Mazda CX-70 Delayed Until 2024

I have to wonder 🤔 if Mazda can survive past 2030. They have little to offer and I see less and less of the autos on the road. EV's are a joke for them, PHEV seems to be very limited and the gas is just meh in comparison to the rest of the market place.

Interesting that the reporting is as follows:

In 2021, Mazda sold 1,287,548 cars worldwide, which is a 3.6% increase from the previous year. The CX-5 was the best-selling Mazda model. In terms of production, Mazda produced 1,074,987 cars globally in 2021, which is an 8.5% decrease from the previous year. The USA remained the most important market for Mazda cars according to the statistics.

Here we are 2023 and the numbers do not look great.

Mazda - global vehicle sales by region 2023 | Statista

Mazda Motor's revenue for the twelve months ending December 31, 2022 was $25.715B, a 8.22% decline year-over-year. The company's current revenue (TTM) is $28.15 B. In 2022, the company made a revenue of $27.52 B, a decrease over the years 2021 revenue that were of $27.61 B. Mazda realized a total revenue of US$35.6 billion worldwide in 2021.

This makes me wonder if they can survive as an independent auto company come 2030.

Maybe, maybe not.  In an era where nearly all automakers are conglomerates, an independent automaker or two is a nice change of pace.  Especially when they find a unique selling point and go after it.  As for Mazda, they could use a luxury marque to complement or supplement their offerings and make some more profit.  I wonder how long it will take for the CX-70 to actually arrive in NA auto dealerships.

I thought Toyota bought Mazda shares and thus making Toyota a minority owner?

I googled and some sources say this and others say its just a manufactruring partnership.  And when I read that, I come to a conclusion of that of the GM/Toyota partnership at NUMMI.  

In other words, I have no idea what is going on with Mazda and with Toyota's involvement other than I DO know Toyota DOES have some sort of interest with Mazda.

Of the Japanese car makers, its Mazda and Honda that I respect and like the most. 

Mazda because of their fun cars they build. Even their CUVs are fun to drive.  They remain a small company regardless of what Toyota's involvement is.  Mazda vehicles remain simple, fun cars that arent appliances. Mazda cars make you love driving.   Their bodies rust, but their drivetrains are bulletproof. For the most part. 

I like Honda for just about the same reasons. Honda's vehicles,  some of them, if not most,  remain enthusiast's rides.    They are also an engineering driven company especially with their other non-automotive products.  Maybe that didnt translate well to their automotive business the last 20 years.  Honda  did introduce a high level of engineering to their vehicles, but they eliminated the fun factor.   They are slowly getting back to what made Honda  in the 80s and 90s with their latest generation of vehicles. 

It will be a shame if Honda and Mazda do not make it past the ICE age as the EV age DESPERATELY needs fun vehicles.   Tesla with Elon at the healm is becoming a caricature of itself.  Tesla, Elon, once upon a time ago had this swag vibe to his cars.  S-3-X-Y.   I get the Cybertruck too.  Part of that fun arrogant vibe. Its welcomed by me.  But again with the cybertruck as an example, a caricature of Tesla and what Tesla can do.  

Stellantis is taking itself too serious and maybe Dodge will be penalized by it by Dodge forgetting how fun Dodge always was.  I hear Kuniskis speak and he toots a big muscle EV game but maybe Dodge is not quite sure what that EV muscle definition might be and Kuniskis just might make a slight error in translating what an EV muscle car and CUV might be.

I also see GM taking EVs seriously. Again, maybe a tad too serious.  All business with the right CUV in the right market place priced at the right price.   But where is the fun in that?  Even the Celestiq's business plan seems stuffy.  And the Celestiq NEEDS to be fun regardless the price tag of  $350 000.   GM's EVs, their marketing and their engineering etc, doesnt leave and fun vibes with me.  Kinda how the fun vibes vibed with the Corvette C8... 

I get the fun vibe with the Lucid and with Rivian.    All other EV manufactures are scared shytless it seems and it shows through their marketing campaigns and announcements and stuff. 

Not sure that Mazda will even be here in 10 years.  They have no EV plan, and they are banking on a 6-cylinder, $50,000+ SUV.   The Mazda 3 and CX-5 are getting pretty dated now, they don't even seem to care about those segments, they just want to push up market into BMW pricing territory, which seems like a bad plan.