FAW-Mazda target sales of 150,000 units

By Chen Xiaomin

FAW Mazda6

FAW-Mazda Motor Sales is aiming at 150,000 unit sales in China this year with new model launches and expanded dealerships, the company said Tuesday in a statement on its website.

Its plans to release localized vehicles includes the Ruiyi Coupe in the first half of the year and the MPV Mazda 8 in the second half, as well as two medium and high-end sedans, the Mazda 6 and the Ruiyi.

The company, a joint venture of China FAW Group Corporation, FAW Car and Mazda Motor Corporation, also plans to expand its dealerships to more than 160 to boost its sales this year.

Mazda Motor Corporation meanwhile plans to sell more than 220,000 vehicles this year in China and increase dealerships to 300 by the end of the year from 254 as of December, Bloomberg reported Tuesday, citing company spokesman Ken Haruku.

FAW-Mazda is not the only joint venture of Mazda in China. It operates two separate manufacturing bases jointly with Ford Motor and China's Chongqing Changan Automobile.

It has been widely reported by media recently that the three automakers are talking about possible ways to split the three-way tie-up into two separate entities.

The Chongqing operations will be owned and operated by Ford and Changan Automobile, and the Nanjing base by Mazda Motor Corporation and Changan Automobile, Japan's Nikkei business daily reported in mid- January.

The companies later issued statements denying the report, saying they had no such plans to break up their partnership.

Zeng Zhiling, an auto analyst with Global Insight, told the Global Times that the split would boost Mazda's development in China, giving Mazda more freedom to manage its production and sales.

"Unlike other Japanese automakers such as Toyota and Honda, Mazda's development in China has been maneuvered by Ford including its product launch plans and production arrangement," Zeng said.

The capacity of the Nanjing base, which produces the Mazda 2 and Changan Ford Fiesta, is far lower than planned. The Mazda 3's production in the Chongqing plant has sometimes been pushed aside in favor of Ford products, Zeng added.

Other Japanese automakers also pledged to expand in China this year, believing it will become the world's largest auto market in the long run.

Japan's largest automaker Toyota Motor, which is also the largest by market share of Japanese automakers in China, sold 709,000 vehicles in China last year, a 21 percent year-on-year increase, and expects to sell 800,000 in 2010.

Honda sold 580,000 vehicles last year in China, up 23 percent year-on-year.

Dongfeng Honda Automobile, one of Honda's ventures in China, unveiled January 20 its second plant in Central China's Wuhan Province, with an annual target capacity of 240,000 Honda-branded vehicles.

An initial investment of 1.15 billion yuan ($168.47 million) will be made at the plant, which is scheduled to begin production in the second half of 2012.

The joint venture will also increase its capacity in the existing plant to 240,000 units from the present 200,000.