Sure looks like it! Check this out.
Survival is all about the numbers, and Mazda’s latest data does not frame a bright picture for its immediate future.
Mazda’s profit slumped 43% in the last fiscal year (to March 31, 2022), which analysts say was caused by falling sales, foreign exchange losses, increased marketing expenses and expensive investments in it U.S. dealer network.
Even more damaging, profit margins deteriorated to 2.3% this last fiscal year, from 4.2% a year earlier.
Net income also slid 43 percent, to 63.48 billion yen ($573.0 million) in the 12 months. Revenue increased only 3 percent to 3.56 trillion yen ($32.12 billion), as worldwide retail sales declined 4 percent to 1.56 million units, losing ground in North America and China.
In a phone call with analysts, Mazda said operating profit fell by almost USD$750 million!
The company has revealed that by 2030 only 20% of its production will be EVs. Up until then it intends to primarily focus on gasoline-powered vehicles.
It is investing hundreds of millions of dollars in its next generation internal combustion engines, which experts say is only like to reap an efficiency benefit of between 1-2%.
Last year Mazda sold a near-record low volume of one million vehicles worldwide! In the first quarter of 2022 Mazda delivered only 200,000 cars worldwide, right after it received a USD$4.2 billion bailout from a consortium of Japanese banks.
Global wholesales slumped by 36% to 166,000 vehicles. Shipments to the USA fell by 37%, whilst shipments to Europe were down by 57% and Chinese sales have fallen 60% this year.
Mazda says it will be forced to hike prices in the USA, to compensate for falling profits. Mazda’s first EV (the MX-30) has been poorly-received, and could be best described as ‘dead in the water’.
Highly respected CAR AND DRIVER says the MX-30’s 100 mile (160km) driving range is ‘laughable’, and is less than half the range of its two major competitors, GM’s Bolt and the Hyundai Kona EV. Needless to say, it’s also no rocket ship off the mark, taking around 9 seconds to reach 60mph.
The magazine says the EV will be joined by a plug-in hybrid version later this year, but many are wondering if the company will still be around in 2023. Its towering losses, falling sales and profit margins, and an uncompetitive first entrant into the EV market a failure, it’s very hard to see this significant carmaker surviving.
JOHN CRAWFORD
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