Mazda to Double European Dealerships in 2009

While General Motors and Chrysler are massively cutting the overall dealership count in their domestic market, Mazda things it would be a great idea to appoint new dealers that would support its European growth. Basically, Mazda's number of European dealers is doubling each year, with the company signing contracts with 28 new dealers in 2007 and 56 in 2008.

But that's not all. Mazda's European division is now eyeing a 100-dealer increase this year, as 25 of them have already been appointed in the first quarter of the year. This would represent a 5 percent increase in Mazda's dealership network, with the total figures going as high as 2,000.

How's that possible? you might ask. Well, Mazda says its new models, especially Mazda2, Mazda3 and Mazda6 increase the market share in Europe from 0.9 percent in 2001 to 1.6 percent in 2008. This obviously means increasing demand in Europe so the company plans to bring its models closer to buyers. Mazda says it plans to open new dealerships in both rural and urban areas so it could sell cars wherever there's demand.

“We are more and more a franchise of choice for dealers across Europe, with some of the best retailers in the business,” says Philip Waring, Chief Operating Officer of Mazda Motor Europe. “A great dealer network gives us a competitive advantage to sell more cars. We don’t sell cars ourselves, our dealer partners do.”

“We make life simple for our dealers," adds Waring. “We don’t demand huge investments in facilities or an enormous administrative burden. We want to be easy to do business with and help dealers achieve a better return on investment.”