Mazda Motor Corp. started selling redesigned versions of its three Atenza models on Tuesday, aiming to counter a decline in domestic sales.
Mazda plans to sell 1,500 Atenza sedans, sports cars and sports wagons a month domestically. The models will cost between ¥2.07 million and ¥2.67 million. The Atenza is sold as the Mazda6 overseas.
Hiroshima-based Mazda released the models amid slumping car demand in Japan, where its sales fell 6 percent in 2007. Customers are buying fewer cars as wages decline and the population shrinks.
"The new models will help boost Mazda's sales in Japan for a while," said Kazuhito Sasaki, a senior analyst at Tokai Tokyo Research Center Co. "But the impact will be limited."
The Atenza, first introduced in May 2002, is Mazda's second-best-selling model after the Axela.
