Shanghai (ZXZC)- Mazda aims to achieve a sales target of 310,000 vehicles in China in 2018, Nobuhiko Watabe, Chairman of Mazda Motor (China) Co., Ltd revealed to local media.

The automaker has obtained outstanding sales performances in the first two months of 2018 in China. Its January sales jumped 35.7% year on year to around 34,000 units. Besides, by February 26, Mazda had already delivered 19,035 units in China last month.

In recent years, Mazda saw a sales fluctuation in China's market. To cope with such plight, the Japanese automaker joined hands with its two joint ventures in China, FAW-Mazda and Changan Mazda, to adjust their marketing strategies which led to a gradual revival in sales. In the past 2017, FAW-Mazda handed over 124,237 vehicles, not only surging 35.7% from a year ago, but also surpassing the 120,000 units of initial sales target. Meanwhile, Changan Mazda's annual sales increased 1% year on year to 196,000 units, achieving sales growth for 3 consecutive years.

In November 2016, FAW-Mazda decided to stop manufacturing 4 models and only retained the production of Atenza and CX-4. In addition, the company introduced MX-5 RF in domestic market which enabled FAW-Mazda's products to cover all segments in China's auto market.

Since the upgrading SUV CX-4 2018 went on sales in August 2017, the sales of CX-4 had reached 6,602 units in December. Meanwhile, CX-4's annual sales leapt 114.8% over the previous year to 71,807 units. Additionally, the annual sales of Atenza, the B-class sport sedan, reached 52,285 units last year, jumping 31.2% year on year.

The other joint venture Changan Mazda has already owned two locally-produced models, new Mazda3 Axela and the second-generation Mazda CX-5, and introduced an imported model Mazda CX-3 to domestic market at the end of last year. In the past 2017, the company delivered over 130,000 units of new Mazda3 Axela. Since the second-generation Mazda CX-5 hit the market on September 21 last year, the cumulative orders of the SUV model had reached up to 19,000 units by the end of December.

As to new model introduction, FAW-Mazda plans to bring in the Mazda MX-5 Z-Sport Limited Edition this year following the introduction of MX-5 RF. In addition, Changan Mazda is expected to draw the medium-large SUV CX-8 into local production in 2018.