Market Insight: Mazda can keep No. 2 spot

MAZDA Australia is aiming to maintain its second-place position in the market in 2023 and beyond, despite the fact it will soon be adding more expensive models that may not be as appealing to its former core demographic.

The Japanese brand is soon to launch the new CX-60 SUV, a five-seat model that will be priced at a significant premium over the similarly sized CX-5, as well as the just-revealed CX-90 large SUV that will be the biggest, most powerful and most expensive Mazda ever sold in Australia.

With the current Mazda CX-9 topping out at $74,710 before on-road costs for the Azami LE, and with the range-topping plug-in hybrid version of the new-generation CX-60 model confirmed to have a list price of $87,252 + ORC, the new CX-90 is expected to be the first Mazda in Australia to top $100,000, though that may not happen until the plug-in hybrid version arrives in 2024.

The push towards more expensive models could be seen as a step away from the brand’s existing approach in the market.

Over the past five years, Mazda Australia has maintained its position as the second biggest-selling car brand, eternally well behind Toyota (which has dominated the market for two decades), and just ahead of South Korean rival brands, Hyundai and Kia.

In 2022, Mazda sold 95,718 units here, some 17,388 vehicles clear of its nearest rival, Kia. Although a drop on its 2021 figure (101,119), Mazda Australia managing director Vinesh Bhindi said the company is aiming to stay around that 100,000 sales figure.

“You will have to ask the other brands what their plans are, but number two is an outcome of our strategy. And our strategy is around 100,000 annual vehicle sales in a market of 1-1.1 million sales. The market will grow, we will grow. But whether that holds us at number two, it’s everybody else’s strategy that will determine that,” said Mr Bhindi.

“2023 hopefully is a year where disruptions in supply are minimised, or, ideally, none at all. Not just for us but for the industry. We’ve got to re-establish some of those segments of the market where we haven’t been able to execute our plans. That’s our focus of 2023 and maybe into 2024.”

Mr Bhindi said the brand is continuing its push towards becoming a more premium player in the market, but made no suggestion that would slow the brand’s sales down.

“As you know since we launched Mazda 3, our ambition is to go in the Mazda premium path. The CX-90, in terms of design, technology – it is our flagship vehicle.

“So our plan in the Australian market is to give that extra choice to Australian consumers and experience what the Mazda flagship is all about,” he said.

The Mazda CX-90 large SUV is slated to arrive in Australia in the second half of 2023, where it will sit alongside the CX-9 that it replaces in some markets. However, the former will offer customers a more luxury-focused range of models at a higher price point.

Mazda will offer the CX-90 in three different trim levels, with a choice of 3.3-litre turbocharged six-cylinder petrol and diesel engines. A plug-in hybrid four-cylinder variant is expected in, or beyond, 2024.