AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)09/05 Report--

After four consecutive months of rising sales, Mazda fell again in August. A few days ago, Mazda China announced its August sales results, which were 17327 vehicles in August, down 2.27% from the same period last year, mainly due to the weak growth of FAW Mazda.

In August, FAW Mazda sold 5013 vehicles, down 35.03 per cent from a year earlier, while Changan Mazda sold 12314 vehicles, up 22.98 per cent from a year earlier, according to official data.

In terms of specific models, Mazda 3 Oncella had the highest sales, with 7268 units sold in August, followed by CX-4 and CX-5, with sales of 3293 and 3044 respectively in August. Atez's sales for the month were not announced, and it has sold less than 3000 vehicles for three consecutive months. FAW Mazda Atez recently encountered the trouble of "abnormal sound door in the car", the blow to sales is inevitable.

Mazda also has two joint ventures, but the development of the Mazda brand in China is different from Toyota and Honda. Positioning niche and not paying attention to sales seem to be Mazda's "persistent" plan over the years. Yasuhiko Watanabe, chairman of Mazda China, has said that Mazda also insists on price sales and will not take measures to reduce prices or fight a price war.

Judging from the development of the two joint ventures, FAW Mazda is also "dragging its feet" in terms of product delivery. So far, Changan Mazda has four domestic models: Anksera, CX-30, CX-5 and CX-8, while FAW Mazda formally stopped production of Mazda CX-7, Mazda 6, Mazda 8 and Mazda Rui Yi in 2016. So far, only two models, CX-4 and Atez, have been sold, and no new products have been launched for many years.

Therefore, there has been a view in the industry that the merger of the two joint ventures is more conducive to unified management and more concentrated resources. The chairman of Mazda China, Yukihiko Watanabe, said: "FAW Mazda and Changan Mazda will not merge, and Mazda does not have this consideration at present."

Sales of the Mazda brand in China have fallen for two years in a row. In 2018, Mazda sold a total of 272300 vehicles in China, down 12% from a year earlier. For the whole of 2019, Mazda sold a total of 227700 vehicles in China, down 16.37 per cent from the same period last year.

Whether Mazda can achieve regular sales in 2020 is still in doubt. From January to August this year, Mazda sold 132407 vehicles in China, down 6.2 per cent from a year earlier. Among them, FAW Mazda sold 52196 vehicles and Changan Mazda sold 80211 vehicles.

In 2020, Changan Mazda brand new domestic model CX-30 is on the market, the price is 12.99-171900 yuan, the new car is positioned as a small SUV, equipped with 2.0L naturally aspirated engine, matching 6-speed manual and 6-speed automatic transmission. As for the other new cars, they are all introduced by Changan Mazda.

According to official sources, the Mazda CX-30 compression ignition engine version and the Mazda 3 Oncella compression ignition engine version will go on sale on Sept. 16, with a price increase compared with cash. The two new cars are equipped with a new Chuangchi Blue Sky X 2.0L engine with a maximum output of 180 horsepower to switch between spark ignition and compression ignition to improve power output and fuel consumption performance.

The Mazda brand, which is oriented by niche positioning, appearance design and value marketing, is still expected to recover by the end of the year through the continuous launch of new cars and new technologies.

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