Mazda reported a hefty 62 percent drop in profits over last year in the second quarter of 2007, although the company still made $20.9 million. Mazda did say that the drop was within their expectations and that the carmaker, which is 33 percent owned by Ford Motor Company, expects to be profitable for the year.
Mazda blames the drop in profits on research investments and foreign exchange rates. The carmaker saw a 6 percent increase in sales in the U.S. market, but a 7 percent drop in its home market of Japan. Still, Japan is a much smaller market, so sales were up worldwide over the same period in ’06.
Mazda says that it expects ’07 to be a record profitable year, despite the second quarter drop over ’06. Mazda expects to sell 4 percent more cars globally in ’07 than it did last year.
