9:43 am, April 26, 2013
MAZDA has announced its plans to grow sales 20 per cent this year – setting a ‘bold, but entirely realistic’ goal
The firm is hoping that its new ‘Skyactiv’ technology will push demand, and help Mazda achieve sales of 31,000 units this year – up from the 26,200 of 2012.
‘After five years of challenging business conditions I finally feel we have turned the corner and we are in charge of our own destiny,’ said Jeremy Thomson, managing director of Mazda UK.
‘While a 20 percent growth might sound ambitious, it is all growth from our new generation cars. There’s nothing in our forecast that worries me.
‘Our network is reporting exceptionally strong interest in our cars and customer offers. Independent surveys and data from our media partners backs that up and order take is strong.’
The forecast follows Mazda’s relatively meek sales in 2012 – which the firm suggests weren’t helped by the decision to cut its dealer network down to 135 outlets.
Similarly, the run-out Mazda 6, and a lack of supply of the ‘globally popular’ CX-5 has detrimental effects to the numbers.
‘Our capacity for growth has never been greater,’ added Thomson. ‘SKYACTIV technology has given us a point of difference to other makes.
Sales director Peter Allibon was also confident that the firm could meet the new target. ‘Our plan of 7,500 Mazda6 sales in the 2013 financial year is now looking like a conservative number as we can go beyond that as natural demand builds,’ he said.
‘There has been very strong global demand for the Mazda CX-5 and we have not been able to get enough to meet the UK demand. We sold almost 3,100 in FY2012 and we’re planning for more than 6,000 in this financial year as supply of the car ramps up.’
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