Mazda Sales (Thailand) has set an ambitious short-term goal of increasing its market share to 8% by 2018 from 5% last year.
New president Chanchai Trakarnudomsuk said the Japanese carmaker's market share is expected to rise by one percentage point each year until 2018. This year's projection is driven by a rise in vehicle sales, up 23% to 28,184 units from January to August.
Mazda's year-to-date market share is 5.7% and the full-year target is 6%.
"We increased our sales target this year from 42,000 to 45,000 vehicles, a 14% rise from last year," he said. The company expects sales to rise at least 10% annually from 2016 to 2018.
Mr Chanchai was promoted last month and is the first Thai to serve in this position.
He said his top priority is to develop 147 showrooms and service centres nationwide to achieve Mazda's goal.
"Our after-sales services remain weak and only 20% of dealers have improved their sales and services quality to meet Mazda's standard," said Mr Chanchai.
Mazda just cancelled its dealership contracts with four dealers because they refused to improve their sales and after-sales services.
He said improving the sales and service quality will improve customer satisfaction, encouraging more repeat customers.
The 147 dealer outlets are scheduled to be finished by 2018, with at least 14 undergoing a makeover this year, said Mr Chanchai.
The key to success for car companies is to rank above the market average on both the customer service index (CSI) and sales satisfaction index (SSI), he said.
Marketing consultant J.D. Power ranked Mazda below average for CSI in its 2016 survey, but above average on its 2015 SSI survey.
In a related development, the Hiroshima-based Mazda Motor Corporation announced on Aug 31 it would increase the annual capacity at its engine assembly plant in Chon Buri to 122,000 units in the first half of 2018. The plant is operated by Mazda Powertrain Manufacturing (Thailand) Co (MPMT).
Mazda is investing 22.1 billion yen (7.54 billion baht) for this expansion. MPMT's engine assembly plant began full-scale production in October 2015.
The plant produces SkyActiv-D 1.5-litre diesel engines and SkyActiv-G 1.3-litre petrol engines that serve AutoAlliance (Thailand), a joint venture plant between Mazda and Ford in Rayong. The expansion is aimed at exporting engines to Mazda's production sites in Asean. The SkyActiv-G 2.0 engine will be added to the output.
Mr Chanchai said the Board of Investment already approved this project.
The parent firm bought an 800-rai industrial plot in Chon Buri to operate Mazda's engine plant, which occupies 30% of the area thus far.
"The Thai production base has a full line of major content and parts as well as assembly lines on par with Japanese operations. Only a research and development centre has yet to be set up here," he said.