Sam Mitani
It’s no secret that the car magazine business has been through some tough times recently, no thanks to the slumping economy and the popularity of the internet. The other night, I sat down with Hiroaki Ui of Best Car, Japan’s most popular automotive publication, who was passing through Los Angeles on his way to South America. He said the car magazine business in Japan was experiencing equally tough times, but not for the same reasons as us.
“Car magazines sales are down across the board mainly because the general population is losing interest in cars. It’s not that Japanese people have stopped buying cars, but most of them don’t see cars as a hobby or something to get excited about. Cars have become an appliance to them, nothing more,” he said.
Say it ain’t so, Hiro. How can the people living in the country that produces the Nissan GT-R, Mazda MX-5, Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution and Subaru WRX not have enthusiasm for cars? Ui said that car enthusiasts among the Japanese public make up a very small minority. Any Japanese car with fewer than four doors and that’s larger than a Honda Civic is doomed to fail in its home market.
I spoke to a few executives at Japanese car companies about this troubling trend, and some of them went as far as to say that many sporty cars are developed with hopes that they’ll sell in the U.S., with the home market all but written off. Therefore, many Japanese car companies consider creating, promoting and maintaining enthusiasm in the U.S. a higher priority than doing so at home. Companies like Mazda and Mitsubishi have shown their appreciation to their hard-core fans with “come-all” events held in the parking lots of their offices. I visited two of them recently, one being the MX-5/Miata Fest, held at Mazda’s North American R&D headquarters in Irvine, California; the other, Mitsubishi Owners Day, which took place at Mitsubishi’s North American headquarters in Cypress, California.
[MORE AT LINK]
“This MX-5 festival and our other event, Sevenstock in September, which celebrates the rotary engine, provide a great way for fans of our cars to come together. And we don’t limit our events to just Mazda owners; everyone is welcome. I’m happy that Mazda customers get very excited about the cars we build,” he said.
“Car magazines sales are down across the board mainly because the general population is losing interest in cars. It’s not that Japanese people have stopped buying cars, but most of them don’t see cars as a hobby or something to get excited about. Cars have become an appliance to them, nothing more,” he said.
Say it ain’t so, Hiro. How can the people living in the country that produces the Nissan GT-R, Mazda MX-5, Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution and Subaru WRX not have enthusiasm for cars? Ui said that car enthusiasts among the Japanese public make up a very small minority. Any Japanese car with fewer than four doors and that’s larger than a Honda Civic is doomed to fail in its home market.
I spoke to a few executives at Japanese car companies about this troubling trend, and some of them went as far as to say that many sporty cars are developed with hopes that they’ll sell in the U.S., with the home market all but written off. Therefore, many Japanese car companies consider creating, promoting and maintaining enthusiasm in the U.S. a higher priority than doing so at home. Companies like Mazda and Mitsubishi have shown their appreciation to their hard-core fans with “come-all” events held in the parking lots of their offices. I visited two of them recently, one being the MX-5/Miata Fest, held at Mazda’s North American R&D headquarters in Irvine, California; the other, Mitsubishi Owners Day, which took place at Mitsubishi’s North American headquarters in Cypress, California.
[MORE AT LINK]
“This MX-5 festival and our other event, Sevenstock in September, which celebrates the rotary engine, provide a great way for fans of our cars to come together. And we don’t limit our events to just Mazda owners; everyone is welcome. I’m happy that Mazda customers get very excited about the cars we build,” he said.
I knew there was a reason I loved Mazda most out of the Import TOONer brands.
