AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)01/09 Report--

On January 9, Mazda China officially released its sales results for 2020, with cumulative sales of 214574 vehicles in 2020, down 5.79% from the same period last year, mainly due to the sluggish growth of FAW Mazda sales.

In the case of the two joint ventures in 2020, Changan Mazda sold 136667 vehicles, up 0.24 per cent from a year earlier, while FAW Mazda sold 77907 vehicles, down 14.78 per cent from a year earlier, according to official data.

In terms of specific models, Mazda 3 Oncella had the highest sales, with a cumulative sales of 88291 vehicles in 2020, but down 10.11% from a year earlier, followed by CX-4 and CX-5, which sold 47247 and 33441 vehicles respectively in 2020, down 4.40% and 6.12% respectively. As for Atz and CX-30 did not release specific data, it can be seen that sales are general.

With two joint ventures, the development of Mazda brand in China is completely different from that of Toyota and Honda. Toyota sold 1.8 million vehicles in China in 2020, up 10.9 per cent from a year earlier, while Honda sold 1.627 million vehicles in China, up 4.7 per cent from a year earlier, according to the data.

The performance of FAW Mazda, one of the joint ventures, seriously depressed the sales of the Mazda brand in China in 2020. Since August 2020, Changan Mazda has sold twice as much as FAW Mazda, and this polarization will continue in the next few months until the end of 2020.

Why is the performance of FAW Mazda and Changan Mazda so different? The reason is that it has a lot to do with the "strange door" that continued to break out in 2020, especially the Atz model, the abnormal noise of the car body, skylight, center console, doors and windows, and other problems continue to affect sales. The Atz model is also jokingly called "Art squeak" by netizens. In addition, FAW Mazda is also seriously "dragging its feet" in product launch. FAW Mazda currently has only two models, CX-4 and Atez, and there has been no new product launch for many years.

The performance of FAW Mazda in the market led to the news that it would be disbanded in June 2021. At the end of December 2020, an unconfirmed "regional reliable news" Wechat chat screenshot was circulated on the Internet. The screenshot shows that the FAW Mazda Division was dissolved in June 2021, and the former FAW Mazda sales Company employee was transferred to the Pentium or Red Flag Division; Atez stopped production permanently and the existing inventory was cleared; CX-4 expects to schedule production by May, and the existing accessories will be digested and stopped production. The former FAW Mazda dealers continue to sell CX-4 and provide after-sales service for car owners. During the transition period of two years, the current long Amma Zda models (including the new generation Mazda 6 and the new CX-50) will be sold together from 2023; at the same time, FAW Group has completely independent intellectual property rights to CX-4, and after stopping production, it adopts Pentium model powertrain and logo, and is incorporated into FAW Pentium network sales.

Subsequently, FAW Mazda issued an official statement in response, saying that the news spread online was conjectured and fabricated, and that Mazda Motor Co., Ltd. and FAW Mazda had never published the relevant content, and FAW Mazda was now prepared to pursue the legal liability of rumor mongers.

Mazda reported an operating loss of 52.863 billion yen (about 3.33 billion yuan) in the first half of fiscal 2021, compared with an operating profit of 25.811 billion yen last year. In its financial report, Mazda highlighted the position of the Chinese market and listed a series of measures, including a good partnership with the two joint ventures, more flexible product and power platforms, more innovative sales strategies and terminal sales efficiency.

In addition, there are media reports that the new Mazda 6 will first be sold in the Japanese local market in March 2022, with a vertical in-line 6-cylinder blue sky SKYACTIV-X engine and a 48V light mixing system. The new Mazda CX-5 is based on the rear-drive platform and is expected to be named CX-50, powered or equipped with an in-line six-cylinder engine with a maximum power of 210kW. It remains to be seen whether the two products will be introduced into the Chinese market.

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