Mazda may cut sales target despite weak yen
Mazda Motor Corp., Japan's most export-dependent automaker, may cut its midterm China sales target after deliveries in the market fell for 17 straight months.
The company's plan for China sales to reach 400,000 units by the year ending March 2016 "may be revised," Mazda President Masamichi Kogai said in an interview last week. The Hiroshima-based automaker expects China sales will total only 200,000 units this fiscal year.
While no Japanese carmaker has seen a bigger turnaround -- in terms of profits or share price -- since the yen began weakening almost a year ago, Mazda has yet to emerge from its slump in China. After reshuffling its top management in the country this year, Mazda is betting that the locally produced CX-5 crossover and Mazda6 will help spur a recovery.
"Mazda is switching to local production of their top models in China now, so once that kicks in, sales should pick up," said Koichi Sugimoto, an auto analyst at BNP Paribas SA in Tokyo. "Their products are improving, and the models they'll be introducing fall under the popular category in China too."
Mazda's sales in China have fallen 21 percent in the first eight months of the year, making it among the worst performers.
Mazda is not the only Japanese automaker struggling in China. Toyota Motor Corp., Nissan Motor Co. and Honda Motor Co. have yet to fully recover since a diplomatic row over a group of uninhabited islands fueled a wave of anti-Japan protests a year ago.
Even so, Mazda's slump predates the islands dispute.
While no Japanese carmaker has seen a bigger turnaround -- in terms of profits or share price -- since the yen began weakening almost a year ago, Mazda has yet to emerge from its slump in China. After reshuffling its top management in the country this year, Mazda is betting that the locally produced CX-5 crossover and Mazda6 will help spur a recovery.
"Mazda is switching to local production of their top models in China now, so once that kicks in, sales should pick up," said Koichi Sugimoto, an auto analyst at BNP Paribas SA in Tokyo. "Their products are improving, and the models they'll be introducing fall under the popular category in China too."
Mazda's sales in China have fallen 21 percent in the first eight months of the year, making it among the worst performers.
Mazda is not the only Japanese automaker struggling in China. Toyota Motor Corp., Nissan Motor Co. and Honda Motor Co. have yet to fully recover since a diplomatic row over a group of uninhabited islands fueled a wave of anti-Japan protests a year ago.
Even so, Mazda's slump predates the islands dispute.
