Mazda has set a tough sales goal for its new dual-cab ute.
It’s targeting 1300 sales per month with the 2021 Mazda BT-50 ute, a significant jump on the 946 monthly combined 4×2 and 4×4 ute sales it managed in 2019.
The target is higher even than the 1208 per month it averaged in 2016, the strongest year since the second-generation BT-50 went on sale in 2011.
“For the next couple of years given the current circumstances in the marketplace, the overall market we are forecasting it to be down – or even if it’s not forecast, the view is it will be down,” Mazda Australia managing director Vinesh Bhindi told media.
“In that market, we think that we can get anywhere from 1200 to 1300 [sales] a month,” he said. “Of course, as we see the market grow and the opportunities grow, we will have high aspirations beyond that.”
MORE: Read our 2021 Mazda BT-50 XTR review
Based on current sales figures, that would put BT-50 head-to-head with the Nissan Navara (1072 sales in September) and Mitsubishi Triton (1446) in the sales race, along with the Isuzu D-Max (1118) with which it shares its underpinnings.
Mr Bhindi says the new BT-50 should see Mazda grow its market share in the ute segment from the current seven per cent.
Although Isuzu is seeing delays of up to five months on high-end D-Max deliveries – the BT-50 and D-Max are sourced from the same Thai factory – Mazda isn’t expecting any stock shortages.
“In terms of supply, we have secured our supply based on our sales plan,” Mr Bhindi told media.
“We are not seeing any issues for ourselves,” he said. “We should have good supply before the year is out.”
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Having launched exclusively with the best-selling, most-requested dual-cab bodies, Mazda will add single- and freestyle-cab models to the line-up after launch.
Mazda has, however, ruled out an Isuzu MU-X based off-road SUV.
