New Mazda models help buoy result

THE success of Mazda’s range of new vehicles has helped it report a 29.7 per cent rise in quarterly operating profit as exports to North America expanded and it kept its forecasts for sharp full-year growth unchanged.

Mazda, a third owned by Ford Motor Co, is enjoying steady sales momentum in North America and Europe, thanks to the wide-spread acceptance of the Mazda2, Mazda3, MX-5 and Mazda6, while also reaping the benefits of a weaker yen.

Analysts expect Mazda’s sales to pick up even further from the current quarter, when the CX-7 is launched in North America, according to Reuters.

The Hiroshima-based car maker joins domestic rival Honda in reporting a double-digit rise in operating profit for the April-June first quarter.

Both are attracting energy-conscious consumers in the United States and Europe.

Mazda’s operating profit totalled 29.61 billion yen ($A335 million) in the three months ended June 30, up from 22.82 billion yen ($A229 million) a year earlier, short of a mean forecast of 30.75 billion yen ($A349 million) in a survey of six brokerages by Reuters Estimates.

Mazda, which heavily relies on exports, left its forecasts for the year to next March at an operating profit of 135 billion yen and net profit of 75 billion yen.

It was the only Japanese car maker to see its shares rise, even though it was by a marginal 0.3 per cent, during the April to June quarter.