Mazda Australia : ‘We will have a very strong year’

In February, Mazda sold 9171 cars in Australia (compared to 8728 during the same period last year), helped by the new Mazda 3’s launch. Figures for January and February combined show a similar positive trend with 18,582 sales, up 942 units on last year.

Speaking to CarAdvice at the sidelines of this year’s Mazda 3 celebrity race challenge, the company’s director of marketing, Alistair Doak, suggested 2014 could be a record year for the brand despite a slow start across the board.

“I think we will have a very strong year for Mazda.” Doak said. “I think we are seeing the market is a little softer at the moment [but] so far that hasn’t been holding us back.”

With the new car market expected to bounce back stronger in the second half of this year, Doak said Mazda will likely see further growth.

“I know all the signs and economic advisors are saying in the second half of the year it will start to pick up and in that environment we should have a strong year.”

Mazda continues to follow its semi-premium strategy, placing its cars as a few steps above its direct competitors.

“I think we have always tried to set ourselves as a great value proposition and not the cheapest car in any of the classes [we compete in] and I think it has worked very well.”

Doak believes the success of the Mazda CX-5, which remains the best-selling SUV in Australia, proves the strategy is working.

“We are on that strategy and we will keep it there. It has worked brilliantly on the CX-5. If you want to see how we do things, the CX-5 is the perfect example.”

The company is expected to launch the all-new Mazda 2 late this year or early next year, which might mean it’ll yet again take the stand as the celebrity race challenge choice of car.

Whether or not Australian Formula One Grand Prix fans are also Mazda 2 buyers remains to be seen - the Mazda 3 and Mazda 6 have a much wider buyer demographic.