Here’s a fun one to consider as we start the new year: Mazda doesn’t sell a single Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) in the United States and, yet, it massively outgrew every other major automaker and is on its way to setting a sales record. How did Mazda do this?
The Morning Dump this week is likely to be dominated by sales data because we’re going to start learning how every automaker ultimately did. If you read this column regularly then you know there’s a lot I’m personally watching, including how the Honda Prologue stacks up against the Equinox EV, how close we get to 16 million car sales for 2024, and how fears about the IRA EV tax credit going away are impacting EV sales.
Right off the bat, we learned how Tesla did this year against BYD, barely keeping its crown. I’m curious if this means Tesla is going to lose it in 2025. Markets like Norway certainly help Tesla, and this year only a tiny number of cars will be powered by the traditional gasoline engine.
Selling cars is, it seems, a good business, and one New England dealer has done well enough that he’s giving away $100 million for a new center to help find a cure for cancer.
Car Buyers Think They Know What They Want
I invite you to watch a Richmond-area Mazda dealer’s advertisement, which deploys a Sia song called “Unstoppable,” though it removes the line about being a “Porsche with no brakes.”
The campaign is called “Move and Be Moved” and it’s what Mazda’s North American President Tom Donnelly credits with Mazda’s success this year.
I touched on this last month, but Mazda grew a lot in 2024 and has already set a record for its best year ever. You can see in this chart from Cox Automotive that the automaker’s projected 16.3% increase in annual sales is far outpacing the market, and if it weren’t a smaller brand, it would have had the biggest market share increase (that went to Honda, which sells more than 3x the number of vehicles Mazda does).
“Mazda is a brand that takes you places and moves you forward, and visually the tone, the language of the campaign, is very different from anything in the marketplace,” Donnelly told Automotive News earlier this year.
That sounds like a lot of marketing nonsense-speak, and these ads are definitely of the models doing lifestyle things while a voiceover tries to make you feel like the only difference between the you that runs across mountains and the one that starts a TikTok channel devoted to new Takis flavors is a CX-30 variety. Still, this works for a couple of reasons.
“The problem we’re trying to solve is, from our research, 89% of car shoppers know the brand they want to purchase, and 79% end up purchasing that brand,” said Donnelly in the same interview.
Mazda doesn’t have a luxury brand, so the company is trying to move itself in a slightly more premium space. It also has one other big trick up its sleeve.
“Our aspiration is we want to offer competitive incentives, so that we can transact and continue to grow our business, but we also want to price our vehicles appropriately.” He admitted they were very competitive with incentive spend in the first year, though Donnelly said they’ve moderated incentives and spent more on marketing.
How is it possible that Nissan is struggling, Honda thinks it needs Nissan, and yet Mazda is doing so well and doesn’t have any electric cars for sale, two PHEVs, and a hybrid borrowed from Toyota?
There are some obvious factors. The cars and crossovers all look great. There isn’t a bad-looking Mazda for sale. Additionally, they aren’t always the best vehicle in any specific category, but unlike Nissan none of them are the worst. Mazda has just continued to make attractive, competitively priced, well-engineered vehicles, and hasn’t been as distracted by having to market an uncompetitive EV (which is maybe why the company’s one attempt in the USA was so weird).
Donnelly, though, gave it away earlier. Mazda has moved some of its vehicles up a little in the marketplace and has adjusted some of its pricing upwards, but it’s also countered that with a lot of incentives to start the year. It then spent a lot of money trying to incept the idea of “choosing” a Mazda in the minds of a lot of people.
It can do this because it’s a Japanese company and the Japanese Yen has (mostly) remained down relative to the USD, which is good for people importing cars from Japan and also great for export-heavy Japanese companies. Toyota and Honda all saw record profits during this period, but those companies are still heavily tilted towards production in the United States. Mazda’s CX-5 and Miata are both made in Japan and the CX-30 is made in Mexico. Even the CX-50, which is made here, is produced at Toyota’s plant in Alabama.
