Alessandro

I wonder how the current Chinese dislike for everything Japanese will affect Mazda? Or is it blown out of proportion?
Will Mazda focus more on other markets?

v300

iTrader: (1)

Hey, if China won't accept the Japanese market then their loss.

I dislike the Chinese (government... freakin' terrorist). Free Taiwan (my dinky-ancestral-home).

By the way, Mazda's Taiwan market seems pretty strong especially in the south. There are many 3's, MPV's (there's even a Mazdaspeed Version), 6's, however, I don't see a lot of 8's (only one at the 85 story tower and many soap operas).

RX Renesis

the chinese government ain't terriosts, they communists

rodrigo67

Same thing...

BlueEyes

is it though McCarthy?

No More Oldsmobiles

Yeah, pretty much. Unless perhaps you're thinking of all those communist governments that didn't hold their entire population in terror.

RX-8GT

Yeh, Mazda enjoys better brand image in Taiwan than they do in the US. I believe they only offer AT RX-8s in Taiwan and they are asking for around US$55,000. With that price I doubt many people would be interested in RX-8s since they have access to so many european brands that we don't here in the US.

ZoomZoomH

iTrader: (1)

european cars are even more expensive than japanese cars...

most people can only afford inexpensive compact cars... otherwise they ride mopeds!

Battousai

Yeah what he said BlueEyes, all zero of them, trust me I have lived under a semi-communist government, that of Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe, he's not nearly as bad as the true hardcore dudes like Castro, and even that wasn't a lot of fun.

You get a general dislike for a government when they take to shooting people dead for just taking a wrong turn in a new town. Happened to an Englishman who took a wrong turn onto the street with Mugabe's residence, and almost happened to my dad the next week, but that time they decided to take away his car keys and question him instead of just shooting him.

This was back in 1985/86.

As for China, I'm more concerned with them buying up all the worlds oil, than whether they like Mazda's or not, actually I wish they would just go back bicycles as the main mode of transport :p

RX-Hachi

China imports very few autos from Japan anyway. They've got their own domestic cars, plus they have manf. plants for GM and VW. So I don't think the current anti-Japanese sentiment will hurt Mazda one bit, because they've never sold many cars there regardless.

Genesis

Exactly right RX-Hachi...take a trip to Shanghai, Chinese manufactured VW's everywhere, including taxis. Ford hasn't been successful entering China and since Mazda is one-third owned by Ford, I don't expect Mazdas will be selling like hotcakes in China either. So, no real sweat for Mazda Japan.

Sigma

You couldn't be more incorrect, actually.

On the contrary, China is Mazdas fastest growing market. Sales were up 123% in 2002 and 248% in 2003 and up 21% in 2004 to just shy of 100,000 units. This year they established contracts to produce and distribute several models throughout China in order to reverse that big slowdown in sales last year. They have a target of 300,000 units a year within 5 years --- more than they sell in the US every year.

Genesis

300,000 units a year within 5 years? Heck, that's almost as much as they sell in Japan right now if not mistaken. If true, then kudos to Mazda/Ford, guess they've finally broken the stigma holding them back in China for so long.

errant

In Beijing now for work.. lot's of VW and other European makes that JV with Chinese companies to manufacture here- high growth rates for Mazda is simply because the initial penetration is very small. Seen quite a few 6's though.. but no 8's or even 3's and 2's..