The first new car once again "forgot" the Chinese market, and the senior management made no mention of whether Mazda was "still able to make a living" in China.

When the overall retail share of the same-day brand in China rose 1.6 percentage points in February from a year earlier, Mazda China reaped a dismal performance of 23.78% year-on-year decline that month. Not only that, in the global launch of its new SUV model CX-60 on March 9, the Chinese market was once again "forgotten".

As the first model of a large SUV portfolio launched by Mazda last October, the CX-60 will launch in Europe at its first stop, followed by a daily version of the CX-60 in early April.

This is not the first time Mazda has "omitted" China in its global debut. In January this year, a Mazda official announced that the new Mazda CX-50 Cross-border SUV, which was launched in the United States in November last year, will be the first to be put into production at its new Mazda-Toyota joint venture plant MTMUS in Huntsville, Alabama. At that time, Mazda said it would further strengthen its sales area in the United States, Mazda's most important market, including upgrading the dealer system, introducing sales finance and reforming sales operations.

Mazda's large SUV portfolio includes four models, the CX-60, CX-70, CX-80 and CX-90, to be launched between 2022 and 2023 at a higher price range than the CX-50 and the CX-5 currently on sale. However, in this product plan aimed at improving the overall brand image and higher profits, Mazda made no mention of the Chinese market-according to the plan, CX-60 will be the first to launch in Europe and Japan, CX-70 in North America, CX-80 in Europe and Japan, and CX-90 in North America.

In terms of volume alone, the United States is Mazda's largest single market in the world, Europe ranks second, and China is narrowly ahead of its Japanese home market in third place. According to the data, Mazda sold 12.87548 billion vehicles worldwide in 2021, up 3.6 per cent from a year earlier, while China was the only single market with negative growth that year, with cumulative sales of only 183953 vehicles, down 14.3 per cent from the same period last year. In the global market share, China accounts for only 14.28 per cent of Mazda's global sales, slightly higher than Japan's 12.21 per cent.

Obviously, Mazda's focus is not on the Chinese market, which is also reflected in its "low-key" style in the Chinese market. On March 4, Mazda headquarters announced a series of important personnel changes, among which Takashi Sumioka, former general manager of Mazda's China division, completed an exchange with Toru Nakajima, the current president of Changan Mazda, who was also promoted to executive officer of Mazda's China business. The appointment will take effect on April 1 this year. However, this important personnel change involving the Chinese market, neither Mazda China nor its joint venture Changan Mazda in China has been disclosed.

"at present, there is no information about any personnel changes, subject to the Changan Mazda announcement." Mazda China said.

The new Changan Mazda, formed by the merger of FAW Mazda and Changan Mazda in August last year, was intended to focus more on China business and facilitate unified management and resource deployment. However, from the perspective of market performance, Mazda's original intention has not been realized. Data show that Changan Mazda sold 16428 vehicles in September last year, falling after recording the second-best performance in a single month after the merger of North and South Mazda, to only 8047 vehicles in February this year, down 23.78 per cent from a year earlier. Over a longer period of time, Mazda achieved sales of more than 300000 vehicles in China in 2017, but has since declined year by year, to 183900 vehicles in China in the year to 2021, a decline of more than 40 per cent in five years.

Not only has Mazda lagged behind in the traditional fuel car market, but it is also wavering in the electrified process of comprehensive transformation. Last June, Mazda unveiled new technologies and product strategies for 2030. SKYACTIV internal combustion engine technology is important in this product strategy, while in terms of electrification, Mazda plans to launch only five hybrid models, five plug-in hybrid models and three pure electric models by 2025. In addition, Mazda plans to account for 25% of pure electric models by 2030.

In the eyes of people in the industry, the progress of Mazda's plan is not only slow, but also pure electricity products are too thin. "with the current performance of Mazda in the Chinese market and its future product planning, Mazda may decline further in the Chinese market."