For now, Mazda benefits from selling cars in $ while building them in ¥ or MEX$. Seeing weakness in the market, Mazda smartly invested a lot of that surplus into improving its brand recognition and status while companies like Nissan and Jeep faltered.
In a new tariff regime under President Trump this might get a little tougher.
Is 2025 The Year That Tesla Loses Its EV Crown?
The big news of the morning was that Tesla, in spite of shrinking this year, just barely stayed ahead of BYD for the important title of “biggest EV car company in the world.” Because it also sells a variety of hybrids, BYD sold way more cars than Tesla, it just happened to sell about 25,000 fewer EVs.
That’s quite close. BYD has outsold Tesla on a quarter-by-quarter basis before, including in Q4 where it sold 595,413 EVs to Tesla’s 495,570 according to Electrek.
Obviously, if you only extrapolate out Q4 sales then you’d assume that 2025 is the year Tesla loses out to BYD. Maybe that’s the case. Musk seems more focused on the Cybercab and AI than he’s been on selling cars.
The big question, I think, revolves around incentives. In the United States, we know that the answer is uncertain. China, though, has made it clear it will likely to continue some form of support for buyers, not to mention the many automaker-led incentives that are coming.
China has signaled plans to extend incentives for consumer to trade in older cars and light trucks in 2025, but specifics of the nationwide program remain unclear.
Nanjing, the capital city of eastern China’s Jiangsu province, said this week it would continue to provide subsidies of up to 4,000 yuan per car purchase this year.
Chinese authorities have agreed to issue 3 trillion yuan worth of special treasury bonds this year, Reuters has reported, as Beijing ramps up fiscal stimulus to revive a faltering economy partly via subsidy programs.
Tesla obviously builds and sells cars in China as well, but BYD has no exposure to weakness in the United States and little to sales slumps elsewhere. If Chinese EV sales remain hot and every other market cools, that’s net better for BYD, though BYD would obviously love to sell cars elsewhere.
Less Than 1% Of New Cars Sold In Norway In 2024 Were Gasoline-Powered
The Norwegian plan to switch to electric cars continues to work, with the country’s 2024 data showing that approximately 9-in-10 new cars sold were BEVs. In second, were regular hybrids, followed by plug-in hybrids, diesel, and a tiny sliver of gas-powered cars.
Data above is from Europe’s car industry group through November, but the pattern seems to have held through the year.
What makes Norway special? Well, for one, it’s trying to go full zero-emission in 2025 and will come close enough to doing it to call it a success. It achieved this through a mix of incentives (lower import tariffs, special parking, et cetera) and the abundance of cheap hydro-electric power.
From CNBC:
Gas pumps and parking meters are being replaced by chargers. It’s an electric utopia of the future. Norway’s grid has been able to handle the influx of EVs so far because of its abundance of hydropower.
“Electric cars are maybe a third of the price of gasoline because we have close to 100% hydropower. It’s cheap. It’s available and renewable. So that’s a big advantage,” said Petter Haugneland, the assistant secretary general of the Norwegian EV Association.
Tesla is, by far, the most popular vehicle in Norway, but Chinese companies are eyeing the market and it wouldn’t be a huge surprise to see one sneak into the Top 10 in 2025.
If fewer than 1% of cars are gasoline-powered, this means that Ferraris and 911s have to make up a hilariously large % of gas-powered car sales. It’s also worth mentioning that the commitment to EVs has been consistent since the 1990s, which makes it easier for consumers and companies to make long-term commitments to electric cars.
Dealer Gives $100 Million For Cancer Center
Here’s a nice, positive note to end the morning on. Herb Chambers, who owns the biggest car dealership group in New England, just announced a $100 million donation to help Mass. General Hospital in Boston build a giant cancer center.
