Mazda spends about one billion US$ in R&D every year according to their financial data. At 1% per year, that's about 10 million US$ in rotary R&D per year. And since Mazda has been working on the new rotary at least since 2007, that's at least 100 million US$ already spent in rotary R&D.
And on top of that, I think that even that 1% figure is either conservative or at least does not apply to the last few years, when I suspect that the expenditure may have been larger. But I have no data to support this.
And possibly this is just for the engine. No word on chassis development costs or all of the other costs.

If you read the following part of the post you quoted, there's the reason why I made that (interrogative) statement. Including some data I found about the development costs for the Bugatti Veyron. For the mid-engine Corvette look here and for regular commuter cars, see here.

 

The FR-S and 911 both have useless rear seats and sell pretty well. The RX-8 actually sold quite well before the recall happened and news of all the engines flooding and other problems. That made them depreciate like a rock and permanently tarnished their reputation, and plus later model years of a car don't sell as well.

That's what most people are looking for in a 2+2. Rear seats that can fit children and non-fat/non-tall people. They don't have to be as good as the RX-8s.
The Q60, another car I mentioned which which outsells the 370z despite costing $10k-20k more, also has rear seats that aren't very good. But it has them. They just need to be better than the FD's rear seats (Japanese model had them. Basically won't fit more than a 5 year old)

You're right. People just have a bad perception of 2 seaters and almost the only people who will buy them are people who already have 1-2 other family cars, as a weekend car.
Remember, the economy was really good in the late 80s, mid 90s.

And I can attest to that myself... I often needed more than 1 friend that needed a right. It's annoying. I'd like 3 or 4 seats even if the others aren't very usable. I don't think I'd be very interested in the new car myself if it's not a 2+2, but the rear seats only need to be as good as a 911's.

 

just to put this in perspective, an F450 pickup is $80k. the Z cars are turds, but $40k is half the price of the pickup truck.

this suggest that Mazda might spend some time on the brand image...

 

The F450 has utility and is often bought for work where it makes what you paid for it back. Not to mention it has over the double of weight in materials which costs more money.

Going to compare the cost to a semitruck next?

 

90%* of the people who own F-series trucks don't haul anything heavy enough to justify owning one.

The person who buys the 450 would almost certainly be fine with a 150. The person who buys the 150 would have almost certainly been fine with a Ranger...


*source: my ***

 

the supra already have test mules and spy photos. hope the new rx9 will have a big debute too

 

"Ford F450, 325 are fleet vehicles for 14.91% of sales"

Even if not a single non-fleet vehicle sale is not for work (unlikely, as people that own a small business or DBA would be purchasing one normally and not as a "fleet vehicle"), you're still wrong.

Obviously a lot who buy them never do any work with them, but that doesn't change the fact that a significant number of sales are for their utility and that it's a much, much larger car that you can't compare to a sports car.

 

Wow, only 14.91% are fleet vehicles? That pretty much proves my point: the vast majority of people who buy big F-series trucks cannot justify owning something that can haul that much. At least with a sports car you can use 90-95% of its performance on the track. You're never going to be able to use 90% of even an F-150s towing power unless you're hauling heavy construction equipment or something.

 

No, it really doesn't, because not all commercial vehicles are bought, on record, as a fleet vehicle.

It really just means at minimum 14.91% are for commercial use. But a heck of a lot more than that are.

Lots of people who own a farm buy just one, and use it a lot on their farm, and make good use of it in a way a lesser truck may struggle, but that's not a fleet vehicle purchase.

 

Persnally, most people in the US that buy trucks are just posers that throw a lift kit on it and a loud exhaust. At least that's how it is in California. Those trucks never see anything but the highway and suburban streets. A complete waste to be honest. And even more so when you consider how crap the interiors and ride quality are.

 

You guys are cracking me up. Like there are no posers in the sports car world LOL. Not many sports car owners drive their vehicles as intended and that's true even on this forum.

 

Thank you, Fritz Flynn. Spot on.

 

Beat me to it.

I see so much of this online... wannabe racers who never see the track.

We have shitty shitty roads here in the UK, friend buys a WRX STi, master of the UK B-road.

Then proceeds to give it 400 HP and drop it on the floor so low that he can't drive it properly because it bottoms out so much.

 

obviously that struck a nerve.

this thread has a bunch or references about how expensive Porsches are getting, and how that is dragging the FD with it. a 70's 911 turbo, in the heat of a collecting boom, is touching six figures.

this sounds like a lot.

but then the pickup truck is 80k.

 

Rofl. Even if that were the case: it's so hilariously uncouth and uncalled for to write something like that in a way which reflects so very, very poorly on you.

 

Its uncouth to say that I think people who daily drive an FD are posers who want to project an certain image just like people who daily drive large trucks?

I can handle being uncouth myself.

FD sucks as a daily. Get a daily and use the FD for sporting occasions!

 

I will daily a sports car as long as I'm able. I can't wait to get in my FD every chance I get I'll be 52 in 2 weeks and ride around in an FD with recaro SPGs to protect my image

 

^I'm with Fritz on this one. If you can do it, do it. Especially if you have multiple FDs--- one garage queen and one street terror

 

I've daily driven my FD for 15 years now. I'm putting in a BW EFR 8374 and i find it hard to enjoy driving around without the FD. Even thou I'm running an '89 GTUs now. The FD is just that... So much fun to drive.

 

^I'm with Fritz on this one. If you can do it, do it. Especially if you have multiple FDs--- one garage queen and one street terror
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Big difference between driving for pleasure on public roads and slogging through your morning/afternoon commute in an FD because it fits your image.

It was raining super hard all week here and I was happily speeding along in my Mazda3 on my 195 wide all seasons windshield wipers on high with fellow commuters spraying my car with filthy water.

Would I rather be in my FD subjecting all my race car parts to that? No.

And then you have the chance of accident and parking lot dings...

FD= pure sports and I love it for that.

 

You need to reread more closely. I never said anything remotely close to that.

 

I guess I am so uncouth I missed the uncouth part of what j9fd3s said because it sounded reasonable to me...

All I know is around here all the guys drive around in new $80k diesel trucks to make sure the grow hos know they do indeed grow and are trolling for a ho.

 

it's like.. you can't even park worth a damn why such large truck for lol

 

In the rain I drive the F250 and spray rain and mud all over the little hondas and mazdas

 

Exactly.

You don't daily an FD. It is your fair weather flyer.