ASH8

TOKYO --

Mazda Motor Corp.'s under-used U.S. assembly plant, operated with partner Ford, is dragging the Japanese automaker's North American operations deeper into the red.

Mazda booked a ¥10 billion ($119.5 million) operating loss for North America, the company's single biggest market, in the fiscal second quarter ended Sept. 30. That widened a loss of ¥4.3 million ($51.4 million) a year ago, despite a 3.6 percent regional sales gain.

CEO Takashi Yamanouchi partially blamed the yen's appreciation against the dollar for the loss. But he also pointed a finger at the company's Flat Rock, Mich., plant, which is operating at about half its capacity because of plunging demand for the Mazda6 sedan made there.

"The profitability of our product built at the local plant is not too good," Yamanouchi said while announcing second-quarter earnings Oct. 29 in Tokyo. "They are only operating on one shift now, and they have capacity for two shifts, so it's difficult."

Mazda planned to make and sell 100,000 units of the Mazda6 annually in North America, when the redesigned sedan was launched at Flat Rock in mid-2008. Then the financial crisis hit.

This year, the plant produced only 30,393 units of the Mazda6 through Oct. 23.

Mazda is searching for ways to better utilize the plant, where longtime partner Ford Motor Co. manufactures the Ford Mustang. Ford made 63,984 Mustangs through September.

"We will talk with Ford to see what improvements can be made," Yamanouchi said.

Despite the North American operating loss, Mazda reported an 11-fold increase in global net income for the second quarter, on the back of 3.1 percent increase in global revenue. Profit rose to ¥7.6 billion ($90.9 million), from ¥700 million ($8.37 million) a year earlier.

Citing brisk sales in all markets except Europe, Mazda raised its net income forecast to ¥6 billion from an earlier outlook of ¥5 billion ($59.8 million) for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2011. That compares with a net loss of ¥6.48 billion ($77.5 million) the year before.


http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dl...311019951/1424

kvndoom

Financial crisis my ***. I called that bullshit 2 years ago. It looks like a damn Camry, but if people want a Camry, they will buy a Camry, and nothing will change that. Get rid of this driving-appliance piece of ****, and bring the real-world Mazda 6 over here, and bring the fun back!

Razz1

The last thing on peoples minds is buying a new car.

However, they could target the Camary owners with marketing techniques to get them in the show room.

dos

Misleading title is misleading.

Shouldn't the title read Mazda 6 Drags N.A. into Red.

kvndoom

Toyota sold almost 30,000 Camrys in September (about the total Mazda 6's sold all year so far), and over 130,000 vehicles total. Mazda wanted some of that action, but they ain't gettin' it. I guess Mazda thought if Toyota could move almost 400,000 in a year, they could get 100,000 with their ripoff.

I don't have any sympathy for them bleeding out the *** on the NA-spec 6, because they decided to make it pedestrian instead of staying true to their roots. They need to look at what has made the 3 so popular (it's their bread and butter right now, by a huge margin) and act accordingly. Sadly, it sounds like they want to move the 6 even further upmarket, so obviously they haven't learned their lesson yet.

9krpmrx8

iTrader: (46)

Yeah my GF was in the market for a 6 last month and after we went and test drove them and compared them to the Altima, Accord, etc., she picked a fully loaded 2.5 mazda 3 instead . I don't know what it is but the 6 just didn't feel right like the rest of the line-up. I have driven the previous body style Speed 6 and it was much nicer.

The fully loaded Mazda 3's are a real nice car for the price. I think they needed to step it up a bit on the 6. For me it just felt big and the fake exhaust tips and the ride height and seating position were just off. We also test drove a fully loaded Altima SR and it felt like a Benz compared to the 6. But the Altima was just a bit more than she wanted to pay and they wouldn't deal at Nissan for some reason.

77mjd

[QUOTE=Razz1;3768402]The last thing on peoples minds is buying a new car.

/QUOTE]

What do you mean? Buying a car is always on my mind. Finding something I like and can afford is another thing though.