“Financially, I’ve done well,” Chambers, 83, told the Boston Globe. “I owe so much to Massachusetts, to the people that are my customers here. They’ve given me whatever I have. … I want to give back for what I’ve received.”
The donation amounts to roughly $7,000 for every day since Chambers bought his first dealership in 1985. The Herb Chambers Cos. is No. 28 on Automotive News’ 2024 list of the largest U.S. dealership groups, selling 25,863 new vehicles from 47 locations.
Chambers said he wants the facility to be a “beacon of hope for everyone touched by this awful disease” and that there can never be enough money put into finding a cure.
What I’m Listening To This Morning
Feels like an Interpol morning, don’t it? I hear this band is “All the rage back home.”
The Big Question
Would you consider a Mazda for your next new car? What are your vibes about the brand?
I’m going to be an echo of a comment below, but I did consider a Mazda for my current car (2022 CX-30), and will indeed consider Mazda again after this one. Now, my next car is a long way off (I’m just over 23k miles in so far, so this one should last me), and it will depend on how their electrified offerings look, but I was super close to pulling the trigger on a Mazda for my last car as well.
I could ramble on and on about the car, but it’s a fantastic and fun little machine. I’ve never owned a car with such a high power to weight ratio, and it’s the second most powerful car I’ve ever owned (the 265 hp in the Flex felt like a lot less when it’s hauling around a school bus!). I doubt I’ll ever get my wife to give up her Kia Souls, but damn if I won’t be trying to get her into a Mazda down the road a bit.
I bought a Mazda this year because they’re decent cars, dealers had inventory, and they don’t restrict the base models to greyscale.
I keep coming back to the CX90 PHEV as a potential option instead of waiting on Toyota inventory, but then I see a myriad of complaints and recalls. It also gives up a decent amount of cargo space to the Grand Highlander, which isn’t ideal. Maybe 2025 will see the car be sorted. I do wish it could use its big battery for a “dog mode”, then it’d probably worth gambling on, but it doesn’t seem to have that ability. To their credit, no PHEV seems to.
My next car will likely be another hybrid or PHEV as well, and I don’t need a CX90 sized car. So maybe I’d check out the CX50 hybrid. As much as I’d like a more “fun” car, I also like practicality/utility and after rolling in a Prius for almost 12 years, the idea of getting 28 mpg in a daily driver makes me feel like I should just go light money on fire.
I would absolutely consider a Mazda for my next car and we’ll be looking at the CX90 for my wife’s next car, which will be here well before I’ll need a new car. In an era of soulless appliances Mazda is succeeding because they offer vehicles with character. They look good, they’re usually the best driving cars in their classes, they come in neat colors, and they offer near luxury caliber interiors.
And perhaps most of all, they aren’t incredibly greedy. The most expensive cars in their lineup start at right around 40 grand. You can get a well equipped Mazda sedan, hatchback, crossover, or sports car for 35 grand or less. They offer incentives and low interest financing as well, so not only are you getting a better car, you’re paying the same or less for it. They’re also pretty reliable in the grand scheme of things. While they’re not quite on Honda or Toyota’s level if reliability was one of my main priorities I’d absolutely go Mazda over anything Korean, American, or European.
At the end of the day they’re a great little company that sells cheerful, fun loving cars for reasonable prices. What’s not to like about that? I’d take a soul red crystal CX whatever over every anonymous gray crossover, and clearly a lot of buyers agree with me.
We’re about to buy a CPO CX-90, just waiting for the dealer to get one in the spec we want. Mazda’s CPO program is great. We had planned to buy new, but a CPO gets a longer powertrain warranty.
We looked at the Korean competitors and found the Mazda to be a step above in quality and value. After driving them, I’m not sure why every comparison loves the Telluride/Palisade twins.
