***estimated World wide FD production numbers***
 

Hey Guys,
I arrived at these FD production numbers entirely from unverified + unofficial internet sources,
so they are by no means necessarily accurate or verifiable, but nevertheless interesting overall in some respects.
I don't think Mazda Japan would assist with more accurate info, but I would welcome it,
as I have always wondered.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...87a0edb6e6.jpg

RHD drive production #'s for UK + Japan are highlighted in blue.
There is a fuzzy area between production dates and dealer delivery dates for later models, so I just used date ranges for 1st year and Series 7 + 8 versions.
I used US production # ratios to arrive at estimated production amounts for 1994 and 1995 in a few cases. 1995 production was so small, real numbers could vary by a lot in a few cases
These estimated values are preceded by a ~ symbol. I wasn't sure about what other countries had Mazda dealerships that imported FD's during those years, so Australia and New Zealand got lumped in with what ever other countries sold FD's through a Mazda dealer. Likewise for any European countries other than Germany, U,K and Greece, I couldn't find anything more online,
If members, or dealers in Australia and New Zealand or elsewhere, care to correct or clarify numbers,
I would welcome this, as I'm sure would fellow owners.

Things that struck me right away, were that USA got the lion's share of worldwide LHD versions.
Just under 80% of them ! So LHD FD's are so much rarer in other countries, outside of grey market imports, as permitted by governments.
RHD versions outnumber LHD versions by about 3:1 if the attrition rate is about the same for both.
To put into perspective how uncommon LHD FD's are, numbering under 17,295 worldwide,
there were 155,380 US RX7 FC's produced from 1986 to 1991 and about 425 more US RX7 FC convertibles were produced, than all LHD FD's world wide, at about 17,720.
There were about 400,000 Miatas produced in the same 1992-2002 time period,
Ferrari produces about 8,000 cars per year, so about 88,000 between 1992-2002,

I wonder how many unmolested OEM FD's (or easily returned to OEM) still exist ?
and how many still sit in storage unregistered ? It would be nice to get current national US registration numbers again.
What typically happens to frames and vin #'s of all the rollers that have been parted out ?

The numbers for Europe is most likely the ones i have put up here and on Wikipedia.
I got them from the official Mazda dealer in Norway, whom i guess got them from the European headquarters.

One important thing to note is that this is based on date sold. Not year model, and thus why there are cars sold in 96 while there was never a 96 model RX-7 produced.
I myself own one of the 26 that was sold in Germany in 1994.
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...e7056bf694.png

doublepost

Thanks Zepticon, all of my data was definitely borrowed from outside sources, who did all the work, so thank you for all your efforts in compiling European data and for posting the chart. I really struggled with actual production dates vs production year, as well as Japanese Version 1-6 classifications vs RX Series 6-8 classifications for a little while.
It's been fun checking out RX forums around the world.
A nice change from turning wrenches :)

.

This is great! Makes me feel even more special owning a LHD FD in Europe. I love how Greece is totally off the charts, such a small country compared to the big EU players, and yet they imported almost as many FD's as France. Italy and Spain combined lol...who would think that the Greeks are such rotorheads!?

i've been debating about posting more info for the US 1995 models, but we have 499 confirmed cars. i was vin number based, so mine were all 1995 model year cars, production started 4/18/1995 and ended 12/25/1995. this does mean that some cars did not show up until early 1996, and of course the last one to sell new was 2005, and that is not a typo, it sat on a dealership lot for 10 years

ive done some legwork on the 1993 and 1994 models, but there are enough where it would take most of a year to get all the data

I had access to some US reg data a little while ago and looked up FD's currently in operation (aka still registered). Dunno how accurate it is but seems pretty reasonable.

1993 - 3,601
1994 - 1,422
1995 - 229

Total 5,252 units.

Global production numbers for RX-7s.
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...b4d31fd021.jpg

^I think that's from the Brian Long book?

Interesting how the numbers go down into 1998 then surge for the 99 refresh.

Spd, it's interesting how few FD's there are now. There's probably a good percentage of those that are either barn finds or jack stand queens.

Again, we need to keep as many of these cars on the road as possible. Every part and every shell is precious at this point.

Dale

Yes Dale, it's from the Brian long Book. (Awesome book BTW, still available from Amazon.)

