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Aircraft Instruments

Piper Matrix: Speed Sans Complexity

As of 2012, the Matrix is in its fifth model year and although sales for all the OEMs have tanked, the Matrix and its pressurized stablemate, the Mirage, continue to be strong sellers for Piper, accounting for more than a third of its total sales by units. In 2008, the introductory year, the Matrix outsold the Mirage five to one because, dealers say, it had a substantially lower price. So much for price sensitivity.

Paul Bertorelli
Verified

When Piper introduced the Malibu in 1984, it was a stunning success because of its high performance, tony club seating and pressurization—nose hoses were no longer required to live in the flight levels. Almost 25 years later, it decided to revise the model downward by yanking the pressurization, defying the fundamental notion that high-priced features are what buyers want.

The Matrix was, as were the Malibu and Mirage, an instant sales success, selling more than 100 during the first year to a market that everyone else had missed: high-performance piston owners who wanted a step-up, but who couldn’t afford a turboprop or felt unqualified to fly one.

Paul Bertorelli

Paul Bertorelli is Aviation Consumer’s Editor at Large. In addition to his valued contributions to Aviation Consumer, his in-depth video productions on sister publication AVweb cover a wide variety of topics that greatly contribute to safety, operation and aircraft ownership. When Paul isn’t writing or filming, he’s out flying his J3 Cub.