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According to Japanese media, Mazda's seven-seat SUV CX-8 is expected to stop production in Japan in August this year, followed by CX-80 to replace its market position. At present, 2019 models of CX-8 are on sale in China, with a price range of 258800-330800 yuan. as of press time, it is not clear whether the domestic version of CX-8 will follow this shutdown plan.

The CX-8 is the only seven-seater SUV sold by Mazda in China, and the car was first sold in China in December 2018. In appearance design, the domestic CX-8 continues to use the overseas version of the vehicle design style, the overall style is similar to the new CX-5 and new CX-9 models at that time, using the latest generation of soul design style, the front face for the family-type large-size shield grille design, both sides with split headlamp group, standard with far and near light integrated LED automatic headlights. In addition, the interior part of the car also retains the overseas version of the car design style, the whole department uses a 7-seat layout, as a medium and large SUV, the car length, width and height are 4955/1842/1733mm, wheelbase is 2930mm.

On the power side, the Mazda CX-8 is equipped with a 2.5L four-cylinder naturally aspirated engine with a maximum power of 141kW and a peak torque of 252Nm. The transmission system matches a six-speed manual self-integrated transmission and is available in both two-wheel drive and four-wheel drive versions. After its launch, the car mainly competed with Toyota's Hanlanda and other seven-seat SUV models, but the market performance did not live up to expectations.

Changan Mazda sold a total of 92748 vehicles in 2022, of which only 1227 were sold by CX-8, accounting for 1.32 per cent of total sales, according to retail data from the Federation. From the perspective of sales in the past half a year, the cumulative sales of CX-8 is only 762vehicles, ranking 40th in the domestic medium and large SUV sales list, and there is an obvious gap with the same class of models. The industry believes that in the domestic market, the reputation of the CX-8 model is OK, but its lack of product power and brand awareness leads to the failure of CX-8.

In fact, as early as March this year, there was news in the market that the Mazda plant would stop producing CX-8, CX-4 and Atez models in March 2023, but officials did not respond to the news at that time.

According to the Japanese media, CX-80 will take the place of CX-8 after it stops selling in Japan.

In October 2021, Mazda announced the launch of CX-50, CX-60/CX-70, CX-80 and CX- 90 models before 2023, of which the CX-80 is a three-row seater designed for the European market and the Japanese market.

According to the official website, Changan Mazda is currently on sale, including Anksella, Atz, CX-30/CX-30 EV, CX-4, CX-5 and other models, but the only one that sells well is Anksera. Taking 2022 sales as an example, the risk figures show that the cumulative annual sales of Changan Mazda in 2022 was 107602, of which Oncella was 62478, accounting for about 58.06% of the total sales, CX-5 was 17511, CX-30 was 11708, Atez was 7314, CX-4 was 6580, and CX-8 was 1276.

In short, Mazda currently has only one best-selling model in the domestic market, and for Mazda, Mazda urgently needs to launch a product that can be recognized by consumers. In the era of transition from fuel vehicles to energy vehicles, coupled with its low sales of fuel vehicles, Mazda to adapt to the development of the market to achieve electric transformation may be a better choice.

In April this year, Mazda China announced its transformation strategy and goal vision in the electrified era and established a new cooperation model with Changan Automobile. According to the plan, the transformation strategy of Mazda's electrified era will be carried out in three steps: from 2022 to 2024, the development oriented to the electrified era will be strengthened; from 2025 to 2027, the development of battery technology will be strengthened and the pure electric models will be first put into the Chinese market; and from 2028 to 2030, pure electric vehicles will be formally introduced to transition to the electrified era. It is understood that Changan Mazda plans to launch two new energy models developed and produced in China by the end of 2024 and 2025, which will provide both pure electricity and plug-in power.

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