GT trim production hiatus

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Bokeh28

Member
Hello everyone,

I am very interested in purchasing a cx5 and have been lurking on these boards for the past few weeks. We are interested in the GT trim with all the bells and whistles and are pretty picky about the color. We have been waiting a while with the hope that the car we want would be found through dealer trading. Well, according to the dealership we are working with, they will only be getting 2 cars with all the specs we wanted, minus the color, for the next 3-6 months. The reason being Mazda is stopping the production of all GT models indefinitely.... Well he said for at least 3 months due to a tire shortage! Whatever company that makes the tires for the GT model has sold out of them. So, they will continue to produce the two lower trims, sport and touring, and will start up the GTs as soon as enough tires become available. Has anyone else heard of this? Anyway, it looks like we will be waiting for our new Cx 5 much longer than anticipated.... I hope it is worth the wait.

Thanks!
 
That's kind of crazy! I went to buy a silver GT with the tech package last week and the dealer didn't have any but luckily they already had one being shipped. He told me it should be here in two to three weeks. I haven't heard about the tire shortage. Good luck!
 
Haven't heard of a tire shortage. Every auto manufacturer in the world IS expecting production delays resulting from a fire at a German factory that produces the material (called PA-12) that is used in brake and fuel lines, among other parts. Once vehicle inventory begins to deplete, at around 60 days or so, shipment of most every car from most auto makers will be slowed signifigantly. Manufacturers are scrambling to find alternate suppliers/materials until the German plant is brought back online.
 
This is crazy news. Is there a media release or similar that reveals this information in full?
 
My salesman notified me of this issue on Saturday morning and said they just found out about it. I've been looking for more info online and watching these boards to see if anyone made mention of it. I'm not sure when they are going to go public with the information but the dealership made it sound like a definite thing. I said it was crazy for it to happen and my salesperson said he has heard of much stranger things.

My husband and i were hoping they could maybe find another supplier of tires but I don't know if they are contractually obligated to stay with th same company or the deal they are getting is so good they don't want to pay more and in turn raise prices on the cx5? Maybe they should just find a way to get the cars made cuz it seems to me that the shortage of GTs over the span of several months would be just as bad if not worse than the price they will be paying upfront. They could be losing potential owners, like me :( but I of course have know idea how this stuff works.....
 
Bokeh28 said:
My husband and i were hoping they could maybe find another supplier of tires
Click to expand...

Unfortunately it's a set tyre chosen well over a year ago after much testing in Japan. The tyre is exactly the same on that model across the globe - from the UK, to Germany, Japan all the way across to the US and Australia.

The tyre is produced in Japan by Toyo.

If the news is true, then I'm sure Toyo will source the chemical from elsewhere as their obligations to deliver the tyre are massive.
I doubt Mazda would interrupt production based on something as simple as a tyre.
 
Just spoke with a Mazda salesman a few days ago and he said they were really pushing the manufacture of the lower end models to get them out into the marketplace and limiting the manufacture of the GT models until later. Now, with that said, it was a Mazda salesman and that could just be a dealership rumor. It kind of made sense to me though. Tire shortage? I doubt it. Manufacturers aren't tied into one supplier only especially if that supplier can't supply.(boom01) It would be a very short term hiccup if that did happen and certainly not months.

RE: The resin problem which hits all manufacturers. There was a big meeting of over 100 auto execs from all over the world that was held recently to address this problem. It seems that an alternate supplier is stepping up and there may not be nearly as major shortage as many have worried about. I think I read that the new supplier makes carpet resins or something like that and is willing to adjust their process to make resins for the auto industry. This is just from reading several different auto news websites which as always, must be taken with a grain of salt.
 
This was a major reason that I did not go for the GT Trim. I took a look at tire rack and saw one tire available and it was 2X the cost of the 17's. I'd be worried about the availability of replacements if you own a GT and happen across a nail!

BTW, first post. Had a Zeal Red AWD for about 2 weeks!
 
I hope your right and that production isn't stopped. In the meantime we will be looking at other vehicles. But I really do love the cx5. I've already told my friends and family I'm getting one lol. I told them way back when, when I didn't realize how hard it would be to find what we wanted. The kicker is that there was a car on the lot that was exactly what we wanted when we went in for a test drive. But it was fwd and my husband insisted on getting awd, Darn hindsight. Maybe this is the universe's way of saying we should just wait for the diesel version :p
 
GT's make up about 10-15% of the inventory in northern California, US. But color selections are limited across the board.

What color combo were you trying to get?
 
Go with the Touring. The 17's will give a softer ride and will be much cheaper to replace when the time comes. Add the tech pkg and moonroof/bose pkg and you essentially have the GT minus the 19" wheels and leather.
 
geocord said:
Manufacturers aren't tied into one supplier only especially if that supplier can't supply.
Click to expand...

Japanese manufacturers don't tend to change OE tyre suppliers whatsoever. In Japan, there is lengthy work to get to the point where they decide that manufacturer. It's nearly always a Japanese manufacturer and if you put yourself into Japan with the way Japanese business works, it's a privilege and an honour to be chosen as an OE manufacturer for a particular vehicle.
There is a loss of face if Mazda were suddenly to drop a tyre.

