It’s been a great summer for Mazda, which continues to defy the downwards trend on the European passenger car market. The company’s unit sales* soared in July and August, up 31.1 per cent over the same two-month period in 2012. Mazda was thus one of only a handful of volume carmakers to grow over the summer in Europe, a market heading for its sixth consecutive year of contraction in 2013.
At 97,025 vehicles, year-to-date sales at Mazda in Europe through the end of August were up more than 11 per cent year-on-year – the biggest gain among volume manufacturers active in the region. In the process, Mazda overtook two Japanese rivals and is right on track to meeting its 2013 target. The company’s market share rose to 1.2 per cent for the year to date and 1.4 per cent in August, up in both cases from 1.0 per cent in 2012. The main driver of Mazda’s success is the popularity of its award-winning new generation vehicles: the Mazda CX-5 and new Mazda6.
“Mazda is on a roll. Growth of 11 per cent in an industry that is down more than 5 per cent is a great success and as unconventional as the direction we’ve taken with our cars,” says Mazda Motor Europe Chief Operating Officer Phil Waring. “Now we’re adding another winner to the line-up in the all-new Mazda3, so we’re quite optimistic about our capacity to sustain this momentum.”
What sets these cars apart is their eye-catching “KODO – Soul of Motion” designs and the highly-efficient lightweight SKYACTIV Technology underneath. The formula behind the new generation of Mazdas is to build stunning vehicles whose convention-defying technology makes them all affordable, fuel efficient, comfortable and safe, but with no compromise to performance, handling or driving fun in general.
* Source: ACEA (European Automobile Manufacturers Association), New Passenger Car Registrations,
EU + EFTA, www.acea.be
