Mazda is planning to make an announcement soon on their April – June profit. Though Mazda spokeswoman Misato Kobayashi declined to comment, speculation and reports from Nikkei Business daily says that Mazda should have a profit of over 20% higher than last year at the same time. Reuters reports that Mazda has seen strong sales of their CX-5 and Mazda 6 so far in 2013. Reuters also cited the Nikkei business daily as stating that the falling Yen and improved sales have helped contribute to Mazda’s profitability.
At CorkSport our love of Mazda means that when Mazda does well, we get excited. Though Mazda is one of the smaller automakers, their innovative ideas, designs, and fun vehicles has helped them stay competitive against much larger companies. We love seeing Mazda report that they are selling well, and we love knowing that more people are coming to enjoy the brand we appreciate so much. The more people that enjoy Mazda, the more we can create parts to help you love driving your Mazda.
Honestly we aren’t surprised at all by the recent success from Mazda. With the new 2014 Mazda 3 having been announced about a month ago, a new Mazda 6, and a fresh CX-5, Mazda seems to be doing everything right. All their recent vehicles have been inspiring, good looking, innovative, full of features, and mostly, a blast to drive. When the rest of the competition seems to be more focused on isolating you from the road, Mazda seems to be doing everything they can to make driving an experience to enjoy, not a chore that is required.
With all the rumors swirling around about the new MX-5 Miata, and the upcoming Diesel Mazda 6, and a new Mazdaspeed, we have a lot to look forward to from Mazda.
Mazda Posts High Profits, Innovation is Up their Sleeve September 13th, 2018CorkSport
If you have a 2014 + Mazda 6 then today is your lucky day! CorkSport is officially releasing the 2014+ Mazda 6 Rear Sway Bar, LED Light Kit, and License Plate Relocation Kit.
Relocate Your Plate
In order to improve airflow, and look better we created the 2014+ Mazda 6 License Plate Relocation Kit. The stock location of the license plate blocks the airflow through the grill of your Mazda 6 which is why we relocated the License Plate to the Tow Hook adapter location. This kit is simple to install and really creates a stunning front view of your Mazda 6.
Allow your new Mazda 6 to shine, literally. Replacing the yellowish lighting inside the cabin of your Mazda 6 is one of the simplest upgrades to your car and makes the cabin more visible, cleaner looking, and feel higher-end. Don’t let the yellow light of the Mazda 6 ruin the atmosphere or limit the clean look of the interior, instead swap out the bulbs for fresh white LED lights.
If you want to handle better, then this is the upgrade for you. Adding the 2014+ Mazda 6 Rear Sway Bar will limit the body roll when cornering by helping transfer some of the inside compression to the outside suspension. The rear sway bar effectively increases the compressed springs rate by helping distribute the load more evenly across the rear suspension. This helps control body roll and ultimately helps you corner flatter, faster and with more predictability.
CorkSport has been hard at work at more than just the parts listed above, soon we will be releasing the CorkSport 2014 Mazda 6 Power Series Short Ram Intake. Just like all our intakes this has been tested in varying conditions for proven power gains and improved sound.
If you can’t wait to improve the sound of your 2014 Mazda 6, we also have an exhaust for the Mazda 6 that will be released soon. It sounds great and looks even better. CorkSport has a great opportunity for one lucky person. If you simply HAVE to HAVE the Mazda 6 Axle Back Exhaust before anyone else then send Spencer an email (Update: we have already filled the beta testing spot.). We are looking for one lucky 2014 Mazda 6 owner to Beta test our CorkSport Axle Back exhaust and give us their thoughts. If chosen you will get to be inside the testing process and work with our engineers to provide feedback about our newest part! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Edu2KOE3tOA
Stay tuned for official release dates and more exciting news in the near future!
Also, if you haven’t signed up for our Email Newsletter, now would be a great time. This is where we release coupons, news, release dates, events, and more.
“Which intercooler should I get?” At Corksport we get this question almost every day. The debate of top mount intercooler vs. front mount intercooler has been one that has raged on in the forums for years. Just looking around you will see both options on all sorts of cars. So what is the answer?
The Mazdaspeed 3 and Mazdaspeed 6 both come with top mount intercoolers (TMIC’s) from the factory. There are many reasons for this, but the main one is that it is much cheaper to manufacture and install. A Top Mount Intercooler can be installed directly to the engine at the factory so it is ready to drop into the car which saves both time and money.
