Mazda3 no fleeting success

THE new-generation Mazda3 small car is destined never to be Australia’s top-selling vehicle as long as the company does not chase fleet sales.

This is despite achieving the number one spot in January with the old Mazda3 in runout, as well as a record 8.9 per cent market share for the first three months of this year.

According to Mazda Australia managing director Doug Dickson, this level of market success only came about because of an unusual set of circumstances.

Among these were a higher proportion of private buyers – the upshot of the global financial crisis taking its toll on big-company spending – and private consumers being encouraged to spend more of their savings by the Federal Government.

“We don’t think that will continue,” Mr Dickson told the media launch of the BL-series Mazda3 in Albury last week.

“The fleets are not in the market right now, but certainly private customers are.

“And that is what is driving that market share.

“We are 12.3 per cent down (in overall volume compared to the first three months of 2008), but if we look at our mainstream competitors, they are around 20 per cent down or more, and that’s about where the overall market is – which is down 19.3 per cent.

“(So) there is substantial (private) customer support for our product.

“We are not interested in supplying many fleets. Resale values will be adversely affected.

“Also, servicing large numbers of fleets is beyond Mazda’s capabilities.

“And we would not want to be responsible for getting rid of hundreds of used fleet vehicles when their time runs out.

“Fleets only represent about 30 per cent of the market anyway.”

Based on the first three months of sales for 2009, Mazda believes the market is tracking somewhere between about 850,000 and in excess of 900,000 vehicles.

But it is sticking to the more conservative figure for this year because that is about what, collectively, the manufacturers are geared up to supply the Australian market with.

And looking beyond 2009, Mr Dickson is confident that private consumers will help restore new-vehicles sales back to about the million unit mark in the not too-distant future.

“Relatively speaking, new cars have become much more affordable (over the last six years).

“There are increasing concerns from people running older cars in terms of safety, and the fact that new cars are so much better.

“There is a real wow factor about getting into a new car now that probably wasn’t there about five years ago.

“And that’s why we will see a gradual return to the million mark.” Mr Dickson said the latest Mazda3 is expected to build on the success of the previous-generation model simply because it offers more of the same things that proved to be a big hit with buyers originally, but is now better in key areas while still retaining a strong value for money quotient.

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