Case in point- most upper-middle class sprawlings will have a LARGE number of new Accords and Camry

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Last year, carmakers sold more than 1.8 million midsize sedans in the United States.  That's 155,000 per month; 5,095 per day; 212 per hour.  It's 3.53 per minute, even when the dealers are closed, the lights are off, and the salespeople are fast asleep, dreaming of silk ties and customers who show up in rental cars.
The Toyota Camry accounted for 22 percent of those sales, totaling nearly 405,000 units.  The Honda Accord was 332,000 units, or 18 percent.  And the Mazda6, admittedly competing as production of its second-generation model was winding american express platinum travel services down?  Just 33,000 units.  Only 1.8 percent.
Of course, "fine" doesn't mean "ideal."  Like all automakers these days, Mazda has its eye on sales numbers.  But just an eye a refreshing change from some brands, who only remember pesky little things like profit when the finance department calls and reminds everyone that's why a company exists in the first place. american express platinum travel services To make a profit.
When you're not hell-bent on sales volume, this funny little thing happens.  You no longer have to appeal to everyone.  Instead, you can do a pretty damn good job of honing in on satisfying your own customers.  Forget the Camry buyers and the Malibu crowd.  Mazda doesn't even consider american express platinum travel services the Ford Fusion a Mazda6 competitor.  Instead, the latest Mazda6 is simply an effort to turn the kind of people who buy a Mazda3 into the kind of people who buy a Mazda6.
Our man Derek Kreindler already covered the things that make the Mazda6 a great driving car , so I won't go into detail.  But beyond drivability, the Mazda6 is good for entirely different reasons.  Like the fact that it brings sleek style and sporty substance to a segment sorely devoid of it.  The last Mazda6 was a bulbous, rubbery effort to copy class leaders.  It was a volume brand play, complete with front fenders borrowed from the McDonald's arches.
american express platinum travel services But that was a mistake a fact that would likely be recognized by everyone except Enterprise, who was just happy to have sedans that weren't the Chrysler Sebring.  Mazda cultivated its "Zoom Zoom" reputation on sportiness, and for once that car guy fantasy actually worked.  Witness the Mazda3, undoubtedly the star of the segment and Mazda's top seller.  It turns out sporty can sell.
And using the Mazda3's formula of sporty and stylish, the Mazda6 will indeed sell especially among a group of cars that range from handsome to loathsome, but never sporty.  Even the much-lauded Ford Fusion, raved about here and elsewhere, is no Mazda6 under intense cornering. american express platinum travel services Consider it: if even five percent of midsize sedan buyers prioritize "sporty," Mazda has just tripled its market share.
I have two theories here.  One: it doesn't need it.  On the road, I'm consistently surprised that every Sonata I see is a 2.4-liter, every RSX is a base model, every Mustang is a V6.  The truth is, everyone american express platinum travel services loves the idea of a Camry that hits 60 in six seconds, but when it comes time to write the check, you'd actually rather american express platinum travel services save the money: at the dealer and at the pump; when trading it in, and when buying insurance.
My second theory is a little more comforting to those that actually do buy the Mustang GT, the RSX Type-S and the Sonata 2.0T.  You know, the automotive one percent.  To them, I say: Mazda will probably acquiesce to the pressure.  Maybe it won't be a V6, but I'd expect a turbo four.  Either way, don't be surprised if a more powerful Mazda6 is on the way.
Doug DeMuro american express platinum travel services operates  PlaysWithCars.com . He's owned an E63 AMG wagon, roadtripped across the US in a Lotus without air conditioning, and posted american express platinum travel services a six-minute laptime on the Circuit de Monaco in a rented Ford Fiesta.  One year after becoming american express platinum travel services Porsche Cars North America's youngest manager, he quit to become a writer.  His parents are very disappointed.
I agree that maybe most people looking for sporty will look at BMW etc. But there will be many people, including myself, who need a midsize car (which a 3 series or A4 are not) and want to spend less than say $30,000. Ford have done this with the Mondeo/Fusion and Mazda have successfully done it with the Mazda 3 (the standard one) where by your logic people who want sport would get a 1 series or A3.
So Doug has it right, there is a market, likely greater than 1.8%, for a sporty midsize car that is competitively spacious, fuel economic and priced. Mazda has fixed two issues they had off putting exterior design and poor fuel economy. Their CX5 and 6 give great promise to the new 3 later this year.
Honestly as a Mazda 6 owner, I can tell you that I find BMW/Audi as too common american express platinum travel services . Everyone american express platinum travel services has one. Its a sign of initial/infantile success. Make a few extra thousand this year??? american express platinum travel services By a Bimmer (and I pity the Audi fools)!!
