Although 2021 is not over, Mazda's sales decline in China is almost a foregone conclusion.
Data released by Mazda China shows that in November, Mazda sold 14,754 vehicles in China, down 21.22% year-on-year. In the first 11 months of this year, Mazda's cumulative sales in China 169363 vehicles, down 11.67% year-on-year.
According to other public data, in the first 11 months of this year, changan Mazda's cumulative sales were 123827 vehicles, a slight increase of 0.39% year-on-year. Before the merger of Changma and Yima, Changan Mazda experienced the second consecutive five-month decline in sales in six years. After merging with FAW Mazda for three months, Changan Mazda's sales volume was flat with last year.
That is to say, after the merger of Long Horse and Yima, sales have declined. 1+1 is still equal to 1, which has become a true portrayal of the current merger of long horses and one horse.
The reason for such a strange phenomenon is that the criticized merger policy of the two major channels of yima and changma is hardly to blame.
The media confirmed that the network of 10 km interval between 1 Horse and Long Horse dealers has been merged to adopt the "10 km interval". The rule stipulates that if there are FAW Mazda and Changma Mazda 4S stores within 10 kilometers, the Changan Mazda 4S store can sell the original FAW Mazda models, while FAW Mazda can only continue to sell the original FAW Mazda models, cannot sell Changan Mazda products, or can choose to directly withdraw from the network. And this "unfair" treatment lasts for two years. Within two years, if the former FAW Mazda wants to sell Changan Mazda products, it will need to rebuild the store ten kilometers away.
Wu Xuxi, executive deputy general manager of Changan Mazda Automobile Sales Branch, said that the integration of the two Channels will uphold two principles. One is to consider the service radius and the number of customers to determine the number of the entire channel; the second is to ensure the healthy competition of the dealer channel in the process of merger between the two Malaysias. Some of the 4S stores of Yima and Changma are relatively close in location and distance, and for this part, it will not only do simple integration, but take the user experience as the starting point and rationally plan the store layout.
It is reported that this merger will not be a simple addition of quantities, and it is expected that less than one-third of the original FAW Mazda 4S stores that can be incorporated into the Changan Mazda channel will be reduced.
It is worth mentioning that Changan Mazda's approach has been accused of unrealistically excluding the old dealers of the Mazda brand. And because the merger policy is not very "friendly" to the original FAW Mazda dealers, the channels of the former FAW Mazda dealers have not played their due effect.
During the Guangzhou Auto Show, Nakajima, president of Changan Mazda Automobile Co., Ltd., said in an interview with the media that the integration of Changma and Yima has been basically completed. Next, all sales channels will further stabilize and smoothly transition, and Changan Mazda will provide completely unified standard products and after-sales service.
However, the new Products of the new Changan Mazda Unified Standard have no highlights.
In total, the combined Changan Mazda has seven models on sale: Artez, Mazda 3 Axela, CX-5, CX-4, CX-30, CX-8 and CX-30 EV. The only pure electric model, the CX-30 EV, is a transitional product based on "oil to electricity". Among them, the only one that can really play is the Mazda 3 Axela, with an average monthly sales of only more than 7,000 vehicles; the average monthly sales of the CX-5 is only more than 2,000 vehicles; and the newly introduced CX-30 last year has an average monthly sales of less than 1,500 vehicles. Compared with the head joint venture car companies, such a product lineup is not only extremely thin, but also pitifully weak.
In this context, Changan Mazda's product line will not change much in the short term.
According to Nakajima, in 2021-2022, Changan Mazda will be based on existing products to improve or modify. This means that Changan Mazda will not launch a new product next year.
In the "Cross-border SUV Product Line Development Plan after 2022" released by Mazda Motor Co., Ltd., Mazda clearly stated that it will launch five SUV models from 2022 to 2023, including CX-50, CX-60, CX-70, CX-80 and CX-90, and launch model products for EV-specific platforms around 2025.
There are signs that Mazda has once again left its latest products and technologies to markets such as North America and Japan.
Mazda's most vivid image for Chinese consumers has always been "paranoia." Behind the "paranoid" personality, it also reflects Mazda's long-term lack of attention to the Chinese market.
At the Guangzhou Auto Show, Changan Mazda announced the creation of a "441 channel system". In other words, 400 4S stores across the country will carry 400,000 sales, and the annual sales of a single store will reach 1,000.
After hearing about this "441 channel system", the author's first reaction was that the sales target of 400,000 vehicles was basically out of the picture. A little question is, with Changan Mazda's current product line and sales momentum, can it recruit 400 dealers?
After all, data from Changan Mazda's official website shows that in the past 5 years, Changan Mazda dealerships have increased by less than 40, with an average annual net of less than 8. The original one-horse dealership is being cut down by Changan Mazda.