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NEWS
Mazda MX-5 sales no cause for concern
Importer expects resurgence with new model in 2015, but sales volume will remain a trickle in the meantimeThe Mazda MX-5 – the car pictured alongside the dictionary entry for 'sports car' – has struggled to achieve anything like its old sales success in recent times.
Back in 2006 the current NC series posted sales of 1468 for the year, according to VFACTS. Six years later it sold just 159 units for the year – barely 10 per cent.
Clearly there's a problem. The top-selling car in the VFACTS sports segment for the year to date is the Toyota 86, which has sold 2469 so far. About a thousand units behind is the Hyundai Veloster, with 1325. And lagging behind those two (and Kia Cerato Koup, Nissan 370Z and the Volkswagen Scirocco, to name just a few), the MX-5 has sold 61 cars in 2013.
Some of those cars are more expensive than the MX-5, so price alone doesn't seem to be the sole factor in the Mazda's sales decline. It's more likely a case of the design's age and the demand for the car being largely satisfied in the small Australian market over the past six or seven years.
Mazda is resigned to the MX-5's lowly ranking, says new MD for the company in Australia, Martin Benders. Speaking with him earlier in the week, motoring.com.au asked how Mazda Australia would keep interest alive in the MX-5 until its successor (the ND series?) arrives in the next year or so.
"In the short-term, we don’t sell that many of the current version to sort of make it an issue at the moment," he replied. "People who are buying them are buying them because they particularly wanted an MX-5 soft-top rear-wheel drive, [et cetera].
Pushed for Mazda's attitude to the small sports car, given it used to top sales in the VFACTS sports segment years ago, Benders explained that it's like any car in that segment – an initial surge in demand with a new model gradually flags over time. The MX-5 is no different.
"[The MX-5] tops [the segment] when it’s new, and it tends to taper off over time. It’s a car that’s very difficult to hold volume on," he said.
By implication, Toyota and Subaru may eventually experience the same downturn in sales of the 86 and BRZ, respectively. According to Benders, that may not happen for a while, given the supply constraints for both cars.
"With those cars, they had global supply constraints. So that’s kept the interest going. So they’ve sold everything they have. But if it ever frees up, I think it’ll drop off."
On the subject of the Toyota, Benders expressed some surprise that Mazda's marketplace rival had been so "aggressive" with the pricing of the 86.
"I don't know why Toyota went so aggressive on that vehicle. Maybe they thought there was a bit more volume. But they were always going to be in short supply."
When it was suggested that the 86 has received very good press – in part due to its keen, sub-$30K pricing – Benders argued that the car "didn’t really need it, because everybody thought the car was fantastic anyway."
As for the 86 addressing the imbalance in Toyota's brand image – "iconic" without being "inspirational" to use Toyota Australia boss David Buttner's words – sales numbers for the sports car are a drop in the ocean against the company's volume-selling mainstays: Camry, Corolla, HiLux and even LandCruiser.
The difference between 86 and MX-5 as halo cars for their respective brands is that the MX-5 is a driver's car in a range of cars generally regarded as driver's cars. Any change to Toyota's brand image from the 86 is thus likely to be incremental – and gradually shrinking further over time, if the MX-5 example is any guide.
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Written byKen Gratton
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