Worse still, there is a loss of honour if a tyre manufacturer wouldn't be able to supply a tyre. There has been suicides over less.

The Tsunami made chaos of supply lines for all sorts of companies. Lens manufacturers and electronics were particularly affected because they have high tech manufacturing lines.
But car manufacturers although affected, were able to rapidly bring supplies back quickly.

The factory making the Nissan GT-R engine for example had a recovery time 4 to 5x faster than expected.

Tyres.... they weren't impacted anywhere near as much.

While Japanese won't change high visible OE suppliers - like tyres. The same wouldn't be said of US or Australian manufacturers. A tyre change could happen mid model cycle and no one would blink an eyelid.

Go back through Mazda history and you'll see how often the OE tyre changes for a model.
 
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Guess I'm lucky that I got my GT Peral White w/tech package now.... Sucks for you guys who have to wait...
 
Not saying they would change supplier long term. But if the supplier has already admitted they can't supply for awhile I would assume contracts have some kind of alternative provision especially for a vehicle that is so crucial to Mazda's future. No supplier could expect a business to stop producing for months because it couldn't supply the material and if that is the case then they have obviously already "lost face". Business in modern times is not run like the samurai days. History is good to know but things do change.

I'm a little suspect that the delay is because of tires in the first place so this all may be a mute point.
 
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plemieux said:
Go with the Touring. The 17's will give a softer ride and will be much cheaper to replace when the time comes. Add the tech pkg and moonroof/bose pkg and you essentially have the GT minus the 19" wheels and leather.
Click to expand...

We want CWP with black interior. I really like the way the car looks in white and seeing all of them on this forum isnt helping my husband's attempts at swaying me towards the sky blue :) he already has his fun ride (speed 3) so this would be mine... And i cant get past the white. I just really like white cars! I could probably live without most of the extras the GT has to offer but would really love love love the keyless entry. Being someone who has to drive to multiple locations on a daily basis and having a propensity to lose keys, the idea of being able to leave a key fob in may bag and forget about it would be amazing! not sure if that alone justifies the higher price tag, but all the other extra features helped us decide on the GT.
 
geocord said:
Business in modern times is not run like the samurai days.
Click to expand...

It may not necessarily be done with Seppuku or Harakiri... but I can certainly comment on Japanese culture.
My wife is Japanese, and I've been back to Japan three times since the Tsunami - so very in touch with what goes on.

Japanese companies are very unlike western companies in the way honour counts.
This are done to perfected rules that go back well beyond living generations.

Best example is post tsunami. We all know that no company is at fault for the natural disasters of the earthquake and tsunami. But the heads of many companies that were affected by these disasters had no option but to step down, simply because they took the failure upon themselves.
I was stunned when I heard the news of several bosses stepping down. I thought, in Australia no one would blame the CEO of a company that was making losses because a bunch of their factories was destroyed by flood.

This occurs across the board with all types of companies and situations.

You're right - it's not Samurai times, but the Japanese culture is steeped in history and many aspects of daily life feels underpinned by rules that are frozen 50 years in the past.
 
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Didn't come here to argue about Japanese culture but to talk about the CX-5. I don't question your knowledge in this area. My only point was that any company that would halt production of a hot seller that it's very existence could well depend on would be foolish not to have contingency supplier arrangements for any piece of the manufacturing. Same goes with the supplier. But like I said, I doubt if the a lack of tires is the reason GT production is low. It's probably just an economical way to produce a lot of vehicles fast is to run the same type of vehicle through the production lines for extended period of time.
 
Bokeh28 said:
We want CWP with black interior. I really like the way the car looks in white and seeing all of them on this forum isnt helping my husband's attempts at swaying me towards the sky blue :) he already has his fun ride (speed 3) so this would be mine... And i cant get past the white. I just really like white cars! I could probably live without most of the extras the GT has to offer but would really love love love the keyless entry. Being someone who has to drive to multiple locations on a daily basis and having a propensity to lose keys, the idea of being able to leave a key fob in may bag and forget about it would be amazing! not sure if that alone justifies the higher price tag, but all the other extra features helped us decide on the GT.
Click to expand...


Yes, a CWP w/black leather GT w/tech pkg is what I've had since March 18th. The keyless entry works as well as the one in my Lexus. In fact this CX-5 has 90%+ of the luxury equipment of a typical Lexus. I've driven both Touring w/17's and GT w/19's, the difference in ride quality is barely noticable. The difference in cost of replacement tires is not a problem, 19's are far more common today than they were 10 years ago.

I won't get into discussion of Japanese culture here on a CX-5 GT thread, even though I've actually worked for an old established multibillion $ Japanese company for several years.
 
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My experience with Japanese companies leads me to believe that Mazda wouldn't stop production of GT models for months if another tire is available. They would probably wait for a few weeks and if the supplier doesn't come through, they will be shunned.
 
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