MAZDA Australia managing director Martin Benders says the company is “very happy” with its record sales performance in 2016, despite its main passenger car trio declining in volume by up to 17.2 per cent versus 2015.

Despite moves to increase specification in the Mazda3 and Mazda6 line-up over the past 12 months, the company’s small and medium passenger car mainstays both recorded sharper falls in volume than the average for each segment.

While the small car segment dropped by 3.7 per cent in 2016, the Mazda3 tumbled by 6.6 per cent to 36,107 units. The medium car segment contracted by 4.5 per cent over the same period, but the Mazda6 fell by 17.2 per cent to 4369 sales.

Only the Mazda2’s 6.0 per cent downturn to 13,639 sales proved less critical than the light car segment’s 15.1 per cent collapse last year, although it still meant all three of Mazda’s traditional bread-and-butter models returned a negative result in what was still a record year for the number-two automotive brand in Australia.

Overall, the Japanese brand’s sales were up 3.7 per cent to 118,217 units, but its passenger car sales were down 6.2 per cent (to 55,692) while its SUVs climbed 16.6 per cent (to 48,021) and LCV sales, comprising solely of the BT-50 ute, were up 7.4 per cent (to 14,504).

Mr Benders said the individual passenger model falls were simply reflective of the market’s shift away from passenger vehicles towards SUVs and were “within our expectations” for 2016.

“It’s reflective of the shift (to SUVs), the general shift from passenger cars to SUVs is a trend that we don’t see softening anytime soon,” he told GoAuto recently at the national media launch of the MX-5 RF.

“Certainly, with Mazda3 it’s reflective of the shift because I think we either held or gained share, with Mazda2 it’s definitely a shift and Mazda6 is more to do with private buyers moving to SUVs at a faster rate than company (fleet) buyers.

“While we’re still playing a little bit in the company sphere with Mazda6, we’re not as strong there as some of the others.”

Sales of the Mazda CX-3 skyrocketed 44.9 per cent last year to 18,334 units, the CX-5 dropped by only 2.3 per cent to 24,564 units despite being in the final year of its lifecycle, and the new CX-9 soared by 51.4 per cent to 5123 units despite only being available since the middle of last year.

“I suspect that some of the small cars being up was at the expense of light cars,” said Mr Benders, referring to the influence of some aggressive deals such as the $19,990 driveaway Hyundai i30 automatic campaign last year.

“But the small SUV segment has grown dramatically and I think that has sucked a lot of people out of both of those (light and small car) segments.

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“We’re seeing lower return rates in that light car segment, and lower levels of first-time buyers going into light cars, so they’re buying something else. So it’s either a small passenger car or it’s one of the small SUVs in the market.”

Mr Benders said that Australians becoming more affluent was a factor in pulling buyers away from the more affordable passenger car classes, although he also added that “there’s a big proportion of downsizers who used to go to light cars but are now going to something like a CX-3 because it has that little bit of extra height, and little bit more ease of entry”.

He also admitted that there is only “a little bit of scope” for extra Mazda volume overall this year, and the gains again will not be owing to the Mazda2, Mazda3 and Mazda6 – but rather thanks to the launch of the new CX-5 and the CX-9 having its first full year on sale.

“There’s still that move from passenger cars to SUVs, so even though the industry may be relatively flat or slightly up, within that there will still be growth in SUVs as passenger cars shrink,” he said.

“So to have a new CX-9 only six months old and a brand-new CX-5, and while those segments are still growing, is a good place to be. It does give us an opportunity to harvest a little bit more (volume).”

Mr Benders confessed that a slowing fourth quarter of 2016 caught some manufacturers off guard after a buoyant first three quarters of the year. He anticipated the market would start slow this year, but expected new vehicle sales to improve as the year progressed.

“For the first nine months, the industry was running up year-over-year and everybody was ordering at that pace, and then suddenly in the last quarter it slowed down to flat,” he said.

“That caused a bit of indigestion with the flow that came through, but we’re adjusting to that.”

Asked what factors caused the slowdown of sales, Mr Benders replied: “It’s basic economic factors. I think slowing full-time employment growth, slowing approvals for new houses in the building sector, those general things are happening underneath that are there but you don’t really see.

“It becomes an awareness thing and people’s confidence softens a little bit.

“It’s not a massive shift – in 2014 the industry slowed, in 2015 and 2016 we’ve had seven or eight quarters of year-over-year growth, and then the last quarter came back to flat or slightly down.

“We think the year will still finish flat or maybe up a little bit, so we’re happy to live with that. Factors that have affected the last quarter won’t wash out straight away. The industry is on one of those little cycle things.”

Daniel DeGasperi