BLK93, sorry I can't PM you back on the PM for some reason, read the message but I'm not offered a reply button.
(think the forum is broken)

Broken down by state. No surprise to see the biggest concentration being in California and Florida.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...f1eac8668a.png

Very interesting thread, some cool data. How would you say RHD vs. LHD value works? From my understanding, in the MKIV Supra world, it's well understood that LHD cars will always be worth more than RHD cars (there are cheap RHD MKIV Supra's in Canada that are not yet legal for U.S. import). With RHD FD's trickling in, I see dealers that specialize in RHD cars selling FD's for ~$18-22k on average. Some stock or lightly modified. I think there is a hype on these cars for now just because they're RHD, and that's it. Maybe the market will balance out once the hype dies down. The JDM imports haven't seemed to affect the US MKIV Supra market. I can't say I know how this all compares to the FD market, but I would think it's similar. In the end the production numbers of LHD cars are fewer, so the value on them in theory should be higher.

OK, you 2 FD guys in Wyoming need to get together and hang out :).

SPD, that's really interesting - is that pulled from DMV data? How recent is that?

Dale

SPD, do you remember if you pulled the numbers before or after May of this year? Only asking because I put tags on my 95 around the middle of May after I got it back from IRP for a rebuild so that might could add one more to the list.

Data is from sept, not sure exactly the process it is sourced from but it's basically "in operation" so I assume that means with a registration.. not sure how they consider cars that are technically registered but with expired permits/tags... maybe there is a drop-off aka after X amt of years it stops counting.

To be honest I would not take those numbers as gospel but more as a general indication to the distribution around the country. It'll never be fully accurate to the last car.

Great info guys, thanks for posting.

I remain very curious about other Asia Pacific Mazda dealerships that might have sold FD models between 1992 + 1996.
In 2018, besides dealers in Australia and New Zealand mentioned in my 1st post,
Mazda currently has dealerships in:
Brunei, Fiji, Guam, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Jiangsu, Jillin, Laos, Malaysia, Marshall Islands, Myanmar, Shanghai, Nepal, New Caledonia, Philippines, Saipan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Tahiti, Taiwan, Thailand, Vanuatu and Viet Nam, so if anyone might have production info dating back to 1992-1996 model years, from these or other Mazda dealerships, we would truly welcome your observations and/or your RX7 ownership story.

Thanks, and Happy Holidays everyone !


Private messages sent Rotary13B1, and to j9fd3s

i didn't find any FD's from Guam and Saipan, yet, but in the 80's Guam and Saipan got US market cars, i do have a couple of 1985 vins from there. for the vin to work, it would mean the car was sold there new, and came here, and had warranty work done. Canada works like this too, the vin does not work in the US system, unless the car came here and had warranty work done to it.

with the new cars Canada and Mexico work, which is interesting.

I have a buddy with an '86 GXL that his mom bought brand new in Guam back in the day. It's US-spec on everything, nothing weird or different than a US car.

Some of the small markets like that would make sense that Mazda wouldn't do any specific development or anything.

Dale

Thanks for the info j9fd3s. It would be pretty much impossible for the average owner to determine grey market imports vs Mazda dealer sales without your efforts. While searching for vin ranges, I found some of your posts from last year in regards to the first 100 or so USDM FDs that weren't sold through dealerships. Your searches + posts + insights are very much appreciated by everyone here.

I consistently hit a lot of walls in every direction, trying to establish year to year world FD production # ranges, and vehicle destruction records.
Concerns understandably center around privacy and/or potential for misuse of info.
If free 17# VIN search databases don't limit the number of queries in a 24 hr period, their searches probably don't involve the last 6 digits of a VIN # whatsoever, or a valid VIN# database. They likely only offer very general model info, like dealer recall info for that model, + msrp. Anything more is usually a guess and includes a disclaimer about accuracy of info.
A few 10# JDM RHD VIN sites offer a lot of useful specific info, but carry a minor risk of server virus infections, so turn on a favorite antivirus program when navigating those.
I hope everyone has a Happy 2019 !
I'll leave you with a side by side comparison of state registrations. Thanks to USCmatt for 10/01/05 info in 3rd gen sticky thread, and to spd for 2018 data above ..

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...420a99a77a.jpg

Wow that's sad when you look at it like that Blk 93. There are only about 38% of all US FD still on the road and the numbers dropped roughly 46% since the 2005 data.

It's interesting that some car manufacturers are attempting to resurrect some of their classics.
Aston Martin is offering to convert some earlier DB series cars to electric use for owners, for profit , of course.
Notably, Mazda is offering to completely restore NA Miatas to new condition for Japan owners only, if that's not just an internet rumor. https://www.hemmings.com/blog/2017/08/07/mazda-japan-enters-the-mx-5-miata-restoration-business/
No mention of the same for FD or other RX models, probably because they will forever be tied to rotary powerplants
and the mixed reviews and complexity of that platform, not to mention Mazda having to spend $$$ on so many recalls
and warranty engine replacements.

