As mentioned its my understanding that Mazda UK decide on the colours they are going to bring to their market. It was certainly the case with the green Sport Black, when speaking to them when it was doing the promotion rounds. One Mazda chap who came with the car said he personally had to push to get MUK to go for the green as it was seen as a risky colour to sell in the UK, despite being OK for mainland Europe where it was available as some other special edition.
One must assume that the great weight of UK MX-5 customers really don’t want the bright colours, and us enthusiasts who do are simply not a big enough market. But I would support us pushing them to bring them over here, as no harm in that, and the Mazda response seems to be positive. Assuming those on the team who gave us the green sport black are still about we probably do have allies in the camp…!
Mazda UK can’t sell you a yellow Mk4 as a yellow mark 4 doesn’t exist, except in that fake brochure doing the rounds. Mazda UK doesn’t have much choice to ask the factory to paint cars a completely different colour. For the Mk4, there is a red, black, blue and shades of white/grey. Mazda UK can’t go beyond that colour palette, unless it repeats the Conran special edition experience (repaint cars themselves).
I would suggest that if a 100 of you put your money down for day glow pink, or any other colour for that mater, Mazda UK will happily place that order on the factory, but like many other things in life, putting your hand up to say you want something and putting your hand in your pocket to pay for it are very different.
I am awake when I type, but thanks for the concern that I might be under some sort of hypnotic mind control.
These are the Loads of people who spend more than £32k on a car. Or £35k if they need 4WD to get up a hill. So you really think people will look at a £18k MX5, and dcide they’d rather spend £32k on a car because it comes in yellow?
Please translate.
So is VW aware of the contraction of the roadster market; they needed to make sales of 40k units a year to break even, but the total market size in the £20-25k bracket is only 30-35k units. So their new roadster was canned.
Why aren’t you including soft-top 4x4s in your list? Seems rather elitist. Back in 1996, Top Gear magazine considered the then new RAV4 to be a serious rival to the MX5.
Ford no longer makes the Focus CC. The Vauxhall Cascada starts at £24k, so much more than a base MX5. Mini no longer makes the Roadster. The cheapest Audi A3 convertible is £26k, before things like wheels or seats are added. The new Copen is not sold in the UK. The new Honda hasn’t yet gone on sale. Volvo no longer makes a convertible since it became Chinese owned; strictly speaking, both the Focus CC and the Volvo were made by Pininfarina at a factory built by Ford, after quality was disastrous. The Golf convertible starts at £22k, so significantly more than a base MX5. The BMW Z4 starts at £27k for the stripped version. The 1-series convertible is no longer made.
I suppose that leaves the Mini Cabrio and a few kitcars as new alternatives.
Well, there are worse things than that when buying a new car.
Well your choice is limitless if you include 3rd or 4th hand. Or Estate cars. But obviously, if your consideration includes cars with a £40-50k ticket, this is the wrong debate.
Thank you for your diagnosis of my affliction, I had been labouring under the misapprehension that it was “enthusiasm” but hey ho, what do I know ?..It would appear that you know me better than I know myself…
I am well aware of the problems associated with these cars, not so much in the case of the mk2 having never owned one, but am fairly well clued up on the mk1 & mk3. My point is, with the recent launch of the mk4, there are going to be, potentially, a lot of new owners who may consider joining the club and/or forum in order to utilise the wealth and depth of knowledge available, and negative posts of that ilk will possibly dissuade them, thus denying them the benefit.
As you state, you aren’t bothered one way or the other about club membership numbers, and you are entitled to that opinion, but it just doesn’t look very welcoming. This forum is probably the first port of call (yes, I am well aware there are others out there) for many owners who may be experiencing problems, and seeing a post like that may well encourage them to look elsewhere…
We are all entitled to our opinions, and now you have mine.
When I’ve spoken to Dealers in the past I was under the impression that the Green Sport black / Red Kuro / Blue Sport Graphite / 25Ae sold out quickly? If that is indeed the case wouldn’t that indicate that more vibrant colours do sell well? I’d except Mazda’s reluctance to go with Yellow / Burnt Orange as their appeal is almost cerainly limited on the mass market. However surely Bright Blues / Green’s / Reds are a no brainer on a sporty car? The fact that there is only one solid colour available and that they have overlooked red, when its been an option and sold relatively well on all previous versions, seems an odd decision.
Its hard to comprehend Mazda’s decision, on a wordwide basis (not just Mazda UK), not to launch the car with a more dynamic colour range.
Judging from Mazda UK’s response we can only hope that the negative feedback, that’s evident on this and other forums, is being taken on board and there will end up being a change for 2016. I’m not holding my breath though.
It is not just Mazda. The new Audi TT Roadster only comes in darker boring colours unless you want to pay thousands for Audi Exclusive colours. If it bothers people that much there is always wrapping then you can have whatever colour you want. Having had a yellow Arizona and an orange Icon I do prefer brighter colours and currently drive a Misano Red Audi TT Roadster and am building a yellow Exocet. My opinion is sports cars should be bright. The darker colours do nothing for the car.