Yesterday, the 3rd Generation Roadster went on sale and there was a launch event for the press at the Ryogoku Kokugikan (where the Sumo matches are held) of all places. I thought it was a bit cheesy so I took a few screengrabs from it and posted them here. You can see part of it at the Mazda website and an extend version here. Takao Kijima, the head of development of the Roadster, is the prominent face of the new car. He’s become somewhat of a celebrity in the roadster circles and I even met him at the Yokohama Event and talked to him at length about the car. For someone who started out as a chassis engineer, he is a very good presenter and PR man (1) Here he introduces the 3 target groups (2) The main target of the new car is, apparently, married couples on the verge of retirement aged 50-60. These two look rich enough to afford a porsche or benz. I doubt they’d be buying a roadster..

(3) The second target is the younger twenty something gearhead poser as shown here. Did you know that most girls are turned off by guys who drive convertibles? CarSensor asked some 1000 girls what kind of car they didn’t want their boyfriends to drive and convertibles were at the top of the list. SUVs being at the top of the list of car they do want their boyfriends to drive. Judging from all the different people I see driving roadsters on the street, I’d say the majority are of the otaku variety (4) The third target group are the rich young urban single females. This model is absolutely hot!! Completely my type, although I doubt a girl like this would drive a roadster. Too bad she wasn’t a dealor option…watch the movies for better shots of this model and also the Limited Edition model.