Quote:
Originally Posted by funwheeldrive
Have you seen the resale prices on a legitimate Miata coupe? Obviously there is some demand for them.
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No I haven't, but I have seen prices for M Coupes though, they rival new M cars.
http://www.mcoupebuyersguide.com/listings
http://www.mcoupebuyersguide.com/listing?ListingID=3920
The bottom line is that the <100 people willing to pay for that car every year to keep the market moving is not enough to justify the tens of millions of dollars it would cost to start rolling them out of the factory.
Same exact story for the Miata coupe, sounds like at best they built a few hundred. Loss Leaders only work if the loss isn't astronomical or the company has cash to burn (Ford subsidizes higher Mustang trims with lower trim sales, and Toyota LFA, respectively), Mazda is not in that position anymore, (nor Subaru in a tangent). They NEED to sell enough to not take millions of dollars of losses on the project, <1k units won't cut it unless each one is priced over $50k. That's why special Porsche's cost so much, it's not the materials or engineering, it's the low production volume relative to the costs of developing each individual model.
As for the validity of the RF, lots and lots of people bought the PRHT for the NC, this article claims it was the majority actually, 52-48
http://www.autoblog.com/2014/09/11/2...ardtop-report/
The sad fact is most people don't buy sports cars to drive them hard, appreciate nimbleness and suspension geometry in a way where <100 lbs makes a difference. The durability and security of the hardtop is a clear win if you can take the performance hit.
Interesting you mention weight, the NA coupe concept was apparently significantly heavier and they had no plans to optimize the weight.
http://www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars...miata-m-coupe/
And looking at the brochure for the NB coupe, it clocked in at 1100 kg w/ the 1.8L compared to 2387 lbs for a US spec 1.8L, so about 35 lbs heavier for the coupe assuming fluids are the same in both measurements.
http://s110.photobucket.com/user/saz..._0002.jpg.html