https://www.google.com/amp/s/cleantechnica.com/2020/11/19/op-ed-mazda-doesnt-get-it-wont-live-past-2030/amp/
This op-ed is interesting. I've been wondering about how Mazda will survive the next 10-15 years. Powertrain development takes years and hundreds of millions of dollars. I understand the engines they're working on now will be shared in some Lexus vehicles but I hope Toyota isn't using Mazda now just to throw them away later. All the drivetrain development Mazda is working on will be irrelevant and not competitive in 10 years.
Maybe Toyota will buy more of Mazda in the future. I already think of Mazda as near-luxury between a loaded Toyota and Lexus.
Thoughts?

 

Maybe, maybe not. I figure in 10 years everything will be a Tesla (sarcasm).
i had 2 Pontiacs years ago, got 28 years out of them combined. Last car was a Chrysler: 15 years. See a pattern here? Any brand I buy goes belly up after a while. Current is a Mazda 6. So if the pattern holds; in 15 years, they’ll be history. And I’ll be too old to care.

 

 

I don't think most cars now days are intended to last long term. If they don't keep coming up with something new every year or two they won't sell any more of them.
They are certainly are getting better and more reliable though. It's a disposable world. I traded in a perfectly good loaded Kia Sorrento on a new CX-5...just got tired of it and wanted the new whistles and bells Mazda offered. I don't like the way they did some of it but at 81 I'm learning to deal with it. I'm not as particular as I used to be. I know I'll never agree with everything they offer, including candidates, so I just lean towards whomever offers the most I agree with at the time.
Many years ago there used to be actual 'rage'. I'm not speaking about the so-called 'demonstrations' lately. They just don't feel that our laws apply to them...and the liberal courts are letting them get away with it and actually encouraging it in many instances....c'est la vie...

 

Let's hope. Mazda quality is close to if not equal to Honda and Toyota these days.
The two Japanese brands that I think are headed for the history books are Nissan and
Mitsubishi. Nissan for one has had and still has transmission problems that either can't or
won't correct. Mitsubishi doesn't even have dealers in some states.
GM has been whittled down as well. Olds and Pontiac or gone. The Mercury division at
Ford is gone, and Plymouth has vanished.
A good deal of shuffling among European brands has happened also.

My 2¢

Nissan is trying to dump it's stock in Mitsubishi motors. Not a good sign.