Mazda will use the image of athlete Dick Fosbury and his famous backward flip high jump of 1968 to launch the new 3 here in the UK.
“It’s one of many examples of people who have challenged convention that we will use and is an easy way to show what Mazda is doing,” said UK managing director Jeremy Thomson. “You don’t have to be a sports fan to know about Dick Fosbury.”
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
Previous campaigns, introducing customers to ‘Skyactiv’ technology and ‘Kodo’ design, have been more introspective, focusing on how the automaker as a company has changed and challenges convention, said Thomson.
“We’re moving on, looking outside the company at how other people have challenged convention, adding substance to our promise,” he said. Thomson traces the automaker’s desire to be different to what he calls the company’s ‘Hiroshima spirit’. Mazda stayed on after World War II in the devastation of the city caused by a nuclear bomb when other companies left the region.
The 3 launch comes as Mazda is enjoying strong sales and record financial results. The company finally made a profit in the last financial year after years of losses, and the first quarter of this financial year was the best since 2004 – the year when Japanese companies had to start providing quarterly rather than half-year figures, said Mazda Europe president Jeff Guyton.
“Actually, if you look through our accounts it was our best quarter on record.” Global sales last year were 1.2m unit and will reach 1.3m this year on the way towards a target of 1.7m by 2016, he said.
In Europe, sales were up 10% in the first half of the year driven by strong demand for the 6 and CX-5, said Guyton. Historically, the 3, which can be traced back through the 323 to the 808/818 line of the 1970s, has been the company’s best seller with more than 3.6m sales over the last 10 years.
In the UK, the new 3 is expected to reach sales of 10,000 next year, said Thomson. The outgoing model will end the year with sales of around 6,000.
“Dealer reaction has been very positive so I think that 10,000 is a conservative estimate,” said Thomson.
The C segment is dominated by fleet buys which account for 70% of sales. Thomson expects that to be reversed with 70% to private customers and only 30% to companies.
“It’s only three centimetres shorter than a BMW 3 series so it’s a tremendous alternative to premium models with a brand that is not mainstream.”
