Mazda Motor Corporation has announced its positive financial and sales results for the first half of the fiscal year with Downunder playing an important part in its success. 

It has reported global sales of 660,000 units and a 14 percent year-on-year increase during the period 1 April to 30 September 2021.

In Europe, sales for the first six months were up 30 percent year-on-year to 106,000 units, increasing the market share in Europe by 0.2 percent year-on-year to 1.3 percent. Germany, Mazda’s biggest market in Europe, contributed 24,000 units to this result (+27 percent), and sales in the UK were 17,000 units, up 43 percent year-on-year.

As a result of the production adjustments caused by the global semiconductor shortage, Mazda focused on control of inventory and lean and efficient operations. 

Supply was prioritised to the United States and Australia, the two regions that both registered the highest year-on-year increase of 40  percent in the six-month period. 

In the US, first-half sales were 190,000 units, the highest since 1995, and Australia reported sales of 56,000 units. In Mazda’s domestic market of Japan, first-half sales totalled 60,000 units, and in China, 89,000 vehicles were sold during the April-to-September period.

Mazda NZ has registered 8288 passenger and commercial vehicles, year to date.