Amati still technically exists. Even though they never launched it in the U.S. Just like they never launched Autozam in the U.S. for their cheaper cars. Although the main reason why I’ve been hearing people move to Mazda is for two reasons. One, they aren’t the visual equivalent of being stabbed in the eyes by ten thousand gnomes on methamphetamine screaming about a guy named Bangles. Two, the Toyota Yaris in the U.S. is actually a Mazda2, and people are so impressed that they’re buying Mazdas instead because of how good the quality is compared to a Toyota.
I wouldn’t consider a Mazda for my next new car. But that’s because I wouldn’t consider any new car. I’ll survive the next five decades of my life using old cars from the ’90s, like a cartoon character stuck in their debut era.
I too hate all the eye-stabbing going on.
Amati never existed, it was cancelled quite early in the planning stages
The Autozam and ɛ̃fini dealership sales channels both still technically exist in Japan, but with a very small number of remaining franchises, and they all just sell the same Mazda branded Mazdas as regular Mazda dealers
That’s why I said technically. Mazda could use Amati to roll out higher level stuff, the same way Volvo’s done with Polestar. Still recognizably within the brand, but more like a sub-marque than a standalone.
Well, I mean, it doesn’t exist as a brand though, and never has, they never even set up any dealer channel for it, unlike their other new 90s brands. I don’t think Mazda even maintained the trademark filings for it
I’ll give the next Miata a look. I had an ND2 but sold it in 6 months for a Type R. I didn’t think it drive any better than my WRX.
Slightly biased because I come from a Mazda family, between my parents, sister and myself we’ve own/owned 9 and currently have 6 of them still (2 NA Miatas, NC Miata, ’15 Mazda6, ’19 CX5, and ’21 CX9) It’s always the first brand I recommend anyone looking for a reasonably priced, well equipped car thats also reliable. My wife wants to replace the CX9 this year since I am now on my 4th daily driver purchase since we got her’s new. Her top pick is a new CX90. With the ownership/dealership experience we’ve had with VW, Honda, and Mazda now it will be hard to sway her to anything but another Mazda.
I wanted to go Mazda when we bought new last year but they don’t have enough electrified offerings, a CX-30/50 HEV would have been an easy buy for us, instead we got a Kia Niro.
Go Mazda. I wish them every success on their current path.
Yes, I would and am considering a Mazda as my next car. The CX-50 is the best vehicle I drove last year, and I drive nearly every model from every major brand in the course of my work. What a marvelous machine. I’d prefer if it were RWD-based like its CX-60, -70, -80, & -90 siblings, but it’s a very compelling package. I wish Mazda had the CX-60 here, and/or that the -70 was actually in-between the -50 & -90 size-wise, as I wouldn’t mind a bit more room than the -50 offers, but I don’t need the size of the actual CX-70/90.
Additionally: Mazda is the only brand I actually recommend. My wife and I are on our 10th (I think?!) Mazda between the pair of us. She’s on her fourth (GG 6 sedan and 3 CX-5s), and I’ve had six (duh) of their midsized sedans over the generations. Many family (including my mom) and friends also have CX-5s. My aunt who is a big badge snob (well, her coworkers and employers are) traded her Audi for a top-spec CX-5 with the body-colored lower skirting and styling pieces (compared to the matte black on regular models) and she gets frequent compliments on it according to her, and she enjoys no longer being ripped off by the audi dealership, where it seemed they’d never let a car cross their threshold that didn’t need over $1K in maintenance or repairs that mysteriously would never be covered by the factory or various plans they’d sell.
I don’t get the love for Mazda. I recently test drove a CX-50. It was as truck-like or more than every other crossover trying to pretend to be off-roady. The interior wasn’t great. Not horrible, but not great. There was something off about the brakes too but it might have been that particular car.
Goddamn, it really does feel like an Interpol day.
Herb Chambers is doing what the wealthy used to do. Build community resources. Even if it’s just to flex, you get a lot more adoration building a public library and putting your name on it than anything you ever accomplish individually.
