Sad news today. The 4,703 Mazda new cars and crossovers which were trapped in the Cougar Ace over two years ago have finally begun to be crushed and shredded.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Mazda has decided to shred all the vehicles rather then take the chance of some of them reaching customer hands. The surprising part is that people were calling Mazda and their insurer to see if they could take some of the vehicles off the company’s hands. Hollywood requested several cars to use for stunt vehicles while technical schools wanted to use them for educational purposes. Unfortunately, callers received a “No, sorry” and now get to watch as all of these brand-new vehicles are permanently erased.
I am very saddened by this. I do understand the point that it would be a liability that Mazda would face if these cars are sold to people and something happened to someone. But instead of taking such a huge loss in paying Mazda, why not set up a special subsidiary and sell parts off the vehicles? People could buy these parts, at a cheaper price, while being fully aware that they are off of undamaged Cougar Ace vehicles, and sign a waiver stating that they know what they are buying and cannot take any legal recourse towards Mazda.
In addition, I don’t see a problem with letting tech schools take these vehicles for teaching future mechanics. They will never be driven on public roads, and will only be stripped and rebuilt during their lives.
I just don’t like seeing things, especially anything automotive-related, going to waste. But maybe it is for the better.
WSJ Article Click for a video as well as their article.
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