Mazda Motor Corp's sales in China surged 51 per cent last year from 2004, contributing to the bulk of its parent Ford Motor Co's overall 2005 sales in the world's No 3 vehicle market.

The Japanese carmaker, with 33.4 per cent held by Ford, sold 133,778 vehicles in China last year, Mazda said in a statement yesterday.

Ford announced earlier this week that sales of all of its affiliated brands, including Ford, Mazda, Lincoln, Volvo, Land Rover and Jaguar, grew by 41 per cent to a new record of more than 220,000 vehicles last year in China.

"Mazda's growth rate in China greatly exceeded the overall passenger vehicle market growth for the four consecutive years," said Satoshi Tachikake, president of Mazda Motor (Shanghai) Business Management & Consulting Co Ltd.

The company's 2005 sales growth in China was up from a 21 per cent rate in 2004.

It is now producing the Mazda6 and Mazda323 Familiar sedans and Premacy vans in China with First Automotive Works Corp, the nation's top vehicle manufacturer.

Tachikake said Mazda would beef up its product line-up and improve customer satisfaction to achieve its mid-term goal of selling 300,000 vehicles in China by 2010.

Last year, Mazda said it planned to bring eight new models into China within the next three to five years.

However, Tachikake forecast a much milder growth of about 10 per cent in Mazda's 2006 sales in China.

Matthew Li, an analyst with consultancy firm Automotive Resources Asia Ltd, said: "This is a conservative prediction.

"It seems reasonable as the Mazda323 and Premacy are aged models and the Mazda6 will face more severe competition from rival models, such as Honda Accord and Toyota's Reiz and Camry."

"But Mazda will continue to be the best-selling brand within the Ford Group over the next two to three years in China. It will take Ford's other brands some time to win wide acceptance among local customers due to their later entry into the market," Li told China Daily.

Earlier this month, Yin Jiaxu, president of Chang'an Motor Corp, said that the No 4 Chinese automaker's joint venture with Ford would launch a Mazda3 sedan this year in East China's Jiangsu Province.

Mazda formed an engine venture with Ford and Chang'an last year in Jiangsu, which is to operate next year with an initial production capacity of 350,000 units a year.

Sales of Ford brand vehicles in China grew by 46 per cent to 82,225 units last year, the Detroit-based group said.

Combined sales of Lincoln, Volvo, Land Rover and Jaguar only stood at some 8,000 units in China last year.

Ford's venture with Chang'an is now making the Fiesta, Mondeo and Focus in Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality.

Total Sales of made-in-China vehicles grew by 12.56 per cent to 5.71 million units last year.

Source: China Daily