THE JAPANESE BRAND THAT POSES THE BIGGEST THREAT TO TOYOTA

For many years now, Toyota has dominated the market with incredible amounts of sales in the SUV, Crossover, and sedan segments. Customers of the brand love the fact that Toyota is a brand you can rely on. Most vehicles are reliable, and the company’s support system is great.

Toyota’s lead, however, appears to be changing. Over the past few years brands like Hyundai and Kia have been gaining momentum and now, Mazda appears to be doing so as well.

Mazda has always been a sleeping giant, and it may be time for that giant to wake up as recent choices from the automaker have led to a significant increase in sales. In this article, we are going over what those choices are and how they can present a big threat to Toyota.

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Mazda Had Been Forgotten For A While

In the past few years, Mazda was mostly a forgotten brand. The company still produced good vehicles, however, no one seemed to buy them. That being said, this trend appears to be changing. As the world economy changes, people are starting to look for more affordable vehicles.

The insanely inflated marketplace of the past couple of years is now deflating and it is doing so quickly. Cheaper options that work well are the name of the game now and this is exactly what Mazda has to offer. But cheaper prices aren’t the only reason Mazdas are now selling like crazy.

Mazda Has Really Upped The Game With Their Current Line-up

Mazdas were always good. They were and still are reliable vehicles that tend to be more reasonably priced than the competition. Their only problem was that in most cases, they were boring. Sure, we’ve had some incredible machines like the legendary RX7 or the fun MX5, but for the most part, Mazdas were conservative vehicles.

With its latest models, the brand appears to have solved the last hurdle in unlocking big sales numbers. That hurdle was making their already good vehicle appeal to the masses. New Mazdas like the CX-90 have now become great to look at and also great to drive. From the outside, they look premium and upmarket. The same is true from the inside where they feature luxuries that belong to more expensive vehicles.

Furthermore, the driving experience of a Mazda SUV is far superior to that of a Toyota. Toyota has long been using the incredibly annoying CVT transmission that is usually paired with somewhat underpowered drivetrains. This leads to a constant groan from the engine. Not to mention the front wheel drive biased handling experience which promotes understeer and body roll.

Mazda on the other hand, offers drivetrains that are much more appealing. New large SUVs from the company get a silky smooth and powerful six-cylinder engine that is paired with a responsive transmission. Furthermore, the all-wheel-drive system on modern Mazda SUVs is biased towards the rear.

This means that most of the time, the vehicle powers the rear wheels and will only give power to the front ones if it detects slippage. This system leads to a much more enjoyable driving experience that is steps ahead of that found on a similar Toyota SUV. Mazda has made vehicles that are more fun to drive, offer great features, look incredibly good, and are reliable. This means Toyota is in trouble.

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Mazda’s Are Incredibly Reliable

So, excitement is what has pushed Mazda sales to a point that they are now draining significant market share from automotive giants like Toyota. But excitement alone isn’t the only factor. For many years, Mazdas have been incredibly reliable and dependable vehicles. One could even argue that they might be just as or even more reliable than Toyotas which have had a fair share of reliability issues lately.

Sure, some of the older diesel Mazda engines had faults with injectors that led to engine replacements. But everything before that and after that has been solid. At the end of the day, Mazda is also a Japanese brand, and one thing the Japanese are great at is producing dependable cars.

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Mazda’s Biggest Selling Point Is Availability

This might be a turning point in automotive history as there are significant events happening that seem to pass unnoticed. Toyota, which has long dominated the industry faces incredibly long waits for their vehicles. Customers wait months before they can get their hands on their order and by then, the car they have bought might even belong in the previous model year.

In a society so dependent on instant gratification this isn’t a good thing. Companies like Mazda might be about to rob a huge chunk of Toyota sales as they have stock at the dealership. Therefore, you can just walk in, purchase a car, and drive away within a few days.

What exaggerates this issue even more, is that Toyota vehicles aren’t necessarily better than Mazda which offers similar features, reliability, more exciting engines, great looks, and even a lower price. So why would anyone wait months for a vehicle when they can buy something very similar for a lower price within a few days?

The reason why this might be a pivotal moment in automotive history is that if this trend continues, Toyota might lose its sales lead to companies that offer instant availability. At the end of the day, no matter how good a product is, it becomes worthless if the buyer can’t get their hands on it.

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Recent Mazda Sales Prove The Company’s Success

If we have a look at Mazda sales during the first months of 2023, it is obvious that Mazda is heading in the right direction. The great cars the company is producing paired with the instant availability have had positive results. Highlights from the company’s sales achievements include the best April sales since 1994, the best-ever April sales of the CX-30 and CX-9, and the best-ever sales of the CX-50. This trend doesn’t seem to be slowing down. In fact, it is increasing as we go through 2023.

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