2016 Mazda MX-5 Miata outsells the Porsche Boxster 2 to 1 in July

In case you don’t follow Mazda’s Miata sales the way we do, it has been selling in the 400 to 600 unit per month range in the U.S. market for a long time. In July of 2014, the automaker sold just 399 – convertibles –in the middle of summer. The new 2016 model is now here, and this July Mazda has sold 1,130. Mazda sold almost 10,000 Mazda3 cars in July in case you need a point of comparison.

Comparing the Miata to “normal” cars isn’t fair. As the former owner of a Miata, I can tell you from personal experience it is not a 4-season car. Sure, there are the outliers that only own a Miata and love to tell you how they “take it everywhere”, but the fact is many owners use the Miata as a second or third car and keep the miles low. That means the population of Miatas does not really shrink like most cars. A ten your old Miata may only have 50,000 miles on it. They basically last forever. So sales are unusually small for such a much talked about car. A better comparison is to the Porsche Boxster (538 in July) or Scion FR-S (1,058).

We suspect this is only the start of a nice little surge of sales Mazda will have through October. It would be no surprise if sales around Christmas were outstanding for the Mazda Miata. Then in April they will spike again and should be strong all of next year. Sports car sales are seasonal.