Mazda6, CX-5 to boost Mazda sales, loyalty
Photo credit: JOE WILSSENS
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ORLANDO -- Mazda has struggled with customer loyalty for years, but the launch of the redesigned Mazda6 and a full year of CX-5 sales should reverse the trend, executives and dealers said at the make meeting.
The Mazda6 began reaching dealerships in January in a soft launch due to receive national marketing in earnest in May, said dealer council chairman Rob King, owner of Bob King Automotive Group (Hyundai-Kia-Mazda-Mitsubishi) in Winston-Salem, N.C.
"This isn't going to be a launch-and-abandon situation," King said. "We're selling units online now, but we have our [advertising] war chest ready."
 | Stephen Wade: Less stress |
Multiline dealer Stephen Wade of St. George, Utah, said Mazda dealer profits are the best in 10 years and that he cannot get enough Mazda6 units.
"We're starting to see an opening with Mazda," Wade said. "It's not the stress that it has been in the past."
Michael MacDonald, who has Mazda stores in Bountiful and Orem, Utah, said Mazda has relied on the Mazda3 compact to lure young customers who are now ready to move up to the Mazda6 mid-sized sedan and CX-5 compact crossover. U.S. sales of the CX-5 began in February 2012.
Mazda also is launching service-loyalty marketing programs aimed at customers scheduled to turn in a used Mazda for a new vehicle, MacDonald said.
Mazda has one of the industry's lowest loyalty rates: 26 percent, according to J.D. Power and Associates.
Robert Davis, senior vice president of Mazda's U.S. operations group, believes Mazda can top 300,000 units this year, up from 277,046 last year, an 11 percent gain. And that will happen with Mazda fleet volumes declining.
But growing volume is less important than finishing in the black, which Mazda is doing again in North America.
"We are living up to our commitments," Davis said. "There's never a program that doesn't focus on profit."
• Benefit from full year of CX-5 sales
• Increase loyalty
You can reach Mark Rechtin at mrechtin@crain.com. -- Follow Mark on 
