Mazda Says It Wants To Evolve Into Fully Fledged Luxury Brand

Why does it seem like more and more automakers are aspiring to become luxury brands? The answer is simple – higher profit margins. It’s not all about who sells the most cars because the accountant will tell you that the money made on each vehicle shipped is just as important. For example, Mazda has been gradually moving upscale with its newest products and will step things up with a new wave of RWD-based models.

Jeremy Thomson, the company’s UK boss, said car the goal is to turn the Zoom-Zoom company into a fully fledged luxury car manufacturer: “Our aspiration is to be a credible alternative to the traditional mainstream premium and that means non-German. We don’t want to emulate the German premium because it’s so well catered for by incumbents.” exist and it may not be possible to beat them at their own game.”

In other words, Mazda doesn’t want to be the next Mercedes, BMW, or Audi, but instead offers something fresh to appeal to premium car buyers looking for a makeover. He went on to say there is still room in the bustling luxury segment for high-end Japanese cars. Jeremy Thomson admits the Lexus is “about a third the size of Mazda in terms of sales,” but the goal is to occupy “a slightly different space.”

When asked directly by car whether Mazda wants to be the next Lexus, the British firm’s head said “why not,” adding Toyota’s luxury division is the only Japanese brand competing with the German trio. That said, we must not forget Acura and Infiniti also play in the big leagues, although they are not really global brands.

This isn’t the first time Mazda has wanted to improve its image as few will remember the defunct Amati sub-brand since the early 1990s. That never happened because the Japanese economy plummeted in 1992, resulting in a shortage of liquidity for automakers. The ill-fated brand was supposed to be out in the spring of 1994, but Mazda pulled the plug.

Fast forward to 2022, the CX-60 to CX-90 SUVs driving the new RWD platform with the inline-six engine and PHEV powertrain will allow Mazda to take on the German trio. Some would argue it’s a bit late with EVs taking over, but the Japanese automaker is investing heavily in that area too.