngRX8

i kind of like not many people knowing this car. make it more unique. the only thing that worries me most is mazda might cut rotaries altogether from their book if it doesnt sale that many.

this is the best car money can buy. its very hard to find a car that can please me in and out. rx8 is the one :D

Romeo Xray 8

We've had ours since June. During which time, Ive probably seen about another 6 in our locality. So there is still that air of exclusivity about the RX8 which I like. Also find that the other RX8 drivers either flash their lights or wave, which I also like. Its true over here in the UK that the car gets admiring glances. Only yesterday my son was sitting in the car when a couple walked past and had a good long hard look. As regards advertising, Mazda are re-running their RX8 zoom zoom campaign at the moment. Wouldnt want it to become too popular though, wouldnt be as much fun

Overport

No!

The RX8 is a great secret and I dont mind at all if people dont know what it is. It sort of makes the car more exclusive, alot moreso than its competition from Nissan, Honda and Infiniti. You see 350Z's, S2000's, and G35's everywhere, everyday. Once in a while you'll spot an RX8, and it makes even you (an owner) look twice. Its a special car.

Krankor

The problem is that this is largely a self-fulling prophecy. If you decide "oh, it's not a mainstream car, we won't advertise to the mainstream", then by definition it will never be a mainstream car. Now, granted, the 8 is never gonna sell like a camry, but they could sell a LOT more of it if the mainstream actually knew about it.



Wrong. Find the thread about the Shinka numbering, and why there are so many less than promised.

And by the way, do you know how I even *knew* there was a Shinka? I had to stumble on it by *me* taking the initiative and looking at the Mazda web-site. No advertising of any kind reached me.

Krankor
05 Shinka 6MT

GerryL

Limited production? Lets not kid ourselves, this is a production car by any manufacturing standard and its production is only "limited" by how many they can sell.

In fact, one of the recent magazines story on the new MX-5 indicated that although the two cars don't share any major components, they have a few key common chassis points that allows them to share (alternate actually) on a common assembly line. That in turn, gives Mazda more flexibility to produce what ever is demanded at a given time.

Aoshi Shinomori

Didn't they roll 100,000 out of the factory a few months ago? I like the fact that not many people know it, boosts my self esteem for about 14 seconds. It allows me to think I am "elite" for a short while. Good feeling but it gets old fast hence the 14 second thing. :p

Chaotic

the fact that you barely see the car out there is a major turn on. its one of the reasons i want this car.

i hope it stays that way until after (wayyy after) i get the rx8
i still have a couple of months til i get the car too

Aoshi Shinomori

Those couple of months will be long ones :p I was there about 6 months ago, I was so anxious it was killing me. The day I got it though...so satisfying. Except for the fact that I couldn't drive it home Hooray for me not being good enough at standard to take my own car home. Oh the rage passing through me as I drove behind my mother in her car, while she got the first drive in the 8. Heh, I'm over now though. Sorry for hijacking the thread. :o

Sponge Bob

I bought a new RX-7 in 1989. As a former RX owner, I received an unending parade of direct mail as soon as the 8 was announced. Pretty smart, and effective.

I am a markerting professional, and I have to say that I believe Mazda is right to pursue a targeted, focused marketing approach (to sports car enthusiats) if they are focused on a niche strategy for the 8. It takes alot more resources ($$$) to market a product to a broad, general market. Given their relatively weak market position (compared to other car manf.) they have to focus the bulk of the marketing budget to support broader marketing of vehicles with broad appeal.

That said, I agree that if they spent more resources on marketing the 8 to the broader market, it would reinforce their enthusiat-targeted efforts and produce more sales. I suspect the the bigger picture of their business situation and strategy can't support the investment of resources.

Bob

Chaotic

i am very anxious and i have til JUNE. ahh!
being on these forums arent helping me either. all i do is think about the car and search for parts i'll put on the car.. haha

Ol1i3x

This kind of reminds me of a comercial i saw. It was one of those college comercials (like ITT Tech and Bryman), it shows a guy (supposidly super sucessful after going to it) walking to his parked rx-8, probably aiming at people who don't know that the car isnt a 50K car.

francis

i kinda like the current situation where the rx8 is not mainstream. i work for a fairly large company with alot of engineers and executives and so far im the only one in the parking lot with the 8 and i get alot more attention than people driving higher priced cars. except for the ferrari of the VP.

i know what you feel sexual taco. i told myself to take my time before buying a new car and do my research first. after i came across the 8 and test drove it, i couldnt stop and think about it the whole day that i spent the next few days going mazda dealer hopping until i struck on the best deal that i could find and took the 8 home.

Krankor

Sigh. I'll say it again: it's all well and good to be among the elite few to have an 8 (and believe me, I enjoy this no less than the rest of you), but if they don't sell 'em, they'll stop making 'em. How long was the gap between when they stopped selling us the 7 and started selling us the 8? How long do you think it will be between the 8 and the 9 (or whatever) if they feel disappointment with the sales? Like maybe 'forever'? And when do you suppose anyone else is gonna make a rotary if Mazda can't make a go of it?

Krankor
05 Shinka 6MT

Raptor2k

Lol...haven't seen it, but that sounds awesome

Yes, personally, one of the main reasons I bought the car was its scarcity and uniqueness. Here in DFW, 350Zs, Corvettes, and others are just too common; it's a joy to know that other drivers have no idea what they just saw.

JeRKy 8 Owner

From what I can remember...RX-7s were never too popular when they were available either.

Krankor

Exactly. Which is why Mazda gave up on them. So they seem to have decided that the problem was the impracticality of a 2-seater, hence the 8. If the 8 doesn't meet their sales expectations, don't be surprised if they throw the towel in on the whole rotary thing.

SDB

That is not exactly true. The RX-7 was a success when it first came out. The first and second generation cars seemed to be everywhere. Just like the 350z and the 2005 Mustang are today.

The problem was with the third generation car, it was priced too high for Americans. That was when they stopped importing the car. They continued manufacturing them but only sold them in Japan.

tasteslikechicken

The 3rd generation rx-7 was too expensive and too unreliable. My co-worker has one and it seems that at least 75% of the time it's inoperable.

Fast, sure. But I won't go near a turbo rotary for a while.

DemonRX-8

I'm of two minds on this - on the one hand I like the exclusivity, but on the other hand I worry that if Mazda doesn't support the car (through advertisement and continuing improvements/upgrades), sales will wither and then we can say bye-bye rotary for good.

I have experience owning the "red-headed stepchild' of an auto manufacturer's line - my old Ford Probe GT, which was a fine car for what it was. But after years of poor advertisement and virtually no modfications, Ford dropped production citing poor sales. Go figure.