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Ken Gratton30 Jun 2021
NEWS

Mazda Australia eyeing 13 new electrified models

Plan to roll out 13 EVs and hybrids by 2025 will go ahead in Oz, provided the business case stacks up

Mazda intends to expand its range in Australia with 13 alt-energy vehicles – including three EVs, five mild-hybrids and five plug-in hybrids – by 2025.

But it says product planning will be critical. If the numbers don’t add up, one or more of those 13 models won’t get off the ground here.

Speaking at this week’s launch of Mazda Australia’s first EV, the MX-30 Electric, the company’s marketing and product director Alastair Doak told carsales he would rather commit to more model lines than fewer, including those that may not sell here in huge numbers.

“Just assume 'yes',” Doak replied, when asked whether it was probable that the new hybrids and EVs would launch here.

“The going-in proposition is always: 'Why can't it work, in Australia?'

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“And look, [for] some of them the answer might be 'no, it doesn't', and therefore we're not going to take it, because it's just wasting everybody's time. And there's a cost involved in doing that, so that would be silly.

“We believe choice is the right way to go, and ... we've been demonstrating that for a while now...

“We've had some level of success. The good news is the factory can support that. Our infrastructure here can support that, and that includes our systems at MA [Mazda Australia], but also our dealers are quite open to as many models as possible. They see that as a positive, not a burden.

“So again, once you've got all those things in a row, that just makes the conversation much easier.”

The local rollout of electrified Mazdas is helped too by the fact that Australia is one of the largest markets in the world for Mazda products, with a market share of nine per cent in 2020.

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Mazda is very ‘catholic’ where powertrain technology is concerned, a point that Mazda Australia managing director Vinesh Bhindi fully acknowledges.

“From our point of view, if the model's available, if the technology's available, if it makes sense that we expose this in Australia, we will absolutely put up a business case...

“We are very keen on all of that technology.”

But as keen as the company may be, it won’t give up market share by ditching powertrain technology that is still lucrative in some parts of the world.

“Mazda Corporation is building, investing in many technologies, because they recognise that it's not as if – what others are saying – that one day everybody's going to wake up and say: 'I'll only buy EVs',” Bhindi continued.

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“Some brands are taking the position that they'll stop, and [then] sell EVs. Mazda Corporation thinks that around the globe, every country, every region will be at a different point in the journey.

“So they have to have the technology available to meet the demands of that region, that country. Now whether it be consumer-driven, government or regulation-driven, whether it fits well into the renewable resource that each region has, that will dictate what is the right technology for that country.

“Now in Australia, we think it's still some time away before someone says that it's EVs and EVs only.”

Nonetheless, Mazda Australia welcomes its parent’s commitment to “having 25 per cent of all Mazda vehicles sold globally to be purely EV-powered by 2030 – with all models having some form of electrification.”

“This reaffirms our sustainable 'Zoom-Zoom' 2030 strategy, and it is something that we at Mazda Australia fully support,” Bhindi said.

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Written byKen Gratton
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