As for the question, I seriously looked at the CX90/70, but the towing cap is still too low, and they look terrible unless the cladding is colour matched, which is only available on the most expensive trim.
Herb had a pile of money from selling copiers before he got in the auto dealer business. Of the local dealership owners he seems like one of the better human beings. The experience at his stores is mixed – some stores are awful (Highlines in Boston/Brighton), and some pretty good (Lexus in Sharon). Some of the other local owners have come and gone and come again, and my local BMW dealer was better run when it was the orphan child of a Japanese company. By all accounts Ernie Boch was a good guy, and my personal experiences at his stores have been positive, but most of the brands have been sold to the management team – which seems to have wrecked the consumer experience. I refuse to support anything Boch since Jr. has taken over – not a fan of his politics (early and longtime Trump supporter). Boch has, over the years more quietly given to selected charities, probably not to the extent that Herb is doing here.
I’ve always recommended the Mazda6 when friends get sticker shock at the price of used Camrys and Accords.
If my 1990 Miata ever gets totalled, my happy ass is walking into a Mazda dealership and buying a new one.
And when the day comes that the Jatco Xtronic CVT in my daily driver fails (a Nissan transmission failing? Never!), I hope Mazda has some electrified offerings in sedan or hatchback shapes.
Doesn’t hurt that the Herb Chambers dealerships are actually not awful. Bought one Jeep from them, and it was mainly just OK – but still better than most, and I blame the OK-ness on it being, well, Jeep.
Just leased our Prologue though from Herb Chambers Honda, and the process was great. Certainly better than other Honda dealers around (there are several), but overall their online sales folks were good, not pushy, and they were just best on price and listened to our needs.
Glad to see Herb giving back.
CX-90 as the main family mule or maybe a fun, used, weekend Miata.
The only thing to not like about them has been the infotainment systems and the local dealer that has in the past been ‘difficult’ and slightly too old-school for my taste.
The infotainment is either love/hate. Personally, my wife and i prefer using the knob to a touchscreen (Carplay/AA works as a touchscreen full time in the Mazdas).
Mazda doesn’t really play in the segments that I buy from, but I’d say they are mostly unobjectionable.
I don’t quite get the cult of zoom-zoom for things that aren’t a Miata, but if they’re setting sales records they must have some insight into what people want.
The last Mazda I owned was an RX7, the zoom-zoom ethos is alive and well in a 2000lb dorito machine from the early 80s.
But for the current offerings? You’re right, the Miata is the only one REALLY holding down the fort.
My BFF has a Scion iA – a Mazda 2 with an ugly front clip – and it’s an absolute jewel. The quality of the interior, the noise levels, the smoothness – it’s really amazing, and it drives like it too. All with 123 hp.
Have owned three Miatas and a 626. Almost bought a Mazda6 but got a free Honda from MIL.
Today, Miatas and crossovers. No thanks for the latter and don’t yet need another Miata.
I’d definitely say Mazda would be at the top of my list. I love my CX-5, and would love to add a Miata.
We’re a Mazda family. My current daily driver is a 2015 3, prior to that was a 2008 Mazdaspeed 3, and my wife has a 2017 CX-9.
Despite that, my wife has been talking about getting a new(er) car in the near future and is talking about leaving Mazda to get a hybrid of some sort. Her CX-9 gets pretty crummy fuel economy and it hasn’t held up as well as I’d hoped in general. She also got a new CX-90 loaner a few months ago and neither one of us were a big fan.
The math to buy a hybrid probably won’t math because she now 100% works from home and doesn’t drive much, but it’s what she wants.
The CX-50 is a drop dead looker. It’s their best looking car since the slightly facelifted 1st gen Mazda3 hatch.
Best looking SUV on the road, IMHO.
Only the CX-70/90 gives it a run for its money in the looks department.
