Mazda is a small Japanese manufacturer that has gained a reputation for making cars for drivers, and it is the producer of one of the most popular sports cars of all time. It is also one of the most raced brands in America. But as its own executives have said, it is not for everybody. It's sales in the U.S. are small. In recent years, Mazda has had a tiny share of both the U.S. and global car markets. Some of its most famous vehicles are not even terribly practical for the needs of many car buyers, such as the next five Miyata, a two seat roadster. But Mazda has its fans who respect its history of innovation, especially in engines and the handling and performance of its cars. Like everyone else, Mazda has adapted to a changing market where buyers are flocking toward crossovers, but it faces its own challenges. Being small is not easy, especially in an era where car companies are saddled with the expense of growing some kind of electric vehicle strategy and keeping pace with other technologies, such as automated driving systems. And it might feel the punch from regulatory changes more than larger competitors who have cushion to absorb compliance costs. Focusing on what it does well has kept Mazda alive and earned it respect and some measure of success. But circumstances are challenging for small automakers, and Mazda is forming alliances and changing with the Times to ensure its survival. Mazda is actually a century old company. It celebrated the 100 anniversary of its founding on January 30th, 2020. It was initially founded as a cork company, Tokyo Cork Kogyo Company in Hiroshima, Japan, in 1920. It began expanding into machinery, especially pneumatic drills, in the late 1920s. It sold its first car, the Mazda Go d.E.A, in 1931. By 1957. The company had produced 200000 cars total in the 1960s. It began exporting cars to Europe and North America. The Ford Motor Company took a 25 percent stake in Mazda in 1979, becoming a top shareholder. The Ford and Mazda partnership deepened over the years. But in 2008, when the financial crisis hit the automotive industry hard, Ford reduced its stake from 33 percent to 13 percent that year. The partnership fully dissolved in 2015. After further reductions, Mazda sold about one point four million cars in more than 130 countries and regions around the world. In fiscal year 2019, 14 percent of its sales went to its home country of Japan, 15 percent in China, 28 percent in North America, 19 percent in Europe and 24 percent for the rest of the world. 52 percent of its sales are crossovers, and the other 48 percent are traditional passenger cars, pickups and other vehicles. For much of its history as an automaker, Mazda was known for its devotion to a highly unusual engine design. The rotary engine Mazda kept the rotary engine in production for 50 years before finally doing away with it and included it in some pivotal and very respected vehicles such as the RS7. The company has said that without the Rotary there probably would be no Mazda, but there were definite drawbacks to the design. For example, rotary engines burn through oil and weren't terribly fuel efficient. Mazda has said it plans to bring rotary engine technology back to the United States as a range extender on one of its hybrid crossovers. The automaker says it can leverage the small size and relatively quiet operation of the rotary engine to extend range on electric vehicles. Over its history, Mazda has acquired a reputation for being a brand for drivers. The Mazda Miata is the most raced car in road races sanctioned by the Sports Car Club of America, one of the largest racing bodies in the United States. 54 percent of production cars raced in SCCA. Events are Mazda's of one kind or another. The company hews closely to a design and engineering philosophy called GenBank Etai, which means horse and rider in Japanese. The philosophy pushes the company to make cars that are considered extensions of the driver's body. Mazda wants its drivers to feel as close to the car as an experienced rider feels on their horse. To be sure, Mazda's does get a lot of praise for their driving experience, the tightness of the handling, the responsiveness of the steering and the sheer fun that often comes with driving them. One car that might most symbolized this sheer fun of driving might be Mazda's most famous DMX five Miyata. You know, the Miata has for 30 years now has been an icon for the Mazda brand. You know, it is. It is it represents to Mazda what the Mustang has represented to Ford or the Corvette has represented to to Chevrolet. The Miata was Mazda's attempt to capture some of the magic of classic British roadsters such as the MGB and the Lotus Elan and infuse it with some Japanese reliability. The formula worked spectacularly. The IMEX five Miata is the best selling to seat sports car of all time. It was first named that by Guinness World Records in 2000 and has held that position more or less since Mazda sold one million meters by 2017, U.S. sales rose thirteen point six percent in 2020 to 8800 vehicles sold over the seven thousand seven hundred fifty three sold in 2019. Sales in 2018 were eight thousand nine hundred seventy one and in 2017 were eleven thousand 294. Miotto seems to inspire a deep sense of passion and devotion among its fans, some of whom can be true diehards with garages full of cars. Well, I started out just buying one, and for a while every good Miyata I owned, I would buy. They weren't expensive back then, they're not expensive now. You know, there was a long running joke within our club that I just wouldn't say because I was almost embarrassed of how many hotties I had owned. And at some point I just kind of said, heck with it. I love me, Otus. I'm you know, if these were Ferrari's people would be like, wow, that's amazing. But with me, otus, it's like they don't even get mad. So I currently own nine models. There are Miyata clubs all over the country, some with hundreds of members such as the Windy City Miyata Club in Chicago, Illinois. Because I'm currently the president, every time we get new members, I ask them all the exact same question Why are you buying Miyata? And almost every single time I get the exact same answer, because it's the most fun car to drive hands style. There are many things that make the Miata so beloved. Drivers say it performs excellently on tight curvy roads. It is also