Mazda planning a new crossover between CX-5 and CX-9?

Strong market for SUVs could spawn a replacement for the departed CX-7

Four years ago, CEO Masamichi Kogai predicted Mazda would be notching annual U.S. sales of 400,000 vehicles by now. Instead, it is in a second-straight year of decline, with volume under 300,000 and market share retreating from an erstwhile goal of 2 percent.

Now Kogai says the U.S. resurgence will start in earnest in 2019 and kick into overdrive in 2021 when Mazda adds an all-new crossover designed for and built exclusively in the U.S.

Giving first details of the new nameplate in a Nov. 16 interview, Kogai said it has potential to be the brand's best-seller. He said it would slot into Mazda's three-vehicle crossover lineup without cannibalizing the CX-3, CX-5 and CX-9.

The vehicle will be produced starting in 2021 at the plant Mazda and Toyota plan to jointly build in the U.S.

Mazda will initially dedicate its entire capacity of 150,000 units there to the vehicle. For comparison, Mazda's best-selling nameplate, the CX-5, managed just 112,235 units in 2016.

"We have big expectations," Kogai said of the new utility entry. "This is our declaration that we are going to grow our business in the U.S."

Arriving in 2021, Mazda's new SUV is decidedly long term. But Kogai hopes for a hit by developing something uniquely tailored to U.S. needs.

"We are actually going to introduce a totally new and different type of SUV," he said. "R&D is coordinating with our North American operations on that right now."

The CX-5 is one of three Mazda crossovers and is its best-selling nameplate.

The lineup has room between the CX-5 and CX-9, where the discontinued CX-7 used to sit, said Dave Sargent, vice president of global automotive at J.D. Power. Said Sargent: "They've got to fill out their crossover lineup if they want to increase volume significantly."

Mazda is racing to tilt its car-heavy lineup toward crossovers, which accounted for only 57 percent of its U.S. sales through October. Kogai wants Mazda's balance to be 60 percent. The industry at large's sales were 64 percent light trucks through October.

Fortifying crossovers is only part of Mazda's roadmap to growth in the U.S., where sales fell 2.4 percent to 241,108 through October and market share hovered at 1.7 percent.

Before the new crossover lands, Mazda is unleashing a blitz of new technologies, overhauling the U.S. dealer network and reining in incentives to get the U.S. back on track.

"We are in a transitional period," Kogai said. "We need to improve and strengthen our brand."

The new tech begins arriving in 2019, when Mazda introduces a mild hybrid, an electric vehicle and the company's Skyactiv-X gasoline engine, which features compression ignition for more power and better fuel economy. Also debuting that year will be a sexy new design language and a redesigned, lightweight vehicle platform with better driving dynamics.

But another big focus will be brand image and retail experience.

Mazda routinely ranks below average in the J.D. Power sales satisfaction, customer satisfaction and brand appeal studies. Consideration ranks ninth among non-luxury brands, according to Cox Automotive, behind every Japanese rival but Mitsubishi.

Meanwhile, Mazda's residual values still trail its main Japanese counterparts, and the brand spends more on incentives, per average transaction price, than Honda, Toyota and Subaru, according to Cox.

Last year, Mazda embarked on a three-year dealership upgrade targeting some 130 outlets across the U.S.

The campaign entails moving some locations and changing dealers, introducing new outlet designs and strengthening dealer training. Incentives are being structured around customer service and customer evaluation, instead of raw volume, Kogai said.

"We still need to have an improvement in the quality of sales," he said. "We are sticking to our right-price sales approach to improve our brand. We are building that foundation now. Customers are really seeing the value of the vehicles and not just purchasing them because of price."

"Mazda plans new SUV for U.S. growth" originally appeared in Automotive News on 11/25/2017

By Hans Greimel at Automotive News