Automotive Business Magazine – Q3 2026 – Digital edition - Flipbook - Page 35
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MAZDA UK
sell them a number of cars in volume,
we'll start to sell them cars again in
the future.”
As the Chinese brands have entered,
the team at Mazda has been careful
to keep business sustainable, offering
fair terms, and not getting drawn into
offering special one-off deals.
Tomlinson says: “I won't do a deal
today that I can't do tomorrow, because
that doesn't create long-standing
relationships.
"You don't want a situation where
‘company A’ can choose a car today,
but ‘company B’ can't have it tomorrow
because it's gone up in price, because
we reduced the terms or it was a special
one off.
There's a place
for diesel [...] a place
for hybrid, for PHEV,
and that's exactly
why Mazda has
adopted a multisolution approach”
"We try to be as level and consistent as
we can in our approach to the market.
“My job has never been to sell as many
cars as I possibly can, because we have
limited production on a global scale.
"My job has always been to come
up with a volume plan that I believe is
achievable, then go and deliver it.
“If we felt that we were under threat,
though – as a result of the Chinese or
changing market circumstances – then
we’d adjust our volume plans accordingly.
“What we wouldn't do is say ‘we're
going to do 50,000 cars a year every
year’, build 50,000 cars, and then fill
fields with registered cars or distress
them to sell them.”
A bumpy but familiar road
Looking ahead, Tomlinson expects the
fleet market to be defined by change.
Certainly, on the EV side, work is needed
to improve the used market, which will
in turn improve residual values, monthly
payments, and the general stability of
market dynamics.
Tomlinson says: “The change to EVs
about as big as the change from horse
and cart to ICE, it's quite a significant
change that we're all going through now.
Completely different technologies. Just
as it was back then. I think we just have
to wait and see.”
But, as ever, he expects politics to be
the biggest factor in ensuring security
in the fleet market, with a Labour
leadership race in the offing, and the
threat of yet more Parliamentary change
down the line.
Tomlinson says: “The biggest potential
impact on the fleet market over the
coming years is Government approach.
If there's a change in Government, and
that drive for net zero changes, or it's a
slightly more relaxed position, that might
change a world of things.
“We went through a period where
company cars were the thing, then
we had a situation where people took
allowances and came out of their
company cars. We then had a period of
people going back into company cars,
because actually running an EV was very
tax efficient.
“Fiscal policy quite often affects the
industry and personal choice, company
car driver choice. It's probably never
really been any different. I don't think
that'll necessarily change.”
Being impacted by such a confluence
of factors means that the fleet market is
truly unpredictable, even for Tomlinson as
he enters his 15th year as Mazda’s head
of fleet.
Mazda is therefore not making radical
changes to its offering. Beyond the
‘multi-solution approach’ to product,
it is focusing on making incremental
improvements. It has grown its Fleet
Specialist Dealer network from three
to seven, and is continuing its focus on
building relationships, with the hope that
the Mazda6e and CX-6e will be able to
translate these relationships into sales.
Tomlinson concludes: “The team has
been incredibly busy, not necessarily
selling cars.
“We’ve continued to build the
relationships on the strength of the
product we’ve got coming.
"Fingers crossed, the product will live
up to expectation.”
Q2 2026
Q3
AUTOMOTIVE BUSINESS
71
35
