More problems for Mazda Motor Corp., which doesn’t seem to be going as well as its management had hoped after the company broke free (or so to speak) from the Ford group back in 2008.
Today, Japanese business daily Nikkei reported that Mazda has decided to pull the plug on its commercial vehicle division in the second half of the decade due to declining domestic demand.
While the company will continue to offer commercial vehicles, it will no longer develop or produce them. Instead, Mazda will expand its Original Equipment Manufacturing business rebadging commercial vehicles from other brands.
According to Reuters, currently, the Japanese automaker has OEM agreements with Isuzu Motors Ltd for trucks, Nissan Motor Co for commercial vans and Suzuki Motor Corp for mini commercial models.
Nikkei reported that Mazda will likely record a group net loss of 100 billion yen (US$1.19 billion) for the fiscal year ending this month.