Mazda Zoom-Zoom-Zoom'n In China

China firm to start selling Mazda car this week

SHANGHAI, July 15 Reuters is reporting that China's FAW Hainan Motor Co Ltd will launch sales of Mazda's Familia car this week and aims to sell 10,000 of them this year, an official at the Hainan car plant said on MOnday.

Japan's fifth largest auto maker has an agreement with China's biggest, First Automotive Works, to build its Premacy and Familia models: Mazda supplies the kits and technical assistance, and FAW Hainan Motor builds the cars.

The 1.6-litre-engine Familia will sell for around 160,000 yuan ($19,330) and the 1.8-litre model for around 180,000 yuan, said the official at FAW Hainan Motor, based in in the southern tropical island province of Hainan.

That puts the Familia in the mid-tier segment of the Chinese passenger car market, competing with the likes of Volkswagen's Bora sedan and FAW's own Red Flag car.

That segment used to be dominated by corporate buyers, although rising incomes are putting the cars within reach of the burgeoning middle class, analysts said.

"We will launch sales this week in Haikou," said the official, referring to the Hainan capital.

"Our marketing campaign will then move nationwide. But the delivery of the first car will not be until September," he told Reuters.

China's membership of the World Trade Organisation has lowered tariffs and lifted regulations on car models, attracting more Japanese and other overseas auto makers to the country.

Mazda president Lewis Booth said last month the firm was looking into more opportunities in China and may cooperate with Ford, which owns 33.3 percent of Mazda.

Both are fairly small players in China but are looking to expand their presence in the world's most populous country, which has seen steady economic growth for years.

The Chugoku Shimbun, a regional newspaper in Japan, has said Mazda was in talks with FAW on building its new mid-sized sedan, the Mazda6, in Changchun in northeast China.