Well, August sales were OK and pretty good for the CX-5 (as usual). Mazda 3 sales continue their month on month decline which is now close to 50 straight months.
I wonder if they are making more money per car this year or is it the same?
Seems to be a universal story. Demand continues to shift to the truck & SUV market.
Here's a US Vehicle Sales website Shadonoz put up earlier in this thread.
At the aggregate, comparing Jan thru Aug 2019 to Jan thru Aug 2018, passenger car sales continued their decline (down 8%) while trucks/suvs continued their increase (up 4%). Total units increased slightly (0.1% up year over year.)
Jan thru Aug 2019 U.S. sales (units)
Passenger cars...3,445,632 (30% of total)
Trucks/SUVs......8,038,371 (70% of total)
Just for grins, I looked up the earliest year on the website.
Calendar Year 2013 U.S. sales (units)
Passenger cars...7,780,710 (50% of total)
Trucks/SUVs......7,819,489 (50% of total)
Quite the shift, huh? And the gap continues to widen.
Wow, that is pretty dramatic.
I am starting to see a lot more Mazdas on the road. Lots of CX-5's but a fair amount of 6's.
The other day I went to the gym and there were two other CX-5's in the parking lot.
Same here.
But I think it's because I've become more brand-aware.
When I was driving my truck, I never really paid attention.
Well, I got my 2016 in April of 2015 and barely ever saw any CX-5's. I've always looked for Mazda's since I had a RX-7 and a 626 so I was always brand-aware.
I can definitely see an up-tick, in my development there's at least 8 CX-5's out of 160 homes. Two in my garage. Lot more CR-V's though.
If we looked, we could probably find the demographics of who's buying trucks & SUVs.
A large chunk is Baby Boomers (ages 55-73 as of this writing.) Trucks & SUVs are easy to get in and out of, and provide that "big car" feel of security that Cadillacs and Oldsmobiles used to afford. The church parking lot (mostly older folk) on Sunday morning has perhaps 12 SUVs, with maybe 2 or 3 passenger cars.
Here's an article by a marketing research company titled <B>New Car Buyer Demographics 2019</b>
Two interesting tables:
New SUV Buyers By Age Group
Age 24 and younger...<1%
Age 25 to 54..............43%
Age 55 to 64..............26%
Age 65 and up............31%
New Mazda Buyers by Age Group
Age 24 and younger......1%
Age 25 to 54..............47%
Age 55 to 64..............28%
Age 65 and up............24%
Lots and lots of other interesting vehicle buyer stats there.
LOL.. I'm 41 and I got my CX-5 because one of my complaints was my 6 was "too damn low to the ground" LOL.
I'm not even a boomer and I'm already complaining! Lol
I was at a local restaurant in an old strip mall a while ago. The sidewalk is so low & narrow that the front door is right at the parking lot.
A banana yellow Firebird pulled up front, and I thought "There's a car full of local teens out for an evening." I turned my back to go inside, and from behind me I heard "Uuuuhhhhh," as someone groaned trying to climb out of the thing.
I actually laughed out loud, 'cause I knew what that sound meant. So much for my "teenagers" theory!
LOL.. I'm 41 and I got my CX-5 because one of my complaints was my 6 was "too damn low to the ground" LOL.
I'm not even a boomer and I'm already complaining! Lol
It seems like maybe Mazda was an early warning sign. Sales are looking real bad for everyone.
I am surprised it look this long...
The difference between 2007 car and 2017 car is mostly inclusion of iPad like device.
Mazda interiors are just too small compared to the competition, and they offer middle of the road MPG. Look at the RAV4 hybrid for example, Toyota can*t keep enough in stock and you will likely see the same thing with the CRV hybrid.
The safety systems(pedestrian braking/lane keep assist) also don*t work as well as they do compared to its competitors.
Turbo is great, but look when looking at the Forester XT, only 5% of Forester buyers bought an XT. People don*t really care about the extra power or a 6 speed automatic transmission.