Numbers below reflect listed RX7 FD's in various stages of being parted out by licenced car dismantlers nationally.
Some dismantlers probably don't use the national parts database service.
I don't have access to vehicle/frame destruction records from earlier part outs either.(which govts understandably won't share) or to the number of owner FD part outs, over the years, so actual numbers of unrecoverable FDs is likely high multiples of what is reported here.
I'm also curious about how many half cut JDM FD clips were exported from Japan, but short of asking importers of these, we will probably never get more than estimates.

If any of you know of FD shells or frames sitting in a wrecking yard, particularly in unreported states or provinces, and care to add them to the list below, or to let me know, please do,
I've kept records of cities these cars are in + colors + specs, so it should be fairly easy to determine which new ones aren't duplications. Same thing goes, if you parted one out, and care to add it to the list. Names or vins aren't involved. Thanks
#s in parentheses, or following 1st # are a breakdown of 1st # by year.
Formatting is lost when not using spreadsheets, so tidy columns of #s are gone

States:
Alabama - 5 (3-1993, 1-1994, 1-1995)
Alaska -
Arizona -
Arkansas - 1 - 1994
California - 10 (8-1993, 2-1994)
Colrado -
Connecticut -
Delaware - 1 - 1994
Distr of Columbia
Florida - 13 (8-1993, 3-1994, 2-1995)
Georgia - 1 - 1993
Hawaii -
Idaho -
Illinois -
Indiana - 1 - 1993
Iowa -
Kansas -
Kentucky - 1 - 1993
Louisiana -
Maine - 1 - 1993
Maryland - 2 (1-1993, 1-1994)
Massachusetts -
Michigan - 8 (6-1993, 2-1994)
Minnesota - 1 - 1993
Mississippi -
Missouri -
Montana - 2 (1-1993, 1-1994)
Nebraska -
Nevada - 1 - 1993
New Hampshire -
New Jersey - 2 (1-1993, 1-1995)
New Mexico -
New York - 1 - 1993
N Carolina - 3 (1-1993, 2-1994)
N Dakota -
Pennsylvania - 4 - 1993
Rhode Island -
Ohio - 2 - 1993
Oregon - 4 - 1993
S Carolina - 2 - 1993
S Dakota
Tennessee - 3 - 1993
Texas - 10 (8-1993, 1-1994, 1-1995)
Utah - 1 - 1993
Vermont -
Virginia - 6 (5-1993, 1-1995)
Washington - 1 - 1994
W Virginia -
Wisconsin - 2 - 1994
Wyoming -

Total US #s : (55/9976 -1993, 18/3403 -1994, 6/499 -1995)
#s represent about .5% of 1993 + 1994 model years, and a little over 1% for 1995.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Canadian Provinces:
AB - 2 - 1993
BC - 6 (5-1993, 1-1995)------- + 1 1993 JDM
NS - 1 - 1995
ON - 2 - 1993 -------------------- + 1 - 1993 JDM
QC - 7 (4-1993, 3-1994)

Total CDN : (13-1993, 3-1994, 2-1995)

Canadian totals are roughly 3.6% of total estimated CDN production of 500 cars.
The 2 known JDM partouts weren't included.

Let's resurrect this thread. Does anyone have updated numbers for 2022 on FDs currently registered? And any way to determine if those registered are USDM or JDM models?

The Japanese FD production numbers presented are a bit off. I went through the entire production data a few weeks ago and came up with this
Total Made: 52505
10/1991 Version 1 (Series 6/Zenki) Total: 18002
7/1993 Version 2 (Series 6/Zenki) Total: 5232
7/1994 Version 3 (Series 6/Zenki) Total: 6388
12/1995 Version 4 (Series 7/Chuki) Total: 9629
12/1998 Version 5 (Series 8/Kouki) Total: 5945
9/2000 Version 6 (Series 8/Kouki) Total: 7309

Then I broke it down by Paint Color code, Interior Color code, and the MSC-SPC codes that denote specific models and options, including Transmission.
Most common color: PZ Brilliant Black (14243)
Least common color: 17W Snow White Pearl Mica (325)
Rarest color: UF Clear White (7, not found in Section PPPP)

There were also 4 that are noted to have one-off paintwork done. These and UF Clear White were done by Special Order only, with a specific "9xx" SPC code. This is just a guess, but it seems likely these cars could have been sent to Mazdaspeed for the finishing work.I saw the same 9xx codes in the FC database and each of those cars were missing things like seats. So Mazdaspeed or another shop seems likely, similar to the C4 Corvette's B2K option for the Calloway Twin Turbo conversion as a Corvette could be ordered directly from the dealer in this manner.