Mazda Motor Corp profits drop 35 per cent

IN ITS quest to move upmarket – while at the same time garnering additional market share – Mazda Motor Corporation has been shovelling money at its portfolio, particularly in the North American market where substantial point-of-sale incentives are de rigueur.

Between mid-2022 and the end of 2024, such incentives quadrupled in Mazda’s North American markets, seriously impacting the Hiroshima-based manufacturer’s bottom line.

Despite strong regional sales across the 2024 calendar year (424,382 units), Mazda North America’s fourth-quarter profits fell a dizzying 35 per cent, prompting the Japanese manufacturer to change tack.

According to analytical agency Motor Intelligence, Mazda’s average incentive spending in the United States rose 110 per cent to $US2792 (A$4445) per vehicle in the April-June 2024 quarter alone.

“Incentives on the CX-50 nearly tripled, while spending on the flagship CX-90 almost doubled, and outlays for the CX-70, fresh to the market this year, already stood at $US2824 (A$4500),” it summarised.

In Q2 last year (2024), Mazda spent ¥35.1 billion (A$361 million) on incentives in the United States alone, wiping out ¥3.3 billion (A$34 million) in operating profit for the period, said Motor Intelligence.

Speaking with Automotive News this week, Mazda North America chief financial officer Jeffrey Guyton said that “incentive spending should moderate in the latter half of this fiscal year”, adding that Mazda is taking “a number of actions to mitigate incentive spending”.

Locally, and while Mazda Australia does not make public its financial position, we note an improvement in sales for the Japanese importer in January, despite swelling prices.

Mazda Australia recorded a modest increase in volume to 8322 units for January 2025, up 1.9 per cent year-on-year.

The result comes as something of a turnaround for the importer, which finished 2024 down 4.0 per cent (4021 units) with 95,987 sales.

Across its Australian portfolio, Mazda increased sales of its aged Mazda2 (up 3.6 per cent to 5365 units), Mazda3 (up 16.0 per cent to 10,528 units), MX-5 (up 1.4 per cent to 662 units), CX-3 (up 17.0 per cent to 18,461 units), CX-60 (up 46.0 per cent to 4058), and CX-90 (up 54.6 per cent to 932 units) in 2024.

But it lost ground on models including the now-defunct Mazda6 (down 11.4 per cent to 1354 units), CX-30 (down 3.4 per cent to 12,672 units), and CX-5 (down 1.1 per cent to 22,835 units).