Mazda's sales fall over 12% in 2012

Gasgoo.com (Shanghai January 5) - Mazda sold a total of 187,087 vehicles in China in 2012, Gasgoo.com (Chinese) reported today. The figure is 12.9 percent lower than the manufacturer's total sales result from the previous year. Mazda China also released its sales result for December. The manufacturer sold 17,273 vehicles over the month, representing negative year-on-year growth of 26.4 percent.

FAW Mazda vehicles made up 113,606 of the manufacturer's Chinese sales last year, while sales of Changan Mazda vehicles accounted for the remaining 73,481 vehicles.

Commenting on the results, Mazda China CEO Noriaki Yamada pointed out that the manufacturer's sales grew steadily over the first half of 2012, but slipped in the latter half of the year. "[I] predict the [Chinese] automotive market to still be tough to compete in this year, but I hope that the introduction of the four new SkyActiv powered models and expansion of [our] dealership network to help [our] sales recover.

Among its plans, Mazda is preparing to introduce the CX-9 SUV (pictured above) and next generation Mazda6 (pictured below) this year, as well as domestically manufacture the CX-7 and CX-5.