[god_of_gamblers]

Hello, I just recently discovered the Solstice and I'm totally in love with it!

After trying to get some brochures from a Pontiac dealer today, the sales rep there said it will probably be difficult to buy a Solstice until perhaps next year. He did mention it was possible to sign up on some "advanced order" lists (probably different from the EOP), though I'd have to call him about it later.

Anyone have the info on 2005 production numbers and distribution, and perhaps how easily it would be to get one of these babies this year? Thanks.

 

[mceb]

20,000 units per year has always been the number quoted. First 6 months to a year supply could be an issue.

 

[brentil]

Unfortunately we don't have an statistics yet on pre-orders per dealer, or other interest levels besides what we have here. I think it would be safe enough to say though that at least 2000 Solsti have been pre-ordered/or will be at the begining. There's 2000 dealers in the EOP program, so I'd assume they joined more then likely due to customer interest. That's assuming 1 pre-order per dealer. However the dealership I've gone to supposedly has 15 from what I've been told. Also who knows how much interest has been built up due to the first commercial ever being shown this last weekend too.

 

[Small Dealer]

Right, 20,000 units is the number everyone is using. Now have seen posts where Canada is expecting around 2,000 for the year, and if you subtract out the 1,000 EOP cars, that leaves about 17,000 for the remainder of the year for US dealers. Call it about 1,500 a month for 11 months for 2,800ish Pontiac dealers.

Dealer allocation is being handled differently for the Solstice. During the first 4 months of regular production (6,000 cars?), it will be 50% based on sales (Pontiac retail prior 12 months) and 50% based on 11 competitors. For sales, figure center of the country is where the largest dealers are. Michigan heading south to Texas then skip to maybe Florida. Competitors, should get California, Florida, the good weather states, and maybe (hopefully) some of the wealthier Northeastern areas. So a fancy formula to get everyone cars. Dealers should know these numbers soon.

After the first 4 months of regular production, it will go a tweaked version of the 50/50 for a while, then finally settling into the old turn and earn.

So a long answer to say, know one knows how hard it will be to get one. It will depend where you live and what size dealer you pick to order from and how many others they have in front of your. Equipment (other than the automatic(February) and chrome wheels(September)) should hold things up. Actually now that I say "automatic", when it becomes available that should increase demand/tighten supply (orders) with a new round of buyers who can't shift. This will occur with the coming of spring (ground stock). So the best time to try to get one may be the late winter of 2006. Just ask your dealer to lay their cards on the table.




This is just really a summary of info scattered around the site, but you picked a great topic name to put it all under.

 

[Moobs]

i remember hearing that 20,000 production number before. and i also seem to remember hearing that the miata sold less than 10,000 and that is the solsitices main competition. i don't think it will be that hard to get one at the end of this year. they may even be coming down on the price a little in the winter just to move them out. who wants to buy a topless roadster in the winter? I DO!! :lol:

 

[mceb]

i remember hearing that 20,000 production number before. and i also seem to remember hearing that the miata sold less than 10,000 and that is the solsitices main competition. i don't think it will be that hard to get one at the end of this year. they may even be coming down on the price a little in the winter just to move them out. who wants to buy a topless roadster in the winter? I DO!! :lol:

The 10k Miata figure was near the end of it's lifecycle. In the start of each Miata generation they hit 40-50k a year I think. Here's a link to some old Miata numbers in the 90's. You can see they had some very good years.

http://www.miata.net/faq/production.html

 

[Fformula88]

Good explanation small dealer.

Hopefully, the areas that get a smaller allocation really are not more difficult to get a Sol. They will have less cars, but GM's fancy formula is trying to limit the cars in low demand areas, which means there might not actually be fewer cars per interested buyer. That is, if the formula works!

 

[Moobs]

The 10k Miata figure was near the end of it's lifecycle. In the start of each Miata generation they hit 40-50k a year I think. Here's a link to some old Miata numbers in the 90's. You can see they had some very good years.

http://www.miata.net/faq/production.html

i went to go look up some numbers to see if they would be wasy to find and i come back and you have this for me, mceb. that link shows a lot of cars being produced. what i found was actual sales from 98-march 04. check them out here: http://www.gweep.net/~sfoskett/miata/sales/ I think this will be much more like the sales trends you'll see with the solstice since the economy is MUCH different now than it was in the early to mid 90's when they were selling 20,000+ miatas. they really haven't come that close to that figure since 1998.

 

[mceb]

i went to go look up some numbers to see if they would be wasy to find and i come back and you have this for me, mceb. that link shows a lot of cars being produced. what i found was actual sales from 98-march 04. check them out here: http://www.gweep.net/~sfoskett/miata/sales/ I think this will be much more like the sales trends you'll see with the solstice since the economy is MUCH different now than it was in the early to mid 90's when they were selling 20,000+ miatas. they really haven't come that close to that figure since 1998.

