The analogy is appropriate. I personally thought it was a terrible show, and it did not attract an audience, except for a small fringe group of zealots who thought it was the best thing ever. Sound familiar?
Don't forget that the critics liked it, too – though not as much as they like the Mazda 6. I can't comment though, I've never seen the show.
There's a few things that distinguish the current 6 from the first generation model, which clearly was the better seller.
First of all, Mazda seemed to push a lot of those 6s into fleets. They were very common as rentals but I don't think the same is true for the new one.
Second, that first 6 was available in three body styles and two motors, each with a choice of two transmissions. While the wagon and hatch weren't huge sellers, they definitely helped sales.
Most importantly, the recession had a huge impact on this segment. The leaders — the Accord and Camry — had sales tank and still have not seen sales recover to pre-recession levels. The Sonata and Altima also had sales dip deeply but they have been able to more than recover. The Fusion seemed to have been unaffected by the recession and had sales go up continuously in the U.S. It's a really, really competitive segment that seems to be difficult to break into.
At the same time, it's a relatively small market in Canada that seems to be dwarfed by the demand for compact CUVs which explains the CX-5's success.
