Mazda posts group net loss of JPY 107 billion

Mazda Motor Corporation posted a net loss of JPY107.73 billion (US$2.47 billion) in the fiscal year of 2011, which ended in March 2012, from a net loss of JPY60.04 billion (US$759 million) in the previous year. The company attributed the losses to the impact of a strong yen, as well as natural disasters. This is the fourth consecutive year that the company has posted a net loss. “We have taken every measure we could, but it seems it’s not enough,” said Mazda President Takashi Yamanouchi. He emphasized, however, that the additional measures Mazda has taken in response to the appreciation of the yen would help the company turn around. Most of the vehicles produced by Mazda are made in Japan, which gives the company a higher export ratio than other Japanese carmakers. Mazda said that it will rebound in 2012, supported by sales of the recently launched CX-5 sport utility vehicle and other models which have better fuel efficiency because of Mazda’s new SkyActiv technologies. For the fiscal year 2012, which began in April, the company forecasts a group net profit of JPY10 billion (US$126.4 million). From its initial plan to produce 160,000 units of the CX-5, Yamaguchi said the company will produce 200,000 units. Mazda also announced that it had reached an agreement with OJSC Sollers of Russia to form a joint venture. Named Mazda Sollers Manufacturing Rus, the joint venture will assemble Mazda and Sollers brand vehicles in Vladivostok beginning in the fall of 2012. (April 27, 2012)