I’ve been in Israel now for a little over 2 months for work. One thing that keeps standing out to me is how prevalent Mazdas are; I can drive down the road and routinely see the majority of cars going by being from Mazda.
I can go to any shopping area and see a majority of Mazdas parked.
I did a Google, but didn’t find an answer. Does anyone know what happened to make Mazda so popular here?
Well, hopefully the same reason they are popular among myself and my friends. Zoom Zoom Zoom. They are more fun than a human should be allowed to have.
In Australia the land of the large family car Mazda3 has now become the largest selling car. Mazda’s are a nice car to drive, reliable, nice to look at at reasonably priced. What’s not to like? I used to own a Mazda6.
I understand they are great cars and well priced (I’ve actually been considering one for my replacement), but that still doesn’t explain the sheer dominance I’m seeing here.
For example, Toyota and Honda are also great and well priced, but their numbers don’t approach those of the Mazda.
I was just wondering if some market force caused it, or who knows what.
Subaru used to be the only Japanese company that did not comply with the Arab boycott and sold its cars in Israel. Then, some time around 1990 I think, Mazda became the second one. Subaru was a utilitarian workhorse type of a car. Mazda had some style. I guess a lot of Israelis appreciate it still.
I can’t speak for the Honda, but for the Toyota I will put in my 2 cents. I really think it is because not only are cars like the Mazda 3 reasonably priced, they also offer quite a bit of refinement compared to the Toyota. Recently I needed to rent a car for a few days and tried to do so on the cheap. I rented a 2011 Toyota Corolla and I was literally shocked at how cheap everything seemed on the car. The plastics on the interior were of low grade, the material for the seats was terrible. The fit and finish were good, but the quality of the materials was horrible. It made me think of the early Hyundai’s from the late 80’s. Compared to the 3, there is no contest. And as I mentioned upthread, the Mazda 3 ( all Mazda’s really) is a blast to drive. The Corolla was nothing more than gets you there from point A to point B.
This. In the 90s I remember practically every other car in Israel was a Subaru, a brand I’d seen pretty much nowhere else. The long lasting effects of the Arab boycott skewed the market.
Honda just released an all new Civic for the 2012 model year, and most reviews consider it a cost-cutting mess compared to the last Civic. Worse looking interior, handling, fit and finish, ect, with the only improvement being slightly better gas mileage. Even Consumer Reports is no longer recommending the Civic.
In general, Japanese companies have really let their compact and sub-compacts (at leas the ones they offer in the States) stagnate over the 5 years or so. Toyota’s Corolla & Yaris, while reliable, are dreadfully boring; their Scion counterparts are boy-racer garnish over most of the same boring parts. Nissan’s Versa & Sentra are cheap garbage, while the Cube & Juke are ugly garbage. Mitsubishi’s Lancer is crap in its base state (the Ralliart & Evo are a different story), and I haven’t seen enough Suzuki SX4s to form an opinion of them.
Meanwhile, Hyundai/Kia have been massively improving the quality of their cars, and Ford & GM have started producing some good small cars (Fiesta & Focus, and Sonic & Cruze).
The only small Japanese cars worth buying are the Mazda 2 & 3, Honda Fit, and if you need AWD, the Impreza. And the Mazda 2 & 3 share a lot of parts with Fiesta and Focus.
And count me as another person who likes Mazdas. I got picked up a lightly used Mazda 5 last year, and it is so freaking practical while remaining fun to drive.
Subarus are uncommon in the US but not rare, but interestingly enough, they are associated stereotypically with lesbians and are the car brand that a lesbian would stereotypically drive. I’m not exactly sure where this comes from.
Its funny…I work in the car wash industry and I see all kinds of cars every day. I know this is anecdotal, but I do see a fair amount of “butch”-looking women driving Subarus. No idea why. But they usually drive Outbacks or Forresters…never WRX’s.
Actually, the first manufacturer to hit the market after the boycott floodgates opened was Mitsubishi - for a few years in the early 1990’s, it seemed like every other car on the road was a Lancer. Mazda showed up later on in the decade, after market sanity had been restored (interestingly, Subaru, whose sales dropped to nothing when Mitsubishi arrived, saw a resurgence in the early 2000s, when people realized that their cars had gotten a whole lot better).
As for why the Mazda (or more accurately, why the Mazda 3 - you don’t see many Miatas here) - well, why not? It’s a good car. Maybe it also has something to do with the fact that the Israeli new car market is dominated by the big auto leasing firms, who regularly snap up something like half of all cars imported to the country. I wouldn’t be surprised if some bean-counters circa 2003 reached the conclusion that the Mazda 3 was the best car to invest in, in terms of price, fuel economy, reliability and resale value, and when one company started buying them, all of the others followed suit.
Continuing the side discussion, I agree. I went into a dealership in '05 looking to buy a Honda or Toyota, and came out with a Mazda 3 for the reasons you state. For just under $12,000 I got a lightly used (11K miles) 2004 Madza 3 five-speed manual that looked sharp and solidly built both inside and outside and was fun to drive. I’ve never been so smitten by a car. Mostly, they’re just things to get me from point A to point B. I’m almost at 100K miles and haven’t had a problem yet. Only the brakes and tires have been replaced.
Bang for buck, it’s an awesome automobile, so I wouldn’t be surprised if that factors into an Israeli’s buying decision.
Except for the history of Mazda going against the Arab boycott, and the speculation that some bean counter concluded used Mazdas were a good buy for the leasing market, all those reason apply just as much to an American or European purchaser. And obviously Mazda does not dominate those markets. Any other reasons that Israelis specifically are prone to zoom-zoom?