reliable. Owners don't need to worry about it too much. The Miata grew larger and more bloated over its generations, as is often the case with cars. But for the current generation, Mazda returned to the Miata to nearly its original size and weight. Above all, the Miata is cheap. Prices start around twenty six thousand dollars. The average cost of a new car in twenty twenty was a record thirty eight thousand dollars, according to JD Power and LMC. Automotive and sales of the Miata are relatively stable when adjusting for overall industry trends. The U.S. market is even healthier, older models, which are increasingly rare, can fetch relatively high prices. Today, Mazda's two best selling vehicles in the U.S. aren't too roadsters or sports cars with eccentric engine designs. They are, of course, both SUVs. The midsize SCIEX five is Mazda's top seller and the newer, smaller 630 is in second place. Mazda's crossover line, which includes the six three six thirty six five and six nine, totaled 220000 457 units for the year, an increase of 11 percent over 2019. The X5 had its best year ever in 2019. SUVs pose a bit of a challenge for brands who claim devotion to drivers simply because they are typically taller than cars and frequently ride higher off the ground. A purist would argue that they can't offer the same kind of driving experience as Mazda has shifted its focus from small, tight handling cars to sport utilities. The brand has also gone premium. Mazda had to find a way to continue to be relevant in the marketplace, and one of the areas it was drawing was more premium brands. You know, brands like Lexus, of course, the European premium brands like BMW and Mercedes and Audi. And so they made the decision to go to go more premium while without necessarily going to, you know, be a full out luxury car. But, you know, to have a more premium feel to it so they could start to command a little bit higher price point, get a little better margins on the vehicles. Exterior designs have become a bit more sophisticated and interiors feel richer and sharper. This upgrade in quality gives the kind of punch above its weight value that Mazda also has among sports cars with the Miata. They're almost in the sense of where we would say, instead of looking at a lower level Audi Q3, maybe you look at the top of the line, Mazda six five. It's going to be roomier. It's going to have a darn nice interior. It's going to be almost as or equally fun to drive, enjoyable to drive. And it's a little bigger for almost the same amount of money or maybe even less. So that's kind of where you get with their with their top trims. Not everything Mazda does gets rave reviews, Consumer Reports, for example, does not rate its infotainment system highly. They use a central knob that the controller, they went away from having a touch screen that used to have a screen. It was enabled when you were parked, but then it went only to to the knob when you were driving. You understand the manufacturers are trying to find the best combination of lack of distraction, ease of use upgradable, not obsolete the minute that it hits the market. But right now, their system is one of the more convoluted ones. One of day's biggest challenges is being a small, independent manufacturer in an industry dominated by massive automakers, specifically the company, pretty much like everyone else, has to find some way to address the rise of electric vehicles segment of the automotive market in which Mazda has lagged behind in recent years. The company has focused a lot of its attention on making gasoline engines more efficient and has made some notable achievements in this area. Its current family of engines uses very high compression ratios similar to those of race cars. Compression ratios signify the amount of pressure applied to the fuel and air mixture in the engine. An engine that can create more pressure can squeeze more energy out of every drop of fuel, giving it better performance or greater fuel efficiency. The current generation of engines Mazda makes goes by the name Sky Active, Mazda said. In twenty seventeen, it had achieved another breakthrough in engine technology. It is calling Sky ActiveX Sky. Active engines are based on homogeneous charge compression ignition. It combines elements of gasoline engines which use spark plugs to ignite fuel and diesel engines, which use pressure. Trying to build a compression ignition engine using gasoline has proven very difficult and so far eluded automakers far larger than Mazda. Mazda says it can achieve fuel efficiency that is 20 to 30 percent greater than its current engines. It began rolling out Sky ActiveX engines on the new generation Mazda three and six thirty in Europe and Japan in November 2019. Mazda is still working on electrification. The company unveiled the IMEX 30, its first mass production SUV, in October 2019. In 2021, Mazda confirmed the car would be headed to the U.S. with a rotary range extender. But Mazda is betting that internal combustion engines are going to be around for a while. EV charging times are still long compared with the amount of time it takes to fill a fuel tank. And while EV ranges are improving dramatically, they still seem to be a concern for customers. Mazda has said it expects internal combustion to still be what, 85 percent of cars run on in 2035. Mazda has also formed a partnership with Toyota, and the two automakers are building a factory in Alabama to build SUVs, including a hybrid. And in 2017, it joined an alliance of Japanese makers that are all developing EV technology together. In the meantime, Mazda also needs to ensure that as it goes upscale and embraces new technology, it still makes cars that are distinct and that can attract the kind of loyalty that its current lineup does. You know, Mazda's challenge going forward really becomes, as I see it, as an enthusiast is as they move to new technologies, which I'm sure they will at some point. How do they maintain a car that's still fun to drive? You know, I mean, Mazda spends a lot of time actually tuning the exhaust to mention that on a modern car that has a four cylinder engine, I mean, it's always had a pretty good exhaust note. And that's something that the enthusiasts really look For by partnering with far larger automakers. Perhaps Mazda can retain its small, scrappy, independent status while getting a hand up where it needs one.
