Mazda Nearing Expansion Into All ASEAN Markets

Mazda aims to be selling its vehicles in all 10 countries comprising the ASEAN trade bloc by next year.

After recently opening its first dealership in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, the Japanese automaker says it will re-enter Burma, a country with a population of more than 60 million, in first-half 2014.

Mazda’s sales operation in Burma, also known as Myanmar, was halted in 2005 due to United Nations economic sanctions against the authoritarian military regime running the country. The sanctions eased in 2012 after the regime began allowing political and economic reforms.

Mazda vehicles already are available in Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, Vietnam and Laos.

The automaker will begin taking bookings in November at a temporary dealership in Yangon, the former Rangoon, and the first Mazda dealer officially will open early in 2014.

Orders will be taken for the CX-5 and CX-9 cross/utility vehicles, Mazda6 and Mazda2 cars and BT-50 pickup. The Mazda2 and BT-50 are made in Thailand and the other models in Japan.

Hiroshi Inoue, Mazda executive officer in charge of new emerging-markets operation, says ASEAN is an important market. “In the previous fiscal year we broke our own sales records in leading ASEAN auto markets such as Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia,” he says in a statement.

“The auto markets of Cambodia and Myanmar are expected to grow in line with their rapidly developing economies and Mazda is getting in at an early stage to establish a strong brand presence,” Inoue says. “At the same time, we will contribute to the growth of the automotive industry in each country and the ASEAN region as a whole.”