History of Mazda - Mazda
What can be said about Mazda? Not much, because hardly anyone delves into the details of the life of any automaker. Meanwhile, this brand went around for a long time, wrapped tightly in a kimono like a geisha, then went to Europe, put on a satin mini blouse with a neckline and beamed. So how did this whole story begin?
It's not hard to guess that few automakers started off making cars, and Mazda was no exception. In 1920, a company called Toyo Cork Kogyo was founded. But what did she really do? Steel production? Drugs spreading? Box - just made cork flooring. And this was enough to earn enough money that allowed her to get carried away with the production of cars.
In 1931, the first Mazda car was produced. In total, it was not a 66% car - it was just a three-wheeled trunk. It sold 1960 units in the first year, so we thought about exporting. A country was chosen where many smiling faces were waiting for such a car - China. Despite the success of the first, serious car, Mazda had to wait quite a long time, until 360. The R4 finally had 2 wheels, a small 356cc 3.1 engine and a body that most Europeans thought was a pot of geraniums because it was so microscopic. The Japanese, on the other hand, fit inside without any problems, and the small dimensions of the car had one big advantage - it consumed only 100l / XNUMXkm, which was a big advantage during the revival of the Japanese economy. However, the real revolution was yet to come.
As you know, Mazda is currently the only car manufacturer in the world experimenting with Wankel rotary engines. She became interested in their production in 1961 - she entered into an agreement with NSU and Felix Wankel himself - after all, he was still alive at that time. The problem, however, was that these particular units still needed to be finalized, and Felix Wankel had run out of visions and had no idea what to do with them. NSU produced the world's first Wankel-powered car in 1964, but it was so damaged that the Germans learned new, juicy curse words from it. Mazda decided not to rush and worked on the design for years, until finally, in 1967, a unit was created that could finally compete with "ordinary" motors. It proved to be durable and made its debut in one of the manufacturer's most beautiful models, the 110S Cosmo Sport. 1967 was important for the brand for another reason - it was then that sales of Mazda in Europe began. But what's next?
In 1972, Masayuki Kirihara got on a plane and flew to Germany. And it was by no means a vacation, he received one clear guideline from Mazda - he was to create a dealership there. It took him a while, but he eventually succeeded - and this is due to Mazda establishing itself in Germany with the launch of the RX-70 in the late 7s. This car had huge configuration options, the rotary engine did not burn fuel, but consumed it in hectoliters and at the same time gave unearthly driving pleasure. However, the time of real bestsellers was yet to come.
In the 80s, the German dealer network flourished, so in 1981 it was decided to open an additional office in Brussels. In a word, it was supposed to look at the hands of independent European distributors. And there was a lot to control - the Germans fell in love with the new models 323 and 626. Big sales meant big money, and big money was either a vacation in Abu Dhabi or the development of technology - fortunately, the brand chose the latter and in 1984 was the first to start selling cars with catalytic neutralizer. In addition, the company expanded its warehouse in Hitdorf and launched a 24-hour spare parts service. It's not hard to guess that this was a great marketing ploy - thanks to it, car sales in Europe more than doubled during this decade. However, in the XNUMXth, things were no longer so rosy.
The start wasn't so bad. In 1991, the 787B prototype became the only Japanese design to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans. In addition, the MX-5, which had been waiting for Yamamoto's approval for production for 10 years, entered the business - a cramped, small, completely impractical roadster that every stronger person sympathized with. However, the truth was that this car was brilliant. It was noticeable, it drove amazingly, it had powerful engines - it was enough to be loved by young, wealthy people, and the model itself became a hit in the market. However, the overall sales of the brand still fell, because there were not enough new generations of cars. The company decided to combat this by expanding its network. In 1995, it opened a representative office in Portugal, made some changes to the work of the European branches, and finally created Mazda Motor Europe GmbH (MME), which started working with a whole battle of "whole" 8 employees. Together with the logistics department, everything was ready for the start of the conquest of Europe. Or so she thought.
There were many completely independent outlets on the Old Continent selling Mazda vehicles. They had their own management, their own rights and coffee to the coffee machine, which they also had to buy for themselves. The company decided to acquire these independent properties in order to create a large network and at the same time combine sales, marketing, PR and everything else that has lived its own life so far. It all started with the idea of "Zoom-Zoom" and the creation of new offices in 2000 - first in Italy and Spain, and a year later in France, Great Britain and Sweden. It's funny, but while almost all the car companies took root in Europe and got along well, Mazda was trying to push its elbows out of the crowd and get to the trough. However, she did it quite carefully - 8 people who started working at Mazda Motor Europe GmbH grew to more than 100. And not among themselves - many new employees were hired, new offices were opened in Austria and Denmark, completely new models were released. presented - in 2002, the Mazda 6, created according to the Zoom-Zoom concept, and a year later, the Mazda 2, Mazda 3 and the unique RX-8 Renesis with a Wankel engine under the hood. In this frenzy of development and expansion to Europe, one small detail is worth mentioning - the MX-5 model entered the Guinness Book of Records in 2000 as the best-selling roadster of all time. Cool, but where is our Polish office?
At that time, you could already see new Mazda cars that drove on our roads, so they had to come from somewhere. Yes - initially only Mazda Austria exported cars to the markets of Southern and Central Europe. In addition, she did an excellent job with it, as she increased brand sales by 25%. We had to wait until 2008 for Mazda Motor Poland, but it was a good time - we immediately got our hands on the new generations of Mazda 2 and Mazda 6 models that appeared a year earlier, and the recently introduced "Responsible Zoom-Zoom". a plan that in new cars was supposed to reduce fuel consumption and improve safety. Both the Polish representation and many others in Europe show the changes that this brand is still going through before our eyes. This is great, because almost all car companies have gone through this period in the last century. The company currently employs over 1600 people across the continent and Mazda Motor Europe, which started with 8 employees, now has around 280 employees. This is a perfect example that anything is possible, even turning a cork flooring company into a thriving automotive company.
