i have seen no Mazda dealers where i live. they need some

I spent my entire weekend with a friend at a local Mazda dealership helping her buy a car. They’ve got some nice cars, but their “sports car” lineup leaves me a little underwhelmed in a car company that claims everything is imbued with “the soul of a sports car”.

so they’ll replace one dealership with another

a positive for mazda, perhaps

but net gain still = 0

For wat? Jus kiddin. They do need to promote more cause they do actually have some very viable products now.

N thats true; their “sport” car variables are like low budget sporting if u know wat I mean. Their not actually thrilling enough to be respected as a real “sports car”. You’d have to put a next couple thousand well to get some real competitive sportiness. But their product line-up is pretty decent now yet still not a lot of cusumers are aware of the extent.

Mazda should bring back their Luxury line.

Why? It was discontinued because it was selling well?

Nothing wrong with Mazda that another rotary pickup couldn’t cure.

How about a 3 or 6 series coupe? Dump the RX-8 and give us a proper RX-7. Maybe a revamp of the Miata too. Two GM dealerships are closing in the city and one of them is a dealership I have dealt with for all my cars and so have my friends and family members. I wouldn’t care to leave the GM fold but since someone over there decided to dump both Pontiac and Saturn, I no longer have any vehicles to pick from that appeal to me at GM. I can’t afford a Corvette even though I would buy one in a second if I had the bucks.. Sporty and affordably priced performance cars seem to be Mazda’s thing. I could see myself in a 3 series coupe or a 6 series coupe if they produced such a beast. I think GM does not understand that it is going to lose even more market share due to both Pontiac and Saturn getting dumped. People who buy Pontiacs and Saturns are not going to migrate over to Chevrolet. They are most likely going to go to Mazda or Hyundai.

Sounds like a smart plan which may boost sales of one of the more respected asian brands around. It would be nice to see Mazda get a greater marketshare.

Mazda goes a different way when it comes to performance. None of their cars are drag racers per se, the Speed3 and the Speed6 if you turn up the boost on them they will scoot. But the RX-8 is easily one of the best handling cars made today (ie multilink rear suspension, 50/50 weight balance, double wishbone suspension) Why do you think Jeremy Clarkson loved it so much? If only it had a 3 rotor or a turbocharger it would be so much of a seller..

Mazda is a sportscar company, it just isn’t the american way…

I am willing to bet they could have run this story with ANY brand name in that title and it would be true. WAL-MART is probably looking to fill some of this real estate. HOWARD JOHNSON’s is probably looking, its so good!

And if Mazda is REALLY thinking this through – they could set up their new dealerships and let it be known that they have kept a few of the previous dealerships GM and/or Chrysler mechanics who will be more than pleased to service your GM or Chrysler. Maybe even set things up with GM or Chrysler so they can actually do warranty work. Hmm……. now there’s an idea. This could work in an area where a surviving GM or Chrysler dealership is quite some distance away.

The way GM has decided which to eliminate, does take into account distances for customers to travel. Of course I have no data on this since they have not announced which are closed, but the rural dealers were pretty much left intact. It is in the metro areas where dealers are either too close or in undesirable areas that dealers are closing.

I have 8 Buick dealers within 14 miles of my home. Bit too many ehh? They could easily cut that down to 5 and still have too many.

Did a check. There are 8 Toyota dealerships within 14 miles of my home. More than I would have thought.

If the story is true, then less dealership jobs will be lost — a slight positive for the respective local economies. Madza has a a decent line-up — definitely not the ‘mainstream’ in some markets (ie CX5, CX7, CX9, etc) which is a good thing. In fact, I think that ‘crossover’ market is oversaturated, but at least Mazda has a unique appearance that is not too polarizing (ie the Acura front grill).

The RX-8 is a pig when it comes to fuel economy. Sure — it handles great but for those who wish to have this car as a DD … not practical at all (unless you have deep pockets, and those that do would probably shop elsewhere).

If they have the working capitol to open dealerships and the credit available to sell the cars…more power to them. this means more jobs.

This doesn’t actually mean more jobs, if you take the “Spender admitted Mazda wasn’t looking to add any more dealers, but said the opportunity to replace some underperforming or failed stores with new prime location dealers could be too good to pass up.” line to mean that they’ll close dealers in bad locations and restart dealerships at the new prime locations. Key word: “replace.” Their net number of dealers won’t change, they’ll just upgrade their locations and be more visible/accessible.

I was worried Mazda was going to try and garner the sympathy vote and pick up spotty dealerships, but this plan feels more like getting something for nothing, which is nice way to upgrade.

By where I used to live there is a Chevy/Mazda combo dealer- kind of akward mix, but it’s got a farily small showrrom and guess what? Even in a pretty pro-union area the Mazda’s still take up half of the showroom and lot – they are pretty popular.

I’m not trying to bash Mazda, I think they’ve got a great lineup, especially the Mazda3 (Spent 2 days test driving them).
But that RX8 is a joke IMHO with its 212 horses (In auto transmission guise) and 16 mpg in the city?
Handle nice all you want, I’m not gonna dump that much fuel just to lose at every redlight race I try, I’ve seen mildly modified Civic Si’s with more power.
Those Speed3s (Didnt see any Speed6s) are nice, but I consider them to be more boy toys along the lines of an SRT4 or Cobalt SS rather than a true sports car, I’m sure they can scoot down the road pretty fast (I’ve seen many an SRT4 trash Mustangs at the strip) but if I want a sports car, I want a sports car not a tuner car that reminds me of the fast and furious.

Again… not bashing Mazda… Just their “sports cars”

I have a Mazda and it would be great if they could open up more dealers in the major metro areas. I never understood why they have a limited amount of stores on those areas in the first place.

War Ford! They may not have controlling interest in Mazda any longer, but they still own over 10% and increased profits at Mazda mean increased profits at Ford. So far Ford is really bending GM and Chrysler over a barrel through all of this.