Mazda has released the figures for the third quarter. The idiosyncratic Japanese brand shows better results than in the second quarter, but still has to write off a loss. The forecast for the rest of the year does not look very rosy.
In the first quarter of this financial year (in fact the second quarter), Mazda was hit hard by the corona crisis. At the time, the Japanese brand recorded an operational loss of € 368 million. A recovery is visible in the past quarter. Sales are € 6 billion, double the previous quarter, but the brand is still running an operating loss of € 61.8 million. A year earlier, Mazda made a profit of € 152.9 million in the same quarter. The loss has narrowed as the US and Chinese markets recover slightly and the brand has reduced fixed costs. Mazda sold a total of 334,000 cars in the third quarter, 44,000 fewer than the same period last year.
Mazda forecasts to sell a total of 1.3 million cars this financial year, a decrease of 120,000 units worldwide compared to last year. The expected loss is € 325 million for the full year. That is more than half less than the loss of € 750 million that the brand recorded in the previous quarterly report. Mazda expects a decline in the number of cars sold in every market, except in China. There, a total increase of 44,000 cars is expected. The US market still remains the most dominant factor in Mazda’s sales numbers, but the brand is increasingly targeting China. In the medium term, the manufacturer wants to expand the existing dealer network in particular. In Europe, Mazda is striving to improve efficiency and put more emphasis on its own brand identity.