Irvine-based Mazda North American Operations is reportedly laying off 110 workers with a large percentage of them coming from its Irvine headquarters.
The U.S. arm of Japan’s Mazda Motor Corp. said a large percentage of its Irvine office would be affected, although there is no official word how many workers will be let go.
The company has had a hiring freeze in place for the past four months and has been trying to reduce payroll.
Despite better sales than many of its competitors, Mazda took a hit last year.
The maker of sedans and sports cars saw a 27% sales decline to 15,420 vehicles in January from a year earlier. That decline was steep, but better than the industry average of a 40% sales drop.
Overall, the automaker saw sales fall 11% to 263,949 cars in 2008.
Mazda increased its market share to 2.3% in January from 2% a year earlier as its sales didn’t fall as fast as other automakers.
“We did see industry sales continue to fall, yet we did gain market share by being able to tap into the current consumer mindset with cars people love to drive,” said Mike Nakashima, director of marketing at Mazda.
For more on this story, see the Feb. 23 edition of the Business Journal.
