July 2003

- Trish Whelan

Mazda is fastest mover

22 July 2003: Mazda is the fastest growing Japanese car company in Europe, according to figures for the first half of 2003. Kia is the second fastest.

Mazda's total sales for the six months smashed through the 100,000 barrier to finish at 106,257 (Kia's six-month total was 62,126).

For Mazda, sales so far this year are up 38.5 per cent and its market share has increased to 1.4 per cent of the Western European market for the year, according to the latest provisional figures from ACEA, the European automobile constructors' association. Last year, Mazda had a one per cent market share.

So far this year, the Japanese car makers have sold 928,748 cars in Europe, an increase of six per cent over the 876,100 units sold in the first six months of 2002.

Total Western European sales in June were 1,315,263, up 2.9 per cent over June last year. This gives a total for the first six months of the year of 7.56 million, down from 7.76 million last year, a decline of 2.6 per cent.

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