Changan Mazda unable to recover as Changan Ford posts impressive sales growth rates

Gasgoo.com (Shanghai July 18) - Following their separation, the fortunes of the Changan Ford and Changan Mazda joint ventures could not have diverged any further apart. As a report appearing on xkb.com.cn today shows, Changan Ford's sales grew 66 percent over the first half of this year, while those of Changan Mazda's fell 42.8 percent during that same time period. The gap between these two JVs' performances is reflective of the general discrepancies within Changan. On one end of the spectrum, sales of Changan Ford and own brand Changan models has been on the rise, while those of Changan Mazda and Changan Suzuki models have yet to recover from last year.

Changan sold a total of 1.05 million automobiles from January to June, a recent Weibo post made by a manufacturer official revealed. The figure represents year-on-year growth of 18.68 percent.

The manufacturer's own brand passenger automobile sales totaled 257,000 units over the first six months of the year, up 90.7 percent from the first half of 2012. That growth rate is the highest among Chinese own brand manufacturers.

Changan Ford's sales volume for the time period reached 280,000 units, representing year-on-year growth of 66 percent. However, Changan's two Japanese JVs, Changan Mazda and Changan Suzuki, suffered severe sales drops over that same time period. The two JVs' reported negative year-on-year growth rates of 42.8 percent and 19.7 percent, respectively. The two JVs' only accounted for around ten percent of Changan's total sales volume this year, compared to approximately 16 percent last year.

Changan Mazda's flagship model, the Mazda3 (pictured above), which accounts for 95 percent of the JV's sales, saw its sales start falling last year at around the same time the own brand Changan Eado (pictured below) made its market debut. Statistics from the China Passenger Car Association reveal that when the Mazda3's sales hit a quarterly low of around 2,000 units in the fourth quarter of 2012, sales of the Eado already begun exceeding 6,000 units. Less than 4,000 Mazda3s have been sold so far this year, while total 2013 Eado sales are closing in on the 7,000 units mark.

Changan Mazda is pinning its hopes on the introduction of new models, including the CX-5, which JV General Manager Masashi Aihara hopes will help bring in new orders.