Beside the TMIC, the other option available is the front mount intercooler (FMIC). Both styles have their pros and cons. The upsides of the TMIC is that it uses the shortest possible path from the turbo to the engine. This reduces the amount of time it takes for the car to accelerate, this feeling can be amplified between shifts when the power comes back on very quickly. The TMIC also is very simple and compact with very few connections and possible places to leak. A TMIC will also weigh very little compared to a FMIC setup and usually is in a place with very good airflow.
The downside of TMIC’s is that they are generally limited in size by the design of the car and can be much smaller than most FMIC’s. They are typically placed very high in the engine bay, raising the car’s center of gravity. Most importantly though, the biggest downside of the TMIC is that it sits in a hot engine bay. Just by sitting on top of the motor, the TMIC can soak up heat thereby decreasing its effectiveness in cooling the air compressed by your turbo.
The principals are mostly the same for the pros and cons of the FMIC. The core of a FMIC can be much larger, and in the case of a properly designed system, can cool temperatures much more effectively. Being placed further away from the engine and out into the stream of air can make the FMIC much cooler and more importantly, more consistent. One last reason that many people love FMIC’s is the look, nothing says I mean business more than a massive bar and plate core smiling in your rear view.
The biggest downside of a FMIC is that the install process is much longer. Other downsides of FMIC’s can be the much longer piping needed to route compressed air to them. This piping can increase turbo lag and usually has many couplers that can have the potential to leak or cause other issues.
So what does CorkSport say? As a general rule we would say if you don’t plan to add more than 50-100 horsepower, a top mount intercooler will work just fine and be much easier on your plans and wallet. If you eventually want to go wild with your car and build it up much higher than stock, you will probably want to look hard at a front mount intercooler. Our advice would be to try to plan in advance what you want out of the car so that you only have to buy parts once.
Happy spooling!
“Which intercooler should I get?” February 21st, 2018CorkSport
I have made some speculations in the past about things to come and have been fairly accurate thus far so I thought I would take another look into the future with the inside knowledge I have. Here are my most recent thoughts.
We know that the plant in Mexico that Mazda is building was slated for Mazda 3’s and Mazda 2’s for sale in North America. The whole plant will be online and running in 2014 with some production being slated for a small car from Toyota which Mazda will be building for them (which just says something about the quality of Mazda if Toyota is willing to have them Mazda build them). Mazda has said most of the production is slated for Central and South America which I am not sure about. I am betting that this new plant will be building additional units for the anticipated surge of the new Mazda 3 coming out and here is the reason why.
The new Skyactiv chassis Mazda is building cars from was announced to be shared in the next Mazda 2 recently. This means the Cx5, upcoming Mazda 3, and upcoming Mazda 2 will all be produced on the same platform. That means the tooling, production, power trains, and everything else will be available to build ½ of the Mazda product line in one place. This one place (Mexico) is a free trade zone for North, Central, and South America giving Mazda the ability to supply vehicles to any western hemisphere market quickly and tax free.
The capacity of the new plant will be 230,000 units by 2016 which is almost enough to supply the US sales with one plant if you look at the 277,046 Mazdas sold in 2012. I wouldn’t expect all of the supplied models to come from the new plant as Mazda Japan has a majority of their worldwide production capacity still based in Hiroshima, but the potential is there.
My second rumor will be that the new Mx5 will be released next spring or summer. It was back in 2011 when the patent pictures were dug up by someone and posted by all of the magazines. With the Rx8 gone and the current Mx5 having gone through a 2nd facelift on the same chassis it is well overdue. 2 years have already gone by and the new Mx5 should be ready to pop. With the current focus being on the new Mazda 3 I am betting we will get a surprise next spring from Mazda.
-Derrick
Derricks Mazda Rumor Round-up December 18th, 2017CorkSport
You may remember that we had to get a new shop testing vehicle after our last Mazdaspeed 3’s untimely demise See here; but what you may not know is how much time and effort was put into that car. Building a rolling showcase isn’t easy, cheap or quick. We were sad to see it go but now have a brand new canvas to start over on.
With our new speed we decided to go white, with that pearly white paint job we wanted to go towards a “panda” style going forward, mixing white and black parts in our build. We have started with a few small black and white things (intake, BOV, etc.). We’re really looking for input from you to really make this car unforgettable.
We’re looking at every detail to try to make an overall car that hasn’t been seen before that goes deeper than just bolting things on. We want to try new things, make combinations that have never been seen before and really try to make something that you would want if you never had to make a compromise.
Check us out on Facebook and let us know what you think we should add to this car to make it really unique.
Help Build the Mazdaspeed of Your Dreams July 16th, 2013CorkSport