TOKYO, May 14, 2020 - (JCN Newswire) - Mazda announced its medium-term management plan in November last year. The automobile industry is experiencing the kind of transformation which takes place only once in 100 years. It is imperative for the Company to make changes in various fields, including product planning, development, manufacturing, sales and service, in order to respond to the CASE (Connected, Autonomous, Shared and Electric) era. The Company set three management themes to work on in the six years of the medium-term management plan: "investment in unique products and customer experience," "curb expenses that depreciate brand value," and "investment in the areas we need to catch up". The Company is steadily moving forward with the plan by implementing initiatives to achieve targets in these areas while investing in technologies including CASE for its future growth.

In the first year of the medium-term management plan, in addition to launching its connected service, the Company introduced products that feature CASE technologies such as mild-hybrid electrification technology and advanced safety technologies that are integral to autonomous driving. Along with updating the existing product lineup with these new technologies, the Company also launched new-generation models, beginning with the Mazda3 last year. It was followed by the CX-30, the second model of the new-generation lineup in anticipation of the growing global SUV market. The Mazda3 and CX-30 are equipped with the new-generation gasoline engine Skyactiv-X, the first gasoline engine to use compression ignition. In October 2019, the Company unveiled its first mass-production electric vehicle, the Mazda MX-30, at the Tokyo Motor show, with sales starting next fiscal year.

With regard to the business environment surrounding the Mazda Group for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2020, the challenging situation continued as the demand declined globally from the previous year due to issues such as economic slowdown in China triggered by the US-China trade dispute and Britain's exit from the EU. In addition, uncertainty over future prospects rapidly increased due to the novel coronavirus pandemic in the fourth quarter. The outbreak of the novel coronavirus first impacted the Company's production and supply chain in China. The virus then spread globally, causing the suspension of economic activities and disruption in financial markets around the world, resulting in a significant impact on the Company's global sales activities.

About Mazda

Mazda Motor Corporation (TSE: 7261) started manufacturing tools in 1929 and soon branched out into production of trucks for commercial use. In the early 1960s, Mazda launched its first passenger car models and began developing rotary engines. Still headquartered in Hiroshima in western Japan, Mazda today ranks as one of Japan's leading automakers, and exports cars to the United States and Europe for over 30 years. For more information, please visit www.mazda.com

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