Should you still buy a new Mazda in light of the ACCC’s unconscionable conduct consumer law court case? Save thousands on any new car (Australia-only):
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Lot of response to Friday’s report on the ACCC’s festive Mazda-reaming legal preparations.
"Weren’t you recommending Mazda over other brands? Or is it a case of do you want to be shot once with a 22 or six times with a 357 magnum?" - Anon Amos
To those of you who are confused or uncertain about where I stand on this, and whether or not to buy a new Mazda, now, or in 2020: I’d say decide for yourself, but to me it plays out like this:
The engineering from Mazda is typically first-rate. Mazda today is what Honda was in the 1990s - the BMW of the east, essentially. BMW would probably disagree there. Whatever. 21st Century Mazda is a real driver of mainstream automotive innovation.
The ACCC’s allegations point to a culture of poor customer service within the organisation, here in Arse-trailer, and if true, that is a serious problem. This is yet to be determined by a court. You might infer a line between smoke and fire here, but sometimes smoke is just smoke. We’ll have to see.
Mazda is reacting to the ACCC’s court case now. It’s inconceivable that, in addition to making defensive bullshit public statements in respect of the pending court case, that a series of far more serious commercial meetings and confidential communications is not also taking place at Mazda right now.
One of those meetings would be about making sure the ACCC does not get any more cannon fodder from customers who get stiffed this week, next week, and into the future. Like, let’s not give the regulator any more ammunition.
If you were Big Bhindi - boss of Mazda Shitsville - do you think you might send an urgent communique to all your dealers directing them to be model citizens of customer compliance and complaint resolution, henceforth? I think you probably would. I certainly would.
So, in short, because of the excellence of the engineering, the high-level regulatory scrutiny, and the perfect storm of depressed sales generally compounded by what I’m sure will be a stampede of customers away from Mazda following the ACCC’s high profile press conference last week, I actually think it’s a pretty solid time to buy a Mazda.
The product has always been pretty good, and recent events suggest to me that consumer law compliance is likely to improve dramatically from today.
I know that’s counterintuitive - or at least that’s how it might seem to you - but I don’t want to punish Mazda. Mazda’s commercial success or failure is a matter for them.
I think compliance will improve from today, and the product remains excellent.
The icing on the cake here is: If you give it a couple of weeks, and there is a profound drop in enquiry across Mazda dealerships, the end of this month will be a real opportunity for you to secure an excellent deal on a new Mazda.
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