4th gen ND Mazda MX-5 Miata

[daiheadjai]

Originally Posted by darthpnoy1984

http://www.roadandtrack.com/motorspo...y-a-new-miata/

Something Toyota should take notes on, I wish car companies would be run by car people instead of bean counter pos.


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Lotus isn't run by pos bean counters. How are they doing?

Truth is, enthusiasts would make lousy business decisions, and a bankrupt company won't make cars for long.

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[bcj]

Originally Posted by daiheadjai

Lotus isn't run by pos bean counters. How are they doing?

Truth is, enthusiasts would make lousy business decisions, and a bankrupt company won't make cars for long.

They're being bought by Geely - a Chinese corporation.
Now they'll be cheap Chinese Volvos.

Geely poised to take control of Lotus

[daiheadjai]

Originally Posted by bcj

They're being bought by Geely - a Chinese corporation.
Now they'll be cheap Chinese Volvos.

Geely poised to take control of Lotus

Was thinking of that... Hopefully Geely lets them do their thing, but it does still show an enthusiast-focused car company is too niche to make it big (Porsche needed its Cayennes and Panameras to keep churning out 911s)

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[serialk11r]

I think the Geely deal could work, especially with the sharp drop in the British pound helping sales. I heard the Geely boss really loves the cars. Lotus' problem was IMO that they didn't sell enough cars for various reasons, which meant you had to pay a lot of money for something that was objectively worse than a Porsche in almost every way except looks.

If Geely provides investment money to make US legal versions quickly, expand production and increase quality, then the problem might solve itself. IMO Lotus cars look very exotic which is a huge draw for enthusiasts, but not everyone has a giant pile of cash to throw on a very uncomfortable and impractical car. If they produced more then the R&D and tooling cost would be spread across more cars, which could amount to a decent drop in price.

If the 700 cars they move per year goes to 3000 (I think they had 2000/year when they still sold the Elise in the US?), that would be a MASSIVE drop in costs per car, and if Aston Martin can sell more than that with their severely outdated platform and drivetrains, I am sure Lotus could hit that number. If a V6 Exige could undercut a Porsche Cayman by 10k, I think a small percentage of Porsche buyers could be turned for its exotic looks and racing heritage. If you could get your hands on an Elise for 40k in today's money, I am sure more people would buy it than with the old Elise. The only real competitors are Porsche and the Alfa 4C at this point, and it makes no sense to buy a Lotus over those the way things are today, but if Lotus undercut them, they should at least get some customers to bite. Remember, Porsche sells tens of thousands of sports cars a year, you only have to steal a small portion of those customers away to make Lotus financially viable.

[Zaku]

Let's not forget that they didn't have the money to pay for another Miata, and they needed to join in with FCA to get the ND. Basically, alot of money came from FCA to get the ND going, but they got the 124 out of it and In my opinion, it's the better-looking car, can't say that it drives better that's up to the person looks too, my BRZ looks better than both so its a moot point. Matter of taste.

I do think that Mazda has a much better enthusiast support than other manufacturers one of the best out of the few that cares imho.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by daiheadjai

Lotus isn't run by pos bean counters. How are they doing?

Truth is, enthusiasts would make lousy business decisions, and a bankrupt company won't make cars for long.

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History is littered with the corpses of car companies started by "enthusiasts".

http://jalopnik.com/5944104/the-ten-...rcar-companies

[rice_classic]

Originally Posted by funwheeldrive

And yet Mazda did terrible this year in terms of profits. Can't keep making sports cars if your entire company is in the red.

At first I was like

Because:

2014 was the most profitable year in Mazda's 94 year history.
http://www.autoblog.com/2014/04/25/m...hest-94-years/

But then I went here:

http://www.mazda.com/globalassets/en...re161102_e.pdf

and I was like

[Entroper]

Originally Posted by rice_classic

At first I was like

Because:

2014 was the most profitable year in Mazda's 94 year history.
http://www.autoblog.com/2014/04/25/m...hest-94-years/

But then I went here:

http://www.mazda.com/globalassets/en...re161102_e.pdf

and I was like

Yeah, unfortunately the exchange rates pretty much ate all their profit improvements over the last year and then some. Still a profitable company, though, and moving in the right direction.

[vh_supra26]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSq5Zb5ZNWY[/ame]

[gymratter]

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpJH-qQ00fI"]Track Attack: Mazda MX-5 RF vs Toyota 86 (Incl. Drag Race) - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21IadrxVtlc"]2017 Mazda MX-5 Miata - Review and Road Test - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hyuxeD94lg"]2017 Mazda MX-5 Miata RF & Roadster – Redline: Comparison - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaVXd_38uqc"]Is the Mazda MX-5 RF really that good? - TheDriveGuyde Review - YouTube[/ame]

[Kiske]

Anyone know what happened to the Edelbrock S/C kit that was shown at seem in 2016 for the ND?

[TylerLieberman]

Originally Posted by Kiske

Anyone know what happened to the Edelbrock S/C kit that was shown at seem in 2016 for the ND?

They're available on the market now. With and without tuning.

http://www.sakebombgarage.com/edelbr...nd-mx-5-miata/
http://www.sakebombgarage.com/edelbr...nd-mx-5-miata/

[vh_supra26]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJWdPN7SiOc[/ame]

[iamrich83]

https://jalopnik.com/the-2019-mazda-...rse-1823432715

The 2019 Miata may get some fiercer power numbers to back up its fierce looks, according to recent U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration documents found by Road & Track. The documents suggest the Miata could go from 155 to 181 horsepower next model year, a huge jump for a car that small.