Mazda Wins U.S. Share, Even Though Its Sales are Down

(MoneyWatch)  Mazda's U.S. sales are off this year, but not as much as the rest of the industry. These days, that qualifies as a big success, Mazda officials said.

"If you look at where some of our competitors are, we are beating the industry as a whole, we are beating Asian brands as a whole," said Jeremy Barnes, director, product and corporate communications for Mazda North American Operations.

"It's a difficult industry. Every morning when we get out of bed it seems we're reading about who's gone out of business," he said.

Through August, Mazda's U.S. sales were down 2 percent to 199,239, year to date, according to AutoData. For the same period, U.S. sales for Asian brands were down 3.2 percent to about 4.5 million. Total U.S. sales were down 11.2 percent to about 9.8 million.

Accordingly, Mazda's U.S. market share rose to 2 percent, from 1.8 percent. Mazda's U.S. sales target for 2008 is to be close to flat versus last year, or around "a percent or two down," Barnes said. In 2007, Mazda's U.S. sales were 296,110, up 10.2 percent from 2006.

David Dildy, group manager, product planning and strategy, said Mazda hopes that next year, a series of new models designed specifically for North America will start increasing Mazda's U.S. sales.

Two new crossovers, the Mazda CX7 and the Mazda CX9, are already on sale. A redesigned Mazda6 midsize sedan is the latest addition. It went on sale earlier this month.

"September is shaping up to be a brutally difficult month, with fuel prices, the credit crisis, people are wondering whether they've got enough money to make their house payment," Barnes said, at a Sept. 17 press introduction for the redesigned Mazda6.

"It's a hard industry," he said. "No one is going to tell you, 'Happy Days Are Here Again.' "