Being a previous Accord owner prior to the Mazda, I can honesly say that I d MUCH rather be driving something that offers all of the driving dynamics (minus the RWD) of the BMW, in a MUCH rarer form.
Case in point- most upper-middle class sprawlings will have a LARGE number of new Accords and Camry s and BMW 3/5 s, and Audi A4/A6 s abound but how many Mazdas do you see? Not many. The 6 went thru a rough few years from 2009-2013 but the 2004-2008 and the new model are well above and beyond anything that Toyota and Honda have come up with in that segment- as far as enthusiasm is concerned, and they cost half the amount of a BMW. Its a win/win. Spend less and enjoy driving just as much.
Case in point- most upper-middle class sprawlings will have a LARGE number of new Accords and Camry's and BMW 3/5′s, and Audi A4/A6′s american express platinum travel services abound… but how many Mazdas do you see? Not many. The 6 went thru a rough few years from 2009-2013 but the 2004-2008 and the new model are well above and beyond anything that Toyota and Honda have come up with in that segment- as far as "enthusiasm" is concerned, and they cost half the amount of a BMW. Its a win/win. Spend less and enjoy driving just as much.
That s why I took a minor hit in transferring a 10 month old Jetta SEL lease last September in order to buy the car I should have bought a long time ago: 2006 Mazda6 wagon GT. I love wagons, but didn t want to spend 30-50K for an A4, 3-series, american express platinum travel services TSX, etc, so I found a pristine example in dark cherry with every option except Nav, about 12K, and it only had 47K miles on it. I also like that you don t see many of these cars (especially the wagon), and they are fun to drive, relatively speaking.
Or, if they don t want to spend the cash on a BMW or Audi, performance-oriented midsize sedan buyers end up with Acuras especially if they want a manual transmission. This happened to me in late 2009. I care about performance, but for a variety of reasons the 3 Series didn t work at the time, and I wasn t about to try Audi s reliability. I considered sport compacts MS3 and WRX but needed american express platinum travel services more room for family road trips, and their interiors fell a bit short. I considered the Mazda 6 with 6MT, but the four cylinder was too weak and the road noise was brutal.
So I ended up with a 6MT TSX, which occupied an odd space between the mainstream sedans and BMW, Audi, et al. Less performance and luxury than BMW, but more than Mazda 6, Accord, american express platinum travel services etc. It s a compromise on virtually every front, but excellent overall and an outstanding daily driver. I d like to see Mazda move into this space by reviving american express platinum travel services the Mazdaspeed 6 with an efficient american express platinum travel services DI turbo four, perhaps without the heavy, fuel guzzling AWD this time around.
The Fusion is a massive miss for me. Squinty american express platinum travel services eyes, massive, uninspired front grill, high looking belt line. The 6, on the other hand, I feel is a much more cohesive design. It wasn t an Aston, then bore d down to Ford levels of design, but Mazda Kodo kicked up a notch. Muscular, with swages all in the right places. The rear end is kinda big looking, american express platinum travel services but the wagon neatly solves american express platinum travel services that problem. The belt line doesn t look high, but I bet it s at approximately the same height as every other car on the market.
I own a 2008 Mazda 6 GT. I should love the car as it has been very reliable. But I never have. The interior is just too uninspiring, the performance is just enough to remind that this is not a sports sedan and the gas mileage is mediocre. The next 6 cannot be afraid to stand out from the crowd of mid size appliances. A MS6 would do that nicely.
When we went looking for a new(er) car for the wife a few months ago, we ended up with a 2010 Mazda 6. She isn t a car gal so the beigeness american express platinum travel services of cars like Camry and Accord american express platinum travel services doesn t matter to her, she just wants something that looks good (regardless of brand or model) and she likes driving, and the Mazda 6 won. We ve really enjoyed the car so far, and this new redesign should be even better. I think shoppers who don t consider the Mazda 6 are really missing the boat.
My beef with Mazda is build quality. I had a 2004 Mazda 6 several years back. While it was a 5 speed and zoom-zoom with the V6 the fit and finish paled in comparison to my Accord. Simple acts like pulling the door shut gave a clunk of flimsy compared to the Honda. Fit and finish just wasn t class leading.
I think there are a couple of buyers that could look at this car. One, as you basically describe, Mazda s 3 could do for the brand what BMW s 3 has done for them, get the buyers american express platinum travel services into the brand early and then offer them something to step up to (I d be willing to bet that many of the older buyers of a 5, 7, or x5 started out in 3 series and bought bigger cars as their paychecks and brood got larger). Many of the Mazda buyers that I know tend to be pretty loyal to the brand. Of my 4 friends who have bought a Mazda in th