Leverkusen, Germany - Car maker Mazda was among the companies licking their wounds Monday over last year's slump in new- car sales in Germany. The Japanese company said from its German office at Leverkusen, near Cologne, that new registrations of its models, at 65,650 units, were down 14.8 per cent from the previous year. The overall figures for all makes were issued at the end of last week.
Mazda Motors GmbH said it regarded its position as satisfactory, given that Mazda's market share only declined marginally to 2.1 per cent from 2.2 per cent a year before.
Germany's car industry association (VDA) said last Thursday that car sales in Europe's biggest auto market fell to about 3.15 million last year.
Mazda, which is associated with Ford, remained number two behind Toyota in the line-up of Japanese marques in Germany.
