Australian sales team draws Mazda’s envy

MAZDA’S global president has acknowledged the success of his company’s Australian sales network, saying it is now a stand-up example for the rest of the car-maker’s businesses.

Masamichi Kogai, the worldwide chief executive of the Japanese car-maker, said it was sending members of its senior management to Australia to learn how the brand has cemented such a strong relationship with buyers.

“Actually, we are working on that as we speak,” Mr Kogai said at the Tokyo motor show when asked how aware he was of how well the brand was selling in Australia.

“I know that Australian dealers have very strong ties to their customers,” he said. “We’re having numerous leaders and salespeople from other regions visit Australia to learn about them.” Mazda is once again on track to sell more than 100,000 cars in Australia this year, having sold more than 86,000 vehicles to the end of October, and almost 104,000 vehicles last year.

It is expecting a kick in sales of its popular Mazda3, which is in run-out ahead of the introduction of a new version of the small sedan and hatchback early next year.

The Mazda3 is still the Japanese car-maker’s strongest performer in Australia, accounting for more than a third of the marque’s sales here. Mazda is also performing well with its CX-5 mid-size soft-roader, which dominates the SUV segment priced at less than $60,000 by accounting for one in every five sales in the segment.

Mazda identified Australia as a stand-out performer in its global business earlier this year, making a special mention of the market in its annual report that spelled out the company’s first profit in five years.

At the time, Mazda Australia public relations manager Steve Maciver told GoAuto that Australia was one of the most successful mature markets for MMC, so the company was “always interested in what we do here”.