Mazda RX-8 Convertible rolled out at shipment ceremony

Mazda held a traditional sending off ceremony yesterday for its first shipment of vehicles to leave its headquarters in Hiroshima, Japan in the new year. This is done at the beginning of every year and all the big execs come out to watch new vehicles like the Mazda2 and CX-7 get loaded onto a shipping vessel and whisked away to markets abroad. Rotarynews.com, however, noticed something particularly interesting in the photos of the event that Mazda released. Decorated in balloons and streamers is a Mazda RX-8 Convertible, a version of the RX-8 that doesn't technically exist and which we've never seen before. Its duties appear to be parade-like in nature, slowly transporting two execs around a parking lot who are seen standing up on the back seat and holding onto a crossbar. It's probably just a one-off vehicle that was made for occasions like this, but at least you now know that an RX-8 Convertible does exist and that it can be done.

Josh do you know anything about this RX-8 Vert?

woo.

man, a profile shot would be nice! lol

I think it looks a lot like a lotus elise, maybe the side profile would say differently though.

The cross bar looks way to high.

I think that once whatever top goes on it is on, it'd look aight

I'm thinking this is a one off not an actual production car.

MX-5's big brother, without question. Not one for convertibles myself, but that is pretty sweet! Mazda should have made that a production model (con compresor, por favor). At this point, I think it's too late in the car's lifecycle though...

well, they do have essentially the same chassis...

Yes, it's a one off...... for right now.

Press Release

HIROSHIMA - January 7, 2007: Mazda Motor Corporation today held its annual ceremony marking the first product shipment of the year at the company’s cargo dock near its headquarters in Hiroshima. Approximately 500 people, including Hisakazu Imaki, Mazda’s representative director, president and CEO, together with other Mazda senior executive officers and employees, saw off the year’s first shipment of vehicles. The ceremony’s attendees viewed the 2008 RJC Car of the Year award-winning Mazda2 (known as the Mazda Demio in Japan), Mazda CX-7 and other models being loaded into car carrying vessels bound for destinations in Japan and overseas markets and heard commitments to further growth in 2008.

Mazda’s President and CEO, Hisakazu Imaki, said, “2008 will be the second year of our mid-term Mazda Advancement Plan, and it will be extremely important year for us. The automotive industry’s operating environment is tougher than ever, but we will confidently go forward this year, taking steady steps in our operations toward achieving our goals.

“To do so, we will emphasize three major issues: improving brand value, strengthening our business efficiency, and improving quality throughout the Mazda Group. Notably, this year Mazda will launch a number of exhilarating products here in Japan and overseas, including the all-new Mazda6. Leveraging these exciting products to come, we want to see this year made outstanding by a dramatic improvement in Mazda’s brand value.”

In 2007, Mazda announced the Mazda Advancement mid-term plan (MAP), with reaching 1.6 million units of retail sales globally in fiscal year 2010 as one of its targets. In the first year of the plan, Mazda increased its production capacity in Japan, started operations at new manufacturing facilities in China and announced plans for a new passenger vehicle plant at its AutoAlliance Thailand (AAT) facility as it made solid progress toward achieving the goals laid out in the MAP.

Mazda is a global company supported by a following of admiring customers in more than 140 countries. Mazda’s international success is also founded on a global manufacturing network comprising two main domestic and 15 overseas production sites. With customer satisfaction as the first priority in everything it does, Mazda is committed to offering vehicles that “look inviting to drive, are fun to drive, and make you want to drive them again” while also balancing driving pleasure with eco-friendly and safety features.

It was used in a parade years ago.

SuperStretch18 said:

MX-5's big brother, without question. Not one for convertibles myself, but that is pretty sweet! Mazda should have made that a production model (con compresor, por favor). At this point, I think it's too late in the car's lifecycle though...

Click to expand...

mas uno (+1) . Also, given that Mazda is relatively small compared to other car makers I think an RX-8 convertible can make noise to the MX-5's sales, so only one convertible in their line I assume (I still like it tons).

BTW, that is how a Honda S2000 should look like (and I'm sure the crossbar was designed to serve as a handle as well for the ones standing, that is why it looks high. Production would be different)

One-off Mazda RX-8 Convertible Shown at Corporate Event

Celebrating 2008's first shipment of Mazdas bound for international markets, this is a corporate event staged by the firm every New Year. But accompanying yesterday's seemingly ordinary press release were photos of an RX-8 not so ordinary: a Convertible version. Presumably re-built for the express purpose of corporate events and public parades in the vicinity of Hiroshima, this one-off RX-8 Convertible won't ever see the light of production, but it gives enthusiasts a good idea of what a current-generation RX-8 would like like al fresco.

Note that other than a hacked-off roof, the Convertible version loses its hard-top counterpart's 'suicide door' and gains a roll bar, which as seen in the photos appears to be more a handrail than a rollover safety feature.

Viewed by some 500 senior employees, the RX-8 Convertible was alongside the firm's Mazda2 and CX-7, with attendees later hearing from President and CEO, Hisakazu Imaki who had this to say:-

“2008 will be an extremely important year for us. The automotive industry’s operating environment is tougher than ever, but we will confidently go forward this year, taking steady steps in our operations toward achieving our goals.

“To do so, we will emphasize three major issues: improving brand value, strengthening our business efficiency, and improving quality throughout the Mazda Group. Notably, this year Mazda will launch a number of exhilarating products here in Japan and overseas, including the all-new Mazda6. Leveraging these exciting products to come, we want to see this year made outstanding by a dramatic improvement in Mazda’s brand value.”

So there's no chance of an RX-8 drop-top - but with an upcoming model based on the Kabura concept and an RX-9 due before 2012, perhaps a further convertible option is headed our way.

It's like a Mazda Pope-mobile.

nice they should have done this earlier.