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Mazda, a Japanese carmaker, unveiled a spending plan of up to 1.5 trillion yen ($10.6 billion) on Nov. 22. Mazda plans to spend 1.5 trillion yen ($10.6 billion) on electrification and expand electric car production by 2030. Akira Marumoto, the president of Mazda, said demand for electric cars was stronger than previously thought. According to the strategic plan, Mazda will work with Chinese battery companies Vision Power to ensure battery supply on the one hand and increase the production of electric cars at Mazda's Japanese factories on the other. Vision Power was originally a power battery unit of Nissan, which was later acquired by Chinese investors, and now has cooperation with BMW, Mercedes-Benz and other car companies. Vision Power Global CEO Matsumoto Chang has previously said: "it is expected that by 2026, Vision Power Global planned production capacity will reach 400GWh, and plans to achieve a 15 per cent global market share target for power batteries." In addition, Mazda plans to work with Japanese semiconductor maker ROHM to develop semiconductor components for electric vehicle drivers.

Although electrification has become a major development trend of the automotive industry in the future, the transformation of Mazda electrification is not smooth, especially in the Chinese market. Unlike Toyota, Honda and Nissan, Mazda has been so "silent" since 2022 that it does not even publish monthly sales on its official website. At present, Mazda's official website sales data remain in March this year, and industry insiders point out that the reason for not releasing sales is or because of a serious decline in sales.

Mazda also had its moments of glory in China, where sales reached 300000 in 2018, but declined year after year in the following years, with sales in China of 280000, 227000 and 217000, respectively, from 2017 to 2020. By 2021, Mazda's sales in China directly fell out of 200000 vehicles, leaving only 184000. It should be noted that this year, Mazda's global sales rose 3.6 per cent year-on-year to 1.288 million vehicles, of which the US market grew 19.2 per cent to 333000 vehicles; the European market grew 5.3 per cent to 190000 vehicles, only the Chinese market showed a year-on-year decline, which accounted for only 14.28 per cent of Mazda's global sales.

On August 30, 2021, North and South Mazda merged, and FAW Mazda officially withdrew from the historical stage of Chinese automobiles. so far, Mazda mainly depends on a car company in Changan Mazda in the domestic market. However, the overlap between north and south Mazda has not improved Mazda's sales in China. According to the latest production and sales data of Changan Automobile KuaiBao, the cumulative sales of Changan Mazda from January to October in 2022 were only 91941 vehicles, down 17.02 percent from the same period last year, of which 7881 vehicles were sold in October, down 55.34 percent from the same period last year. Changan Automobile is the joint venture brand with the highest decline.

Industry insiders believe that the main reason for the poor development of Changan Mazda in China is the slow updating of its products and the slow electrification transformation. According to the official website of Changan Mazda, there are seven models on sale in Changan Mazda, of which only CX-30 EV is an electric car. CX-30 EV was launched in 2021 and is based on the conversion of oil to electricity. The price range is 159800-201800 yuan. According to the retail data of the Federation of passengers, there are only 318 Mazda CX-30 EV vehicles from January to October in 2022, of which the sales from June to October are 27, 24, 9, 31 and 22 respectively, with monthly sales of only double digits.

According to the strategic plan, Mazda will implement the new strategy in three stages, of which the pure tram line will be launched in the second half of the second phase, which is expected to be between 2025 and 2027. Mazda said in a medium-term business plan that by 2030, Mazda electric cars would account for 25 per cent of global sales, up from a previous forecast of 25 per cent. Mazda is expected to achieve net sales of about 4.5 trillion yen in the fiscal year to March 2026, an increase of about 45 per cent in the fiscal year to March 2022.

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