Mazda '08 China sales up 25.5% to 127,846 units

Shanghai, January 20 (Gasgoo.com) Mazda Motor Corp. said Tuesday its vehicle sales in China rose 25.5% last year to 127,846 units, reported Dow Jones. Mazda said in a statement its sales in China last month rose 22.5% to 12,984 units.

The strong growth comes amid weakening sales in China's overall auto market. Sales of passenger vehicles in China last year rose 7.27% to 6.76 million units, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, ending at least five years of double-digit growth. In December, China's passenger auto sales fell 7.99% to 584,600 units.

Mazda Motor is set to launch four new models (Mazda 6 or "Ruiyi" in Chinese, high-end MPV Mazda 8, Mazda CX-7 SUV, and 2nd-gen Mazda 3) to the Chinese market in 2009. The Japanese automaker has decided to expand its growth in China, its top priority market, after buying back its shares from the troubled partner Ford Motor.

Mazda China's sales growth in 2008 is attributed to its dealership network restructuring and product lineup expansion. The two sales networks of Changan Mazda and FAW Mazda now have 200 4S stores together, and the dealership will expand further in 2009. Three Mazda training centers are being built in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen.

Mazda Motor looks to China as its No.1 growth market. With more of its new models to be made in and imported to this country, Mazda will be jump-starting its all-out expansion of the product lineup, sales networks, after-sales services and brand buildup in the China's auto market.

After Ford Motor was hit by the financial crisis in late 2008, Mazda bought back from the U.S. partner its stake in their Chinese joint venture Changan Ford Mazda, and this is likely to speed up the Japanese carmaker's growth pace in the China market.