Japanese car maker Mazda Motor Corp. Sold 82,531 cars in the Chinese mainland in the first half of this year, down 20.6 percent from a year ago.
Data released by Mazda Motor (China) Co., Ltd. recently shows that Mazda saw sales volume in the market hit 82,531 units from January 1 to June 30 this year, down 20.6 percent from a year ago. The figure reaped in June reached 11,108 units, representing a yearly fall of 31.2 percent. It has two joint ventures there, namely FAW Mazda Motor Sales Co., Ltd. and Changan Mazda Automobile Co., Ltd., each. In detail, FAW Mazda performed relatively well during the period, witnessing sales volume rise four percent year on year during the period while Changan Mazda sold only 25,498 cars, dropping 42.8 percent from a year ago. It saw sales volume hit 29.689 units in 2009, up 26.6 percent year on year.
Hurt by the performance of the venture with Changan Auto, Mazda came bottom in competition with other Japanese car makers in the market in the six months. Driven by a sales rebound in the Chinese auto market in May and June this year, Nissan Motor Co., Toyota Motor Corp., Honda Motor Co., and Suzuki Motor Corp. each saw sales volume there each drop only 8.3 percent, 5.8 percent, three percent and 15 percent in the first-half year.
Available data shows that Mazda began seeing sales volume in the market drop from the second half of 2012 due to tensed relationship between China and Japan and in 2012, it sold a total of 187,087 cars there, down 12.9 percent from a year ago. In detail, that of FAW Mazda and Changan Mazda each fell 16.1 percent and 7.4 percent from the previous year. And in the year, the Nanjing-based venture saw over 20 dealers quit.
President of Changan Mazda said in an interview that it should struggle on its mettle and promised that it would introduce at least one new car model into the market each year in the future. CX-5, which is regarded as the best SUV in the world in terms of energy saving, embraced an off-line ceremony in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu Province, not long ago and is scheduled to debut on the market in August this year. And in line with the president, the car will play a significant role in helping it enhance performance in the market as the product has the ability to edge into the top three SUVs list there.
