Time to grow Mazda business, says Fields


Mazda president Mark Fields says it is time to "start growing the business"

TOKYO, Japan (CNN) -- Japan's No. 5 carmaker Mazda Motor is going "back to its roots" to make exciting but practical cars, its president Mark Fields said Friday.

Fields, who has directed a sharp cost-cutting program at Mazda, told CNN that it was "time to start growing the Mazda business".

He said that while Mazda was always wary of its competitors, it now had a "nice competitive piece of turf".

He said the company would be bringing out a slew of new models this year that would reflect its heritage as a maker of cars that were both exciting and practical.

Profit upgrade

On Thursday, Mazda Motor delivered a massive profit upgrade for the business year just ended on March 31.

It said it now expects to make a net profit of 8.5 billion yen ($65 million), well up from its earlier forecast of 1.3 billion yen ($10 million).

Mazda, 33 percent owned by U.S. car giant Ford, said the weak yen had boosted its figures.

Fields told CNN that Mazda could compete at 100 yen to the U.S. dollar. But he said that he expected the yen to stay in its present range. It traded Friday at about 131.3.

Fields, who became the youngest president of a Japanese carmaker in late 1999 at the age of 37, said Mazda now had a "hybrid culture" that mixed in the best of Western and Japanese business practices.

He said it was a culture that accentuated change.

Shares in Mazda closed Thursday at 341 yen, about 7 percent below a two-year high of 368 yen reached in May last year. In early trade Friday they eased slightly to 339 yen.