Mazda UK boss on taking the brand upmarket

How do you target a mainstream audience with more premium products?

"It starts in quality, styling, technology and the features we offer the driver - many as standard. It's the overall experience. I wouldn't point at any one aspect.

"We have a different approach to design to some of our other Japanese manufacturer colleagues in that the 'car as art' is important to Mazda, to try to have simplicity and a beautiful product that customers aspire to, rather than clutter. We've all perhaps been victims and creators of that in the past."

Is this approach resonating with buyers?

"The sales stats suggest they are. What is brand? It's the premium someone's willing to pay above and beyond the cost of the materials made to make something.

"The reason you'll pay extra is that you have a desire to own that brand and it's not always a tangible thing. You're not buying something physical.

"Last year, the industry was up 1% and we were up 14%, and in private retail the industry was up 6% and we were up 12%. That's in a crisis year.

"People are still seeking out and wanting to own Mazda products, and as we go in 2022, we anticipate growing our volumes by around 25%, which is way ahead of the expected industry growth, and we'll be doing that off the back of extraordinary customer demand at the moment."

How is Mazda evolving its business model in the UK?

"We've decided to stick with the traditional dealer relationship, which serves us and our customers very well. Different manufacturers have different reasons for going down the agency route, but we don't think it's for us.

"Our dealers in lockdown made great leaps forward in terms of online transactions and similarly we've supported them with updates to the way we approach it.

"In recent weeks, we've introduced a stock checker and reservation process within our website, so you can reserve a Mazda for a £99 fully refundable fee, which gives you the confidence – in a world of almost no stock – if you identify a car from a local dealer which fits your needs, you can tag it while you continue that journey.

"We still believe it's going to be mainly omni-channel. We don't believe there will be much evidence, in the coming years, of a full end-to-end online purchase process.

"We believe the value to the customer is in the interpersonal engagement with well-trained and enthusiastic dealer staff."

Will Mazda UK be ready to meet the 2030 EV deadline?

"We have one BEV today, the Mazda MX-30. It hasn't had a full year of sales but in 2021 it was approaching 10% of our total volume. That's a little behind the overall market at around 11% BEV last year.

"The SMMT forecasts BEVs will still be less than one-fifth of all car sales in 2023. By then, we will be well on the way to launching five HEVs, five PHEVs and three EVs globally, the majority of which I expect to see in the UK.

"We've made a full commitment that we'll be electrified in time for the 2030 and 2035 deadlines in the UK.

"What I think is interesting is the nuance within that, the cadence of it and the appropriateness of it to what people actually want to buy and what they're capable of having.

"Our multi-platform strategy gives us many more options for people's quite different approaches to this.

"Will we be ready for these legislative lines in the sand? Absolutely, we've got a business to run.

"But it's not going to be as binary as 'the internal combustion engine is dead and the electric car is the only way forward today'. We have a much more progressive and nuanced approach to it."

Do a lot of Mazda customers still tie the brand into the legacy of the MX-5?

"Yes, in a very helpful way to be honest. It provides a very positive anchor to the brand - a kind of focal point – and when you talk to customers about an MX-5, they know what it is so you don't have to explain the principles of a lightweight, affordable roadster.

"I'm truly hopeful there will be a place for that car line for many, many years to come."