RX-8 production and US sales
 

Production and US sales since day one.

Very nice. I was looking for something like this the other day. It's good to see the 8 is still selling. Although, it looks like they've hit saturation.

The great thing about Mazda's production is that they can build either Miata's or 8's in the same factory without retooling. So, they can make exactly what they need for demand and it won't kill them.

It's possible that initial over production caused a rapid cooling in demand for the car. When you go to the Mazda lot and they have 12 of them flocked in the corner it seems a bit wierd. Whereas the 2006 Miata is impossible to get. A few of the dealers around here are 9 deep in backorders as a result. Same thing with the Prius. I bet if Toyota had 30 on each lot that people would not be buying as many. The sense that something is in so much demand that it's backordered tends to add legitamacy and affirmation in a person's decision.

Average monthly production in the first 2 years is about normal for a sports car around 6000 per month in the first year then half that in the second.

The first 2 years of any new release sports car is about what you see in the 8.
Average production is still just under 3000 for the year 2005.

I think you will see similar numbers with the new MX-5 over the next 2 years.

The RX-8 needs a facelift/change in 2006/7 which you will see....

**

It's the same trend for most cars out there. Nothing to worry about.

looks like our torque curve :)

^hahahaha

looking at that chart, Kramer suggests you buy low and sell high :Freak_ani

I think new cars in general have hit saturation in the US market. After so many years of '0% financing' and 'employee pricing plus' almost everyone who even slighly wanted and barely could afford a new car got one and the US has a used car market flooded with nearly new cars.

I would expect US new-car sales to drift lower, but (hopefully) not crash.

people need to realize that there is more to the profitability of the RX8 platform than just RX8 sales. While I feel that the care is more than profitable on its own given both worldwide and U.S. sales, its important to remember that much of the R&D that went into the RX8 also went into the Miata, which helps amortize those costs over time. The head of the RX8 program is also head of the Miata program (I know, we met him at Sevenstock) and I'm sure thats for a reason.

The Miata and RX8 still have other variants to come, and Mazda stated that the car is a 10 year platform. The RX/MX-3 will share many of its components with the RX and Miata also.

when done right, platform sharing is a really great thing.

Nov RX-8 Production
 

Nov 2005 RX-8 production= 1506

not building for the NA market yet

I'm confused. How can there be 1506 built in November but not be building, or is it just not building for North America yet?

not building for NA yet

Okay. That makes sense now. They were probably making the Japanese versions first.

Dec. US sales lowest ever
 

Mazda reports that 985 RX-8s were sold in Dec

That is the lowest sales since the start of sales..


http://media.ford.com/mazda/article_...ticle_id=22290

This doesn't seem like a surprise at all. The 2005s are almost gone so folks won't easily find the color/options configuration they want, plus the 2006s are late and lots of folks are probably waiting for 2006s (including certain new members here ;) ). I've found RX-8s to be scarce around NY and PA. The Rochester dealerships only had 2 each last time I checked. They can't sell what they don't have.

Makes me wonder what happened to the 8k and month, and only sell 2k a month? From that graph it looks like they way over produced?

8K vs 2K
 

The 8k is total production and the 2K is US sales not world wide....

December production and 2005 production
 

Mazda sez...

December 2005 ....built 1817
All of 2005.............built 27,837

Jan 2006 RX-8 US sales
 

:Wconfused
Mazda reports 636 RX-8s sold in Jan.

Lowest month since production started

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/st...4272824&EDATE=

No too surprising. There are hardly any new ones to be found. Folks have a very small chance of finding the exact configuration of options they want in such a small selection. They also have many reasons to wait for the 2006s to hit the lots. I'm almost surprised they sold that many.

There aren't that many left in Oregon and most of them are pretty basic. I know back in October I couldn't find any that were the way I wanted, so I ordered an 06 to get what I wanted. I think that is probably the situation now. Plus, the 06 has been delayed twice so that pulled down the sales, too.

BunnyGirl, has the dealer given you a delivery date yet. I think I remember you saying that originally your car was going to be delivered in May.....is that not the case anymore?