Mazda restructures China car joint venture with Changan, FAW

TOKYO/BEIJING (Reuters) - Japanese automaker Mazda Motor Corp said on Tuesday it and two Chinese partners have agreed to form a new venture in which it will have a 47.5% stake.

State-owned Chongqing Changan Automobile will also hold 47.5% of the new joint venture, Changan Mazda Automobile Co Ltd (CMA). FAW will own the remaining 5%.

"The three companies aim to utilise every strategic and managerial opportunity in the new joint investment company and strive to make its business and management system optimal to adapt to the needs of the expanding Chinese market," Mazda said in a statement.

In China, the world's biggest car market, Mazda's sales lag far behind other Japanese automakers. It sold 214,574 vehicles in China last year, down from 227,750 units in 2019. Toyota Motor, Honda Motor and Nissan Motor all sold over one million cars in China in 2020.

(Reporting by Maki Shiraki in Tokyo and Yilei Sun in Beijing; editing by Jason Neely)