More than 25 years after its launch in the UK the latest top spec Mazda MX-5 RF (Retractable Fastback) costs considerably less to buy than the original which had wind-up windows, no ABS or traction control and the most basic of sound systems.
OK, it takes some financial juggling to come up with that conclusion but Jeremy Thomson, managing director of Mazda UK, managed it. Back in 1990 the MX-5 was priced at launch at just over GBP14,000. Today that would equate to GBP34,000, he argued, making the current top spec model a bargain at GBP28,995.
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It was tongue in cheek of course but his point was that you get better value these days. The U.K. Is an important market for the MX-5, accounting for 12,000 of global sales of the car. About 120,000 of the one million made since 1989 have been sold in Britain.
However, the market is getting tougher and while the little Mazda maintains its popularity, Thomson also has to juggle those finances which are being squeezed by currency fluctuations and uncertainty over Brexit.
He said: “At its low point last year the yen depreciated 30% against the pound and that sort of thing affects the bottom line.
“To counter this we have boosted sales in the higher value retail sector while scaling back fleet business which is something of a pragmatic solution.”
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By GlobalDataDespite the headwinds, Mazda is maintaining its sales of around 50,000 cars a year in the UK and globally the company is looking at its best figures ever for fiscal 2016/2017, projecting full year sales at 1.55m, up 17% over the previous year’s record 1.16m.
In the UK, Thomson expects to sell around 6,000 MX-5s this year – in its best years it has sold around 8,000 – and he added: “We are planning on the cautious side and keen to rely on customer pull rather than an aggressive push. Of the first 500 models being launched at the beginning of March, 340 have already been sold.”
The RF, with its complex, but very neat, retractable hard top, follows almost a year after the redesigned MX-5 convertible went on sale. The two-litre model will be followed in April by the launch of the 1.5-litre version.
Thomson also said customers have been “eagerly awaiting” the hard top version which accounts for 80% of MX-5 sales in the UK.
