Sales Drop Spurs Change in Mazda’s U.S. Management

Mazda Motor Corp. said it is reshuffling top managers in its U.S. sales and marketing unit to try to boost revenue and improve relations with dealers.

The Japanese auto maker’s overseas sales dropped 26% in 1995 to about 427,000 units. The drag on earnings almost reversed cost-cutting efforts that helped the company show a profit for the first time in three years.

In the U.S., Mazda’s largest market outside Japan, 1995 sales fell to 283,745 units from 375,416 the year before. Sales in the first five months of 1996 were down 14% at 113,855 from the year-ago period.

To reverse the decline, Irvine-based Mazda Motor of America Inc. named John English to a new position as vice president of sales. English is currently general manager of the U.S. unit’s Southeast Region. Bill Goetze, general manager for the Western Region, will succeed English, while Ross Fried, director of the Pacific Zone, will replace Goetze. A replacement for Fried hasn’t yet been named.