Mazda would like to become a luxury brand
For some years, Mazda tries, with its Signature versions, to follow the established order of European luxury brands. Surprisingly, the small Japanese manufacturer has been able to do well by offering products that are just as well presented as some of its German competitors, and at a lower price. We now learn that Mazda would like to go even further by becoming a real Japanese luxury brand.
This idea of wanting to transform Mazda in a brand that markets only luxury products is not that crazy. In reality, this is an ingenious marketing strategy to increase profits on every model. Because in the end, a high profit margin is much more valuable to a business than volume, i.e. the number of copies sold.
It is Jeremy Thomson, the boss of Mazda in England, who would have spoken about the subject to the media Motor1. He says he would like to see his brand become a real alternative to established luxury brands. He then added that he did not necessarily want to model the business model of the Germans, but rather to compete with them by offering something younger, more dynamic and, above all, different.
Going after Lexus
Mr. Thomson sees Mazda becoming a strong competitor for Lexus, which he says is the only Japanese luxury brand to have successfully beaten German brands Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Porsche. He says that while Acura and Infiniti are also in this sphere, they are not international brands like Lexus. Mazda could therefore become the second Japanese manufacturer in the world to infiltrate this category. It is not yet known if it intends to split the company to continue offering a range of more affordable models.
But Genesis is moving fast
Although Mazda’s aspirations seem interesting, one should not overlook Genesis, a South Korean luxury brand that has just arrived in German territory being “young”, “dynamic” and “different”. Note an all-in-one business model that attracts buyers of traditional German brands and an online sales principle with home delivery.
The rapid success of Genesis is already beginning to threaten the existence of some competitors, including Infiniti, which sold almost the same number of vehicles in Canada and the United States in 2021. If Mazda, a very small manufacturer, really wants to infiltrating this sector, it will not only have the Germans in its sights, but also the South Korean machine which is evolving at a phenomenal rate.