Asking friends for help is one way Mazda’s limited size spreads its development and manufacturing costs. Among the partnerships announced in the medium-term plan is a team-up with Rohm, which develops silicon carbide power semiconductors for electric vehicles.
The other is a new joint venture called MHHO Electric Drive, which develops electric drive units. Suppliers are Ondo, Hiroshima Aluminum Industry, and Hirotec.
Another venture called Mazda Imasen Electric Drive will develop an inverter. Mazda and Imasen Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. will make a fifty-fifty deal. One-third develop motors for electric vehicles. MCF Electric Drive joins Mazda, Fukuda Electric and Chuo Kaseihin.
Mr. Marumoto said, “We will advance electrification step by step with our partner companies. We need to have battery and electric drive unit technology in-house.”
Mazda’s new mid-term plan extends through 2030 and prioritizes revenue and profitability per vehicle over volume. Under current plans, Mazda expects global sales of all types of vehicles to rise to his 1.8 million units in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2025.
Marumoto did not provide revised quantitative targets. But assuming global sales at or above that level in 2030, the new electrification plan will reach 720,000 EVs by then.
Mazda plans to get there with its new EV platform debuting around 2025.
Marumoto detailed its previous medium-term business plan in May 2019, targeting a sustainable operating margin of 5% by the fiscal year ending March 2025.
For the fiscal year ended March 31, 2022, Mazda posted an operating margin of 3.3%. However, in the last quarter of the fiscal year, it soared to 7.3%.
Still, in its 2019 announcement, Mazda also lowered its long-term sales target to match the harsh realities. Mazda’s more modest target of 1.8 million units has been dropped from his previous vision of selling 2 million units in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2024.
Naoto Okamura contributed to this report
