Mazda zoom-zooming into trouble

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Stylish new products like the next Mazda6 (to be inspired by the Takeri concept shown here) could be the start of better things for Mazda.

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Mazda, drowning in a sea of red ink, is desperately looking for alliance partners.

And that means just about anybody who's prepared to pay for the privilege of using its new, ultra-clean SkyActiv engine technology and lightweight body architecture - which are, in effect, parent company Toyo Kogyo's most saleable assets.

Mazda is expecting to post a net loss of ¥100 billion (R9.96 billion) for the financial year ending on March 31, with its sales slipping two percent to 1.25 million vehicles.

It will be Mazda's fourth consecutive year of losses and its worst since the disastrous ¥155 billion (R15.44 billion) bottom line of 2000/2001.

“We are considering every option”

CEO Takashi Yamanouchi has said the 'zoom-zoom' carmaker must raise capital to survive and is “considering every option”, including another share issue - the SkyActiv engines came out of research largely funded by a ¥93 billion (R8.66 billion) share issue in 2009.

Ghosted view of a SkyActiv-G petrol engine.

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Mazda has been on its own since Ford reduced its controlling 33 percent stake in the company to just four percent to stave off bankruptcy in 2008, but the problem is that it exports a bigger percentage of its production than any other Japanese carmakers, and the strength of the yen against major world currencies means that each car sold brings in less yen.

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