Seeing the future
 

For those anticipating the next rotary, some sobering news:


[QUOTE Mazda Says it’s Considering Capital Increase After Losses Mount -- Bloomberg
By Takahiko Hyuga
Feb. 2, 2012

Mazda Motor Corp., the most unprofitable company among Japan's eight biggest carmakers, said it's considering boosting capital as four years of losses erode equity, threatening its credit rating.

Repairing Mazda's capital "is a must," President Takashi Yamanouchi told reporters in Tokyo Wednesday after the company's earnings presentation. "We are considering every option. Nothing has been decided."

The carmaker's 73 billion yen ($958 million) third-quarter loss, reported Wednesday, lowered the company's proportion of equity by 5 percentage points to 19.2 percent of its assets. The drop in the so-called equity ratio triggered Japan's Rating & Investment Information Inc. to warn it may lower its debt rating on Mazda within three months.

"R&I cannot overlook the further weakening of the financial base, which has already been weaker than the rating suggests," the debt-rating assessment company said in a statement.

A share sale would give Mazda room to keep its investment- level debt rating as mounting competition and the yen's appreciation prevents the company from making profit. Mazda yesterday downgraded its earnings outlook by projecting its biggest full-year loss in 11 years.

Mazda, whose shares tumbled 42 percent last year, rose 1.6 percent to close at 130 yen on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Wednesday.

Mazda's Yamanouchi said he's confident the company will return to profitability next fiscal year and that the carmaker is "aggressively" looking to form an alliance. CLSA Asia- Pacific Markets said in a report last week that Mazda will probably post losses through the year ending March 2014.

Mazda, which raised 93.3 billion yen in a share sale in 2009, Wednesday forecast it will post a 100 billion yen loss in the year ending March, five times the deficit it projected earlier and more than twice the 46 billion yen loss projected by the average of 19 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
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Hard to see how the rotary continues given this situation and the emissions and mpg hurdles upcoming. Hope I'm wrong.

They need to quit making ugly cars...

^^ I agree. or offer something others are not. like a manual on Grand Touring tirm levels other then the 3. I like the AWD CX-5, but I am unable to get one with a manual trans. so I am not sure what I want now. The MX-5 needs more power. when you compare it to other cars on paper it seem really underpowered. If the offered a Mazdaspeed MX-5 with the 2.3L Turbocharged MZR motor I am sure it would bring new interest to the brand. They make great handling cars for the money but they are under powered. Besides the MS3, which is a strong seller.

bring over the two door Mazda 2 for christ's sake!

and i agree with the ugly car syndrome. The original 3 looked good, the new one looks like someone applied too many Photoshop swirl effects to it.

The miata is going suffer against the FR-S and BRZ unless it gets better. Hell i think a hard top cheaper miata option should come around. how much cheaper could they sell the miata then? i would be more apt to buy one.

The biggest hurdle to the Miata is public image. Outside of mazda and racing circles, the Miata is considered a chick car. As anyone you know that is not knowledgeable about cars and that is what they will tell you. More power will not fix this, styling changes may, a hard top even more possible. But piblic image and reputation is a big ass hurdle....

i really think a two door Mazda 2 would sell well here. I would be more apt to buy one over the fiesta, despite the fiesta having a touch more power.

That said, you raise a good point about public image. I suppose they could use the chassis of the miata, hard top, with a cosmic resdeign of whatever sort, so long it doesn't look like a wavy distorted face.

Ideally, just something cheap and fun that sells. hense my push on the Mazda 2.

wasn't the whole point of the mx-5 to be a cheap sports car? now you can get a mustang that has twice as much power for the same price. People have also said they liked the miata without powersteering. I am not a big guy on styling, I really am sure my next new car will be a mazda. I like the way the insides are done. But why does mazda offer a moonroof on the MS3?

The MX-5/miata IS a cheap sports car, when you define sports car as a 2 seat, light & agile vehicle in a coupe/roadster body. The Mustang isn't a sports car in that sense - it's heavier, and has 2+2 seating. Ditto for the Camaro and all the other pony cars & sport coupes out there. They put moonroofs on MS3's and other cars because enough buyers want them and will spend the extra $ to get them.

Back to the OP's point, I think there will be some lean years for the rotary, but I think it will come back eventually. In the near term, I would expect them to prioritize the Skyactive engines and roll them out to the rest of the lineup, which should help the bottom line. Basically market the bread & butter vehicles (2/3/5/6's) as the choice for those who want performance but don't want to sacrifice fuel economy. Unless someone buys a majority stake in Mazda, I think they will keep a minimal rotary R&D capacity alive, and eventually will bring back the rotary as it is part of Mazda's corporate identity.

I agree. I this skyactive Ideal is also postive for Mazda. Hybrids are starting to be known for problems, and MPGs that favor city driving not highway. Since Mazda basicly changed most change the car as well as the engine system to get better MPG which also made more power is great. I am also glad Mazda didnt try to jump on the Hybrid band wagon.

AWD speed 3 would open up a bigger market to enthusiasts.. at least thats what ive always thought.

That would be a pretty big draw on the motor and I've heard a lot of the aftermarket guys are having problems with the motor's popping under too much power. This would also be in the opposite direction of the Skyactive movement.

I think a MS 2 would make more since... lighter and potentially faster.

I'd rock a Speed2.

Miata won't come out en masse in coupe form. The concept of it being a roadster is part of what the car is and if for whatever reason they decided to make another run of coupes they damn well better be ready to compete in the modern 2-door sport coupe realm. Something the Miata/MX-5 philosophy isn't fully in tune with. Selling in excess of 900,000 units since 1989 they aren't going to screw with the formula they've got. Although another Mazdaspeed edition would be nice and is quite possible.

MS2 would be really nice and deal with the one complaint about it as compared to it's other competitors (mainly the Fit, Fiesta, Yaris and Versa) that being the lack of power. It's already light as hell, another 20-30 ponies would be nice.

Mazda has also released statements stating that they are working on a skyactiv version of the rotary engine for future development, and that Mazda will never give up on the rotary so long as it has a soul behind the cars they make. One would argue that souls in cars have long died, and I'd be hard pressed to argue against that even in the case of Mazda. The truth is, the economy will get better and when it does people will want to buy obscure and quirky little cars again. Until then it just doesn't make sense from a financial standpoint for them to build rotary powered cars.

It is also always funny to hear people complain about the Rx8 to me. I was a hater of them from the start, but they solved a ton of issues with that car that most people neglect (by most people, I mean rotary fanatics). They solved the reliability issues with them, the handling is top notch, and comfort/interior quality far exceeds that of previous rotary models.

I still hate the looks of them, but I wouldn't trade my Rx8 in for anything else.

It is funny you bring this up - I have known more men to own these cars than women. Most women I talk to that are semi-interested in cars think they are gay. It seems to me that as people age they grow an appreciation for the more simplistic things in life, like the pleasure of driving a Miata. Women want something that looks cute or whatever. A Miata doesn't really fit that either.

And as far as I can tell, there are no hurdles with the Miata. It is the most sold sports car of all time, and it continually sells extremely well.

I, like that new guy that I've not seen post at all in BAW named I Love Pop Up Lights, have to say that a Mazdaspeed variant of the new Miata would be most excellent.