Mazda to be partial to Northern China JV

Mazda Motor Corp., which has two joint ventures in China, is planning to lean to its northern China venture FAW Mazda Motor Sales Co., Ltd., in an effort to stop its sales from declining in the country. The carmaker’s southern China venture Chang’an Ford Mazda Automobile Co., Ltd., which manufactures and sells Mazda 2 and Mazda 3, reported monthly sales of not more than 2,000 such cars presently, far less than expectations. The carmaker has adjusted downward its 2008 fiscal year sales ending in March 2009 to 60,000 from the previous 110,000 units. However, the stable growth of FAW Mazda Motor Sales has excited the carmaker, which had planned to elevate its annual global sales from 1.36 million in 2007 to 1.6 million in 2010 and hoped to realize the increased sales in the Chinese market during the period. The northern China venture’s parent FAW Car Co., Ltd. disclosed a new investment plan wherein it would invest 300 million yuan (US$43.79 million) in producing the Mazda 8, a multi-purpose vehicle model, to compete against the Honda Odyssey and the General Motor Buick GL8. (September 2, 2008)