Good find, yes it does look like 20k dipping to 10k was the story of the 98-2004. Maybe increased competition from other roadsters (mostly higher end) where in early 90's Miata was alone.

 

[LBJay]

Maybe increased competition from other roadsters (mostly higher end) where in early 90's Miata was alone.

Market saturation is a more likely answer. There are only so many people who want (are interested in) a 2 seat sportscar.

Many buy them on a whim, find they are not roadster people, end up driving them little and only keep them 2 years. That puts cars on used lots, with very low milage.

People who are interested see they can buy a 2 year old used car with under 5-6K miles for thousands less than a new car that's basically the same. That depresses new car sales.

Miatas have a very long life span, 100-200K miles easy (very reliable cars). With over 300K Miata's sold in the US, the Miata has become a victim of it's own success.

 

[drew2002]

Small Dealer's mention of the automatic only comming next winter got me thinking--up until then, this has got to make it easier to get, because you are limiting sales to people who are able and willing to drive stick. I know that for all vehicles, about 90% are automatics in the US.

It's probably been said here before: Holding off on the automatic till Feburary is a good news for the enthusiasts.

(as a comparison, I wonder if anyone has some tech on manual vs. auto sales figures for miatas..)

 

[SolsticeMan]

I glanced over some of the miata sales info - it appears to be in line with what someone at Mazda told me: approximately 50-60% of the global Miata MX-5 production is united states, 30-40% japanese, the balance in the rest of the countries where Mazda's are sold.

10,000 here means closer to 17,000 global volume.

 

[Fformula88]

It is possible that there are simply less people willing to buy roadsters these days too. Sure, some of the sales decline is due to the fact that people no longer want a dated vehicle. For example, the number of sport coupes has steadily declined the last 10 years too. Not for lack of new vehicles. The Acura RSX-S is a great sport coupe, the Toyota Celica GT-S was a leader when it came out, etc. Fewer and fewer cars are sold in that segment as people move to 4 door sedans and SUV's for more practicality.

I'd wager it is a little of both. Declining sales due to stale product and a smaller market segment. With all these new roadsters, automakers are certainly hoping they can grow the market segment back up to where it was. Time will tell if those people are still there.

 

[god_of_gamblers]

Hey thanks for the answers guys. It is my goal to try to get a Solstice during late summer or fall of this year. Hopefully the goal can still be met (I hate waiting too long!), but otherwise maybe I'll have to wait until production perks up.

 

[mceb]

Hey thanks for the answers guys. It is my goal to try to get a Solstice during late summer or fall of this year.

Check around just after the EOP thing and try to get into first regular allocation (should be delivered by late summer/early fall). Might have to shop around a few dealers to find one who'll not be playing games with prices but they are out there.

 

[MarkZ]

I’m sure the first 6-9 months will be a problem.

I bought my 350Z in July ‘03, approximately 10 months after its initial release. There was a huge demand in the fall of ’02. Dealer markups and full sticker sales price was common.

By the time I bought mine (new) the demand had slacked off and I got mine for about $1,500 under MSRP. If I do get a Solstice, I plan on the same buying strategy --wait about 9 months or until the end of the first model year.

 

[LBJay]

I glanced over some of the miata sales info - it appears to be in line with what someone at Mazda told me: approximately 50-60% of the global Miata MX-5 production is united states, 30-40% japanese, the balance in the rest of the countries where Mazda's are sold.

10,000 here means closer to 17,000 global volume.

Nope, EU sales are above US and rising, Japan only accounts for 5-8% of sales.

 

[SolsticeMan]

Perhaps I read the volume chart wrong, but in the years where it lists a japanese volume, the euro volume is roughly half to a third of japanese, the japanese volume roughly half that of the US.

(89-92, and some other years I can't remember).

I can't seem to find true "global" volumes out on the web, but I understand (unless my contacts are way off) that 2002 volume in US as around 20K (give or take) and Japanese volume around 11K. Euro (including Austrailia) volume only about 5K. Could be wrong - like I said, the miata.net FAQ post is the closest thing I've seen to a full global volume accounting.

 

[LBJay]

2003 is the last full figures I have.

http://www.mazda.com/brief/img/book/II_2_DomesticVehicle.pdf

http://www.mazda.com/brief/img/book/II_3_DomesticRetailSales.pdf

MX-5 production figures (2003) = 30106
MX-5 Domestic sales (JAPAN 2003) = 1520 (5%)

http://media.ford.com/mazda/article_display.cfm?article_id=17364

MX-5 Europe sales (2003)=18,931

http://media.ford.com/mazda/article_display.cfm?article_id=19864

Miata US sales (2003) =10,920

(some of these sales figures may include 02 leftovers)

 

[SolsticeMan]

Thanks, I'll forward this on to my contact....