The tour of the Mazda plant today was a little less than hoped for, but it
was still very interesting.  I did not get to see the RX-8 or the RENISIS.  I
had lunch with several people from the parts distribution area, and one
engineer who is involved with engines other than the rotary.  They will all
be good contacts and seemed interested in what we are doing, but apparently
Mazda is still keeping tight rumor control.  There were lots of picture of
the RX-8 around, and its looks are really growing on me.  Everyone did seem
to be fairly excited about the RX-8.

I have heard rumors that Mazda was going to reenter LeMans in the next couple
of years and that there might be a RENISIS powered convertible but they had
not heard any such rumors.  I will be in further contact with them and they
are going to try to get us in touch with someone in the rotary crowd who
might like to be a contact for us.  Mike is also going to try to work out
getting us a supply of RENISIS engine when they become available and/or
sponsor an aircraft for promotional purposes.  We'll see.

The highlight of the tour was seeing the LeMans Original car and Engine on
display in the museum.  Also very interesting was the mixed-model assembly
line.  I was not allowed to take any pictures in there but it was
fascinating.  Three different models of cars were rolling along the same
assembly line in random order, giving the workers a little variety and
maximizing line versatility.

Some interesting stats I learned..  Mazda built and owns the largest
privately owned bridge in the world, used to connect different parts of the
factory on opposite sides of the river.  The attached picture is taken from
that bridge.  The other picture is me in front of an early rotary powered
Cosmo.  Everything you see is part of the factory.

Mazda still sells the RX-7 only in Japan, they sell only about 300 cars a
month at about $40k each.

Mazda currently produces 28 different models, but only 5 are sold in North
America.  Mazda sold 778k cars in 2000, 313k of which were domestic (Japan).

The same English language tour I took is available every MWF.  Advance
reservations required, write me for the number.

I have sent along several emails with interesting pictures.  I tried to put
as much description in the Subj as I could in case you would like to delete.

Dave Leonard

 
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