While the wider industry negotiates crippling component and supply issues, Mazda Australia’s boss says customers are waiting an average of 3-4 weeks for new vehicles thanks to priority supply.
Mazda Australia managing director Vinesh Bhindi told CarExpert that the local division’s seniority in the company’s global portfolio means Australia is getting priority access to semiconductors and the like – a stark contrast to most other brands.
“The semiconductor issue remains globally for manufacturers, including Mazda Corporation,” Mr Bhindi said.
“But, we are a market that has got priority towards the pointier end of the queue, so we get preferred allocation and hence haven’t seen any major changes for products in our market.”
Mazda BT-50
Mr Bhindi added that “in some cases, dealers have stock and stock arriving, and then in some cases if the combination is a bit unique, it could go up to six to eight weeks”.
As for which model lines are most impacted, Mr Bhindi said the company faced “challenges” with BT-50 in the latter stages of 2021, with CX-30 supply being a little constrained more recently as MY22 running changes came through.
Mazda Australia had a great start to 2022, upping its market share by 2.25 per cent to 12.9 per cent, with monthly growth of 15.2 per cent to 9805 units.
The CX-5 mid-size SUV set an all-time monthly record in January with 3213 units (+54.4 per cent in January) which also saw it nearly over take the Ford Ranger (3245 units) and take third place in the overall nameplate standings. Arch-rival Toyota RAV4 slipped out of the Top 10 for the first time in ages (1425 units) due to supply issues.
Mazda CX-30
Also setting a January sales record was the smaller CX-30 crossover, which posted monthly growth of 53.0 per cent to 1388 units, placing it second in the Small SUV segment behind the MG ZS range (1588 units).
Mr Bhindi said the company is anticipating further growth in 2022 within its own range and across the industry, with a key focus on its enhanced BT-50 utility line-up which comes off an all-time high in 2021.
“The new [BT-50] hasn’t just been accepted, it’s been embraced by our customers. We exceeded our forecast by 1200 units,” Mr Bhindi said.
After exceeding Mazda’s expectations with 15,662 registrations across 4×2 and 4×4 models in 2021, Mr Bhindi says the company is aiming for 19,000 deliveries in 2022, aided by the new Ranger Wildtrak-rivalling BT-50 SP as well as the new entry-level XS variants featuring a smaller 1.9-litre turbo-diesel engine.
Mazda CX-5 (MY22 update)
