Record year in Scotland as Mazda climbs sales chart

Mazda ended 2007 with its highest ever share of the Scottish market having sold a record number of cars. The Japanese car maker saw its sales grow by 20.5 percent over 2006 to give it a market share above 3 percent for the first time in a full year ending the year at 3.41 percent.

The Scottish market was remarkably robust in 2007 with sales growing by 3.45 percent against 2.47 percent for the rest of the UK.

Mazda sold 6,855 cars in Scotland, an increase of 1,168 over 2006, overtaking Nissan, Audi and Mercedes-Benz to end 2007 in 11th place, just 450 cars behind Fiat compared to 13th place in 2006. Since 2005, Mazda has seen sales grow by a remarkable 43 percent in Scotland.

Mazda has great dealer coverage in Scotland stretching from Glasgow to the Shetlands, explained Jeremy Thomson, Mazda UK’s Sales Director.

“Our retail market share has improved remarkably in the last year, in 2006 just three dealers were above 3 percent retail market share. This has increased to 11 dealers reaching over 3 percent retail market share during 2007,” he said.

Mazda2 has been buoyant, even in the run-out of the outgoing model, and 2008 will be a big opportunity for all-new Mazda2 with its first full year of sales.

The top selling car in Scotland last year was Mazda6 with 2,450 cars sold, said Thomson. The early indications for the all-new Mazda6, launched at the end of 2007, were positive. The second best seller was the C-segment family car the Mazda3.

“Mazda’s growth in the Scottish market has built on the gains of previous years and with a full model line up we are very optimistic for more growth in 2008,” added Thomson.