After the merger of the north and the south, Changan Mazda failed to stop the decline, and its annual sales fell to less than 200,000 units

Wen | "Finance and Economics" Weekly Intern Cao Tingting

Edit the | Mao Shiyang

On January 18, Mazda announced its 2021 sales, and its annual sales fell to less than 200,000 units, ending with a performance of about 184,000 units, down 14.3% year-on-year. Specifically, Mazda China announced sales of only three models, of which the Cumulative Sales of the Unxella was about 90,700 units, about half of Mazda China's total results, while the sales of the CX-5 and CX-30 were about 26,100 units and about 17,300 units, respectively.

Sales volume reflects the market's attention. Among the four Japanese brands, Mazda's sales fell the most. In 2021, Toyota's cumulative sales reached 1.944 million units, an increase of 8.2% year-on-year; Honda's sales in China were basically the same as in 2020, reaching 1.5615 million units, down 4% year-on-year; And Nissan's sales in China were 1.3815 million units, down 5.2% year-on-year.

Sales fell significantly, and Mazda after the merger of north and south may not yet realize the original purpose of the merger.

On August 24, 2021, Changan Automobile, Mazda Automobile and China FAW issued a joint statement on Changan Mazda's capital increase project. According to the content, the (new) Changan Mazda will be changed to a joint venture jointly funded by the three parties, and the shareholding ratios of Changan Mazda, Mazda and China FAW are 47.5%, 47.5% and 5% respectively. On August 30, FAW Mazda officially released its last tweet, officially announcing its withdrawal from the historical stage of Chinese automobiles.

After the merger of North and South Mazda, channels, products and resources were integrated, but the sales volume of new Mazda did not stop falling. Mazda began channel consolidation in September, with Mazda's sales in China totaling about 16,400 units in the month, down 21.47% from about 20,900 units in September last year. October was the first full sales record month since the merger of the two channels, with sales of about 15,300 units. Sales in November were approximately 14,800 units and in December it was approximately 14,600 units.

Among them, Mazda 3 Onksela accounted for half of the annual brand sales, becoming Mazda's largest sales pillar. As for the CX-5, CX-30 and other models that are highly anticipated, monthly sales fluctuate only between 1,000 and 2,000 units.

In the view of industry insiders, although the resources are concentrated after the grid connection, the important reason why the short-term failure to stop the decline is that the Mazda brand product update is slow. In the domestic market, since 2016, FAW Mazda has not introduced new models, and only two models, artez and CX-4 models, are on sale. In the field of electric vehicles, Mazda's pure electric models in the domestic layout are only CX-30EV, the positioning of small SUVs, the highest endurance of 450 kilometers, the top configuration of 201,800 yuan, endurance and pricing lack of competitiveness.

In addition, Artez, CX-4, and Unxella have all passed the top 10 of the car quality network complaint list due to abnormal noise problems, and it is not easy to re-establish trust among consumers, and it needs to go through a long process.

In order to survive, the stubborn Mazda finally began to try to change. From 2022 to 2025, Mazda plans to introduce models equipped with the "Chuangchi Blue Sky Diversification and Scalable Architecture" sequentially, and will launch five hybrid models, five plug-in hybrid models, and three pure electric models. Between 2025 and 2030, Mazda will continue to launch a number of models equipped with the "Chuangchi Blue Sky Electrification Dedicated Scalable Architecture" technology.

However, in order to achieve sales recovery, Mazda still needs to break through the brand impression and its own limitations.