Mazda's January sales exceed 20000

Gasgoo.com (Shanghai February 22) - Mazda sold a total of 20,041 automobiles in China last month, bitauto.com reported today. The figure, which represents a sales increase of 6% from January 2010, sets a new monthly sales record for Mazda, according to the company's retail sales report released today.

According to retail sales statistics from two different websites, FAW Mazda, propelled by strong support of its Mazda6 midsize (pictured), managed sales of 13,373 vehicles last month, an increase of 13% from January of last year. Meanwhile, Changan Mazda relied on December preorders to sell a low 6,668 units, representing a decrease of 7% from last year.

"[Due to] the phasing out preferential purchase policies and [the implementation] of Beijing's vehicle purchase restriction policies, purchases increased in December, leading to a substantial drop in January sales," explained Yamada Noriaki, CEO and chairman of Mazda's Chinese headquarters. "Despite this, Mazda's Chinese sales this quarter still exceeded last year's, and managed to continue a 28 year period of continuous positive growth."

Mazda has also made substantial progress towards its goal to expand its retail network to over 360 dealerships by the end of this year, with a total of 312 outlet reported in business last month.