Would I consider a Mazda? I did with my 2022 CX-30 Turbo, and the next fun car I intend to purchase is either an NB or ND1 depending on how finances work out over the next 6+ months. I’ve gotten several people into new or newer Mazdas in the past, and I have not heard a single complain from any of them. I’ve got no financial incentive from them, but I just firmly believe in their products within the current ICE/Hybrid market.
The 3/30 Turbos are a great blend of affordable speed and luxury, while the NA trims are competitively priced with their rivals. the CX-50 is a fantastic Rav4/CRV alternative with near equal reliability, a nicer interior/exterior, and the option of more power than all but the Rav4 Prime. The CX-70 as a concept makes little sense being a two-row only CX-90, but now that the early PHEV and I6 reliability issues are seemingly dying down, they’re extremely compelling as a car that gets 80-90% X5/GLE experience at 60% the price. Of course the Miata is unrivaled in the new market, literally, as there is nothing that offers the cheap RWD convertible experience anymore.
To add, Mazda has a great blend of some tech that people want, but have eschewed some trends like auto Start/Stop until very recently. Their engine lineup is small, but proven reliable with very minor known issues, their automatic transmissions on all but the CX-90 are “outdated” 6-Speeds but they shift smooth, have decent logic, and are dead reliable. They sit in a sweet spot in the market right now, and consumers are realizing and buying accordingly.
God bless Herb Chambers. What a great thing to do for others.
Cancer is a thief, and it’s past time to find both a cure, and better treatments.
Currently looking at Mazdas.
Would buy one tomorrow if was looking for something new.
Agreed. This is an incentive to buy from them, for sure. I would much rather spend my money there, now that he has announced this, versus any other dealer.
$7k per day, just wow.
Mazda is on a similar path as Subaru. The people that buy them love them and tell all of their friends about them. My sister is a Mazda lover, she likes they way they look and drive. As long as they keep up their quality, they’ll continue to grow.
Mazda has also been able to infiltrate the internet hive mind where seemingly every “what car should I buy?” thread on social media these days defaults to Toyota or Mazda.
Same way we got DJT….
Except Mazda is doing the opposite: taking their brand upmarket with great designs and good value, while Subaru continues to cheapen their offerings and deliberately make theirs among the ugliest vehicles on sale.
Modern Subaru cultists are unfathomable in their devotion.
Would I buy a new (or used) Mazda as my next car?
Fuck yeah I would.
My first new car was a 1989 Mercury Tracer – neé Ford Laser, neé Mazda 323 – and it was a solid, reliable little car. The Mazda 3 looks more Alfa Romeo than the Giulia, and is far, far more reliable. Mazdas are not boring, don’t signal “sub-prime buyer” or “Ketamine Addicted Douchebag CEO” and are not ugly.
What’s not to like?
And they offer some of the best colors of any maker these days.
My first car was an 88 Mazda MX-6 LX. I would love to see a new one released but I’d die if it returned as a crossover.
Oh, those MX6 coupes were some of the best things going – as reliable and stylish as a Honda without the “Added Dealer Markup” price tags.
And the automatic oscillating vents! Don’t forget that.
Could it be that they make relatively affordable cars that are not as laden with tech BS as their competition?
What tech BS is Mazda skipping that the others are including?
One big thing is the non-touchscreen. The Mazda UI can only be operated by physical controls in the center console — touchscreen controls are not available.
Only last year did they relent and allow the Carplay & Android Auto interfaces to be touch-capable, and I assume that was because those users already know the interface and don’t want any car company to mess with it.
Hey, I love the knobs, find they work great for me. But then, I don’t use carplay, don’t like touch screens, and I even prefer a trackball over a mouse on my pc.
Welp, maybe I’m not the best to ask on this subject
I also use a trackball! As for Mazda’s infotainment UI, I’ve never used it but I’m sure I could get used to it.
All the gimmicky gadgets in the Kia/Hyundai’s. “passenger intercom” was a hilariously stupid thing that the salesperson kept emphasizing.