AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)03/20 Report--

Recently, Changan Mazda officially announced that Nakajima will officially step down as president of Changan Mazda Automobile Co., Ltd., and live in "King to take over from Nakajima" as president of Changan Mazda Automobile Co., Ltd.

According to the data, Ju joined Mazda Motor Co., Ltd. in 1992. Since 2014, Mr. Ju has served as the Minister of the second Business Department of China, the Director, Executive Vice President and CFO of Mazda (China) Enterprise Management Co., Ltd., the Minister of China Business Promotion and the head Minister of China Enterprise Department.

Nakajima joined Mazda Motor Co., Ltd. in 1987 and has served as Mazda's minister of global commodity marketing, vice president of North American companies and head of Mazda's global sales & marketing department. In 2019, Nakajima served as president of Changan Mazda Automobile Co., Ltd. In 2021, Nakajima led the integration and reorganization of Changan Mazda and FAW Mazda, opening a new year for the development of the Mazda brand in the Chinese market.

In 2021, Mazda's business in China has undergone a dramatic adjustment. On August 24, 2021, Chongqing Changan Automobile Co., Ltd., Mazda Automobile Co., Ltd., and China first Automobile Co., Ltd. issued a joint statement on the capital increase project of Changan Mazda Automobile Co., Ltd. According to the content, (new) Changan Mazda will be changed to a joint venture jointly funded by three parties, with Changan Automobile, Mazda and FAW holding 47.5%, 47.5% and 5% respectively. On August 30, 2021, FAW Mazda officially released the last push, officially announcing that it would withdraw from the stage of Chinese automobile history.

The new Changan Mazda, which is formed by the merger of FAW Mazda and Changan Mazda, is intended to focus more on China business and facilitate unified management and resource deployment. However, Mazda's development focus is not on the Chinese market.

The Mazda CX-60 officially launched on March 9, as a SUV model based on a new platform, will become the first plug-in hybrid model under the Mazda brand. The new car will launch three models with a price range of 36.40-398000 yuan, which will be sold in Japan and Europe.

This is not the first time Mazda has "omitted" China in its global debut. Mazda officially launched the Mazda CX-50 on November 15, 2021, and officially went offline at the Toyota Mazda joint manufacturing plant in Alabama on January 27th. As a new product developed by Mazda specifically for the North American market, the new car is based on the front-drive horizontal platform and is positioned as a model such as the CX-70/CX-90 that will connect the CX-30 with the rear-drive platform. It is understood that the future Mazda CX-50 and Toyota Corolla Cross co-production, the production ratio of 50:50.

Mazda's large SUV portfolio includes four models, the CX-60, CX-70, CX-80 and CX-90, to be launched between 2022 and 2023. However, in this product plan aimed at improving the overall brand image and higher profits, Mazda made no mention of the Chinese market. According to the plan, CX-60 will be the first to launch in Europe and Japan, CX-70 in North America, CX-80 in Europe and Japan, and CX-90 in North America.

Mazda sold 1287548 vehicles worldwide in 2021, up 3.6 per cent from a year earlier, according to data. In terms of specific market, the United States is Mazda's largest single market in the world, with a cumulative year-on-year increase of 19.2% to 332756 vehicles, followed by Europe, with an increase of 5.3% to 189738 vehicles, while China leads the Japanese market by a slight margin, falling 14.3% to 183953 vehicles year on year, making it the only single market with negative growth, accounting for only 14.28% of Mazda's global sales.

According to the official website of Changan Mazda, currently on sale models include Mazda 3 Uncella, Atez, CX-30/CX-30 EV, CX-4, CX-5, CX-8 and other models, but due to the launch of FAW Mazda, the sales of Atz and CX-4 are basically ignored, and under the background that Mazda has not introduced new products, its performance in the Chinese market is becoming less and less satisfactory. Data show that since the merger of FAW Mazda and Changan Mazda, the sales of Mazda in China from September 2021 to February 2022 were 16428, 15291, 14754, 14590, 19198 and 8047 respectively. Over a longer period of time, Mazda achieved an annual sales record of 309400 vehicles in 2017, an increase of 8.3% over the same period last year, completing the historical record of 300000 units sold for the first time since Mazda started its business in the Chinese market. However, as Mazda discontinued production of CX-7, Mazda 6, Mazda 8 and Mazda 6 Rui Wings in China, Mazda's sales in China continued to decline, with sales of 272322, 24492, 214574 and 183953 vehicles respectively from 2018 to 2021, a decline of more than 40 per cent in five years.

In addition, in the context of Toyota, Honda and Nissan's massive deployment of new energy, Mazda, as a Japanese car company, is erratic. In June 2021, Mazda released new technologies and product strategies for 2030. In terms of electrification, Mazda plans to launch five hybrid models, five plug-in hybrid models and three pure electric models in Japan, Europe, North America, China and ASEAN. In addition, Mazda plans to account for 25% of pure electric models by 2030.

On September 26, 2021, Changan Mazda CX-30 EV officially went on sale. The new car is based on the fuel version of Changan Mazda CX-30. A total of three models have been launched with a price range of 15.98-201800 yuan. However, the Mazda CX-30 itself is a model with low sales, and the Mazda CX-30 EV is a fuel-to-electric model based on the fuel version, and the market downturn is obvious. According to the data, the sales from October 2021 to February 2022 were 12, 19, 43, 104 and 29 respectively.

It is worth mentioning that not long ago, Mazda said it would reorient its brand and gradually shift to a luxury brand. Jeremy Thomson, head of Mazda's UK, said: "Mazda's goal is to become a true luxury brand, so it does not intend to imitate high-end German brands, but will replace traditional mainstream luxury brands." When asked if Mazda wanted to be the next Lexus brand, Jeremy Thomson said that why can't Mazda become the only Japanese brand that can compete with three German luxury brands?

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