Mazda is looking to unveil a new midterm plan for its electric vehicle (EV) strategy in November as it shifts to a “brand purpose” through 2030, according to a report from Automotive News.
The Hiroshima-based automaker is set to announce its Q2 earnings on November 10, after missing plans to shift to an EV strategy in the spring.
“It took a long time because there has been so much change,” said one executive familiar with the EV plans. “We tried to absorb and take into account all the changes for a clear roadmap.”
The Japanese automaker currently has a target of seeing 25% of its global sales to be from battery electric cars by 2030 as part of the stretched out plan, or about 450,000 EVs. The company plans to debut a new EV platform around 2025.
On top of this, some U.S. dealers are skeptical about short term EV demand.
Mazda is expected share roll-out plans for new crossovers the CX-70 and CX-70 in the U.S., as well as the CX-60 and CX-80 in Japan, Europe and a few other markets.
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The company also intends to regain lost production affected earlier this year by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, pandemic lockdowns across China and continued global supply chain issues.
Mazda also said it’s focused on “refilling inventory,” and the company also reports that “performance is up” amidst the plans to shift to an EV strategy.
In the U.S., Mazda’s sales dropped 21 percent to just 215,391 through September, while the market overall was down just 13 percent.
The automaker’s first EV, the MX-30 SUV, was purposely tuned to be slower to feel more like a gas car.
