Mazda reaches all-time record market share at 2.7%

January sales have proved outstanding for the Japanese manufacturer that brought us Zoom-Zoom with the iconic two-seater sports car Mazda MX-5 and the rotary-powered Mazda RX-8 sports coupé. Despite a car market that fell 13% year-on-year, Mazda has reached an all-time record market share in the UK at 2.7 per cent with sales of 4,400 units ranking as the 12thth best selling car company in the UK for the month.

January 2006 marks the most successful January ever for Mazda UK with a nine per cent increase on January last year. The market share high follows Mazda's most successful sales month ever last September which achieved a 2.2 per cent market share.

Britain's Favourite Sports Car Brand

Mazda is celebrating two landmarks for sales this month as the recently published SMMT (Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders) sports car segment figures for 2005 confirm that Mazda is now Britain's favourite sports car brand holding a majority share of the total sports car segment of 13.8 per cent from 10,153 sports car sales. Mazda's majority share of the sports car segment was followed by premium car brands Porsche at 10.9 per cent and Mercedes-Benz at 10.6 per cent.

January Sales Success

Most popular Mazda car for January was the Mazda6 at 1,324 units closely followed by the Mazda3 at 1,136 units. The sports models also enjoyed continued success this New Year with 583 and 393 sales respectively of the MX-5 and RX-8. Family models the Mazda5 and supermini Mazda2 had another popular month with 471 Mazda5's and 387 Mazda2's leaving showrooms. Meanwhile, pick up sales remain steady with around 100 sales of the B-series in January.

Sales director Jeremy Thomson commented on this record sales month: "We are delighted to reach a 2.7 per cent market share for the first time. Sales of our volume family and company car models Mazda3 and Mazda6 continue to grow in popularity, while the success of our sports models Mazda MX-5 and RX-8 go from strength to strength.

"Between now and March we have a lot of activity with a National Test Drive week at Mazda dealerships nationwide from 14-19 February promoting the all new Mazda6 MPS - our highest performance saloon ever - Mazda MX-5 and the first Special Edition Mazda RX-8 ‘Evolve’. We are also launching a Limited Edition Range called Sakata on Mazda2, Mazda3 and Mazda6, which offers a little bit of sports car into everyday motoring at an affordable price. Finally, Mazda2 gets a refreshing upgrade this month and is on sale in showrooms now."