Demand for electric vehicles is still low
Mazda doesn’t offer all-electric vehicles in the United States after it pulled the MX-30 electric crossover from its lineup this summer due to poor sales. Mazda sold just 100 units of the MX-30 in the first eight months of 2023.
The automaker plans to release another battery-electric vehicle in the United States, but it reportedly won’t arrive until 2025. Mazda North America CEO Tom Donnelly recently told Automotive News that the upcoming electric vehicle will likely be a crossover, noting that the automaker will add more electric vehicles if consumer demand grows.
Releasing one new EV in two years is unlikely to help Mazda gain a foothold in the US EV market. The automaker’s approach to electric vehicles appears to be overly cautious, but Mazda CEO Masahiro Moro believes the share of electric vehicles in the overall U.S. new passenger car market is too small. Only Tesla cars are popular. Speaking to Fortune, Moreau acknowledged the importance of electric vehicles, but said demand for them is still low.
The head of Mazda said that electric cars are not gaining popularity, with the exception of Tesla
“Electric vehicles are an undeniably important technology, and we are developing it. But in the US, electric vehicles took up about 6% of the market last year. This year – 8%. And 57% of them came from Tesla. Other electric vehicles are not gaining popularity, stocks are piling up,” he said.
Moreau added that the lack of charging stations is another factor hampering the growth of electric vehicle market share in the United States. He also wasn’t particularly optimistic about the auto industry’s transition to a zero-emissions future in 2035: “How we get to zero depends on consumer choices and social infrastructure.”
