KEY POINTS:
Mazda New Zealand took the covers off its new Mazda6 line-up this week on the back of record sales, a car of the year award in 2007 and a consumer survey across the Tasman showing that Mazda is the bee's knees with Australians.
The Japanese brand topped the inaugural JD Power and Associates Australian Vehicle Ownership Satisfaction Study, narrowly beating Honda and Toyota in a top-10 list dominated by Japanese and Korean carmakers.
The survey aimed to objectively measure how satisfied Australian owners of new vehicles were in the first three years of ownership.
There was apparently no New Zealand component in the poll.
Mazda tops the Australian list with an overall index score of 780 points on a 1000-point scale, while Honda (775) and Toyota (772) fill out the top three overall ownership satisfaction rankings.
Rounding out the top 10 were Mitsubishi (757), Subaru (755), Nissan (751), Hyundai (750), Kia (744), Ford (743) and Holden (736).
JD Power says the 2008 study is a new benchmark for measuring customer attributes and expectations in the Australian automotive industry. The results were based on responses from 3078 new vehicle owners
The overall satisfaction rating is determined by a combination of weighted scores in four areas: dealership service satisfaction, which carries the lightest weighting at 18.7 per cent; vehicle quality and reliability, which carries a 21.7 per cent weighting; ownership costs, which carries a 25.8 per cent weighting; and vehicle appeal (satisfaction with the design, style, performance and comfort of the vehicle), which carries the heaviest weighting at 33.8 per cent.
The full report includes data on most other brands, including Alfa Romeo, Audi, BMW, Chrysler, Citroen, Daihatsu, Fiat, Jaguar, Jeep, Land Rover, Lexus, Mercedes-Benz, Peugeot, Renault, Saab, Suzuki, Volkswagen and Volvo.
The study showed that while Mazda performed well in the quality/reliability and vehicle appeal areas, it was not the best brand in the area of ownership costs.
Nor was it in the top three on dealership service. Yet its strengths in vehicle appeal and in quality and reliability allowed it to creep ahead of Honda on the overall top score.
Toyota, which usually wins JD Power quality surveys, was found to be strong on quality but fell below Mazda and Honda on appeal. Toyota and Nissan tied for service satisfaction. Honda was consistently strong across all categories, but did not top any of them.
Fourth-placed Mitsubishi wasn't as strong on quality and reliability, cost and appeal, but did much better on dealership service.
Hyundai and Kia's big strengths were ownership costs, or value for money, the survey said. Kia was found to be above Holden on quality and reliability but below Ford. But Ford and Holden vehicles had greater appeal.
Mazda NZ says its own research shows customers rate the carmaker highly on this side of the Tasman, too.
The first-generation Mazda6 won car-of-the-year awards here when it launched in 2002. The third-generation MX-5 sports car picked up more awards in 2005. The Mazda2 small car is the NZ Motoring Writers' Guild 2007 car of the year and the Herald's small car of the year.
Mazda NZ aims to use the three-variant Mazda6 range to help it finish the 2008 sales year in fourth place in the market, behind perennial leader Toyota and second- and third-place scrappers Holden and Ford.
Last year, it sold 6600 vehicles against 6148 in 2006. Along the way, it boosted its share of the market to 6.44 per cent, up from 5.66 per cent in 2006.
"Our objective is to continue to grow the business," says Mazda NZ managing director Andrew Clearwater. "Importantly, we are in the segments that are growing. We want to gain and cement our brand in fourth position. Last year we came in fifth and we had a great start in January, one step up the ladder in fourth.
"We are confident we can maintain the momentum. We got off to a blinder (in January) with Mazda2 and I expect Mazda6 will have a similar impact on the market."
Clearwater says Mazda6 has sold more than 12,500 units since its launch in 2002.
"This represents a very strong customer base for us and I am convinced that with the new generation model, we have a very compelling and persuasive reason for them to stay in the Mazda family.
The Mazda6 comes in three variants _ sedan, hatchback and station wagon _ priced between $35,795 and $48,195.
Sales of the existing model over the past five years were split 40.1 per cent sedan, 25.3 per cent hatchback, 34.6 per cent wagon. More than 88 per cent of buyers chose an automatic gearbox.
Each new version is longer, wider and taller, sits on a longer wheelbase, offers smarter and roomier interiors and gets more equipment, including safety devices.
The base 2-litre models miss out on a stability system, however.
Mazda says kerb-weight increase has been kept to a minimum, a jump of 50kg to 85kg depending on the model.
The three body styles offer a choice of two engines and 10 exterior colours. The 2-litre engine in the sedan and wagon develops 108kW at 6500rpm and 184Nm at 4000rpm and drives the front wheels through a six-speed manual or five-speed gearbox.
The new 2.5-litre unit is available across the range and puts out 125kW at 6000rpm and 226Nm at 4000rpm, up 3kW and 19Nm on the outgoing 2.3-litre engine.
Mazda claims fuel economy of 7.7 litres/100km (37mpg) for 2-litre and 8.6 litres/100km (33mpg) for the 2.5-litre unit. Engines are cleaner burning, it says.
