TOKYO/BEIJING: Japanese automaker Mazda Motor Corp said on Tuesday it and two Chinese partners have agreed to form a new venture in which it will have a 47.5% stake.
State-owned Chongqing Changan Automobile will also hold 47.5% of the new joint venture, Changan Mazda Automobile Co Ltd (CMA). FAW will own the remaining 5%.
“The three companies aim to utilise every strategic and managerial opportunity in the new joint investment company and strive to make its business and management system optimal to adapt to the needs of the expanding Chinese market,” Mazda said in a statement.
In China, the world’s biggest car market, Mazda’s sales lag far behind other Japanese automakers. It sold 214,574 vehicles in China last year, down from 227,750 units in 2019. Toyota Motor, Honda Motor and Nissan Motor all sold over one million cars in China in 2020.
Earlier it was reported that Changan aims to sell 3 million vehicles a year in 2025, and 4.5 million annually in 2030, its chairman Zhu Huarong said on Tuesday.
Zhu said 35% of its sales in 2025 will be new energy vehicles (NEVs), including battery electric, plug-in hybrid and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles. Sixty percent of its sales in 2030 will be NEVs.
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Chongqing-based Changan, which is developing electric vehicles (EV) with Huawei Technologies and battery maker CATL, plans to invest 150 billion yuan ($23.14 billion) in the smart electric vehicle industry in the next five years.
Smartphone maker Xiaomi has been ramping up investments in EV suppliers after it unveiled its EV ambition with an investment of $10 billion in March, following its peers from Apple Inc to Huawei Technologies Co as they bet on more cars becoming battery-powered and smart.