????馬自達（Mazda）的機會到了嗎？

????? 其銷量今年上漲8%，是行業平均增長率的兩倍。

????? 2014年6月成為馬自達近10年來表現最好的一個6月，比去年同期增長17%。

????? 旗艦車型馬自達6今年6月獲得了自2006年以來最好的同期銷量。

????不僅銷量在增長，馬自達接連獲獎的數量也超過同行業其他廠商。比如上月，馬自達被JD.Power的APEAL汽車性能、運行和設計研究報告評為進步最大的平價汽車品牌。同時，在競爭最為激烈的中級家用轎車市場上，馬自達6也擊敗了豐田凱美瑞（Toyota Camry）和福特的北美版蒙迪歐（Ford Fusion）等競爭車型，獲得了不少汽車行業的最高榮譽。馬自達連續兩年被凱利藍皮書（Kelley Blue Book）評為用車成本最低的品牌，也是《人車志》（Car & Driver）雜志的十佳車型榜單上唯一獨占兩席的品牌。

????隨著名聲越來越響，規模較小的馬自達，已然在行業觀察家、評測員和寫手圈子里擁有了異常高的聲譽。即便拿了不少的獎，媒體也在積極地大肆宣傳，然而長期以來馬自達在汽車業中的競爭地位仍然沒有得到提高，市場份額連續十年都沒能沖破2%。盡管馬自達今年的表現非常搶眼，但它的市場占有率依然僅有1.9%。

????據《汽車新聞》（Automotive News）報道，馬自達的日本母公司希望在兩年內將銷量推高三分之一，也就是說在2015財年要賣出40萬臺車，壓力不可謂不大。（馬自達在2013年共售出283,946臺車。）這意味著馬自達必須要對長期表現欠佳的經銷商網絡進行調整，以發揮他們的最大潛力。

????有些分析師認為，馬自達的日本總公司或許要求過高了。Edmunds.com的杰里米?阿塞韋多表示：“馬自然雖然已經吸引了媒體和消費者的注意，并且其核心車型的重新設計也獲得了高度贊譽，但這些還沒有轉化為實實在在的銷量。對于一心想跨越到下一個銷量梯隊的馬自達來說，這的確不是好兆頭。”榮獲獎項、受媒體熱捧自然都是好事，但它們并不是實實在在的市場蛋糕，充其量是蛋糕上的酥皮。

????回想35年前，我剛剛干上汽車記者這一行時，日本汽車廠商可以很輕易地分為三個等級，即便到了現在，這三個等級的分別也大致沒變。上世紀80年就叱咤一時的豐田、日產（Nissan）、本田（Honda）直到今天還是一線品牌。五十鈴（Isuzu）、鈴木（Suzuki）和大發（Daihatsu）等算是三線，幾十年來并無寸進，最后只得撤出美國市場。

????毫無疑問，汽車市場的份額是有黏性的，增減都非易事，對于日系品牌更是如此，份額保持穩定是它們最可能的狀態。

????但是日系二線品牌中，也有兩個品牌異軍突起，他們便是斯巴魯（Subaru）和馬自達。[另一個二線品牌三菱（Mitsubishi）十多年來在美國一直處于苦苦支撐的局面。]

????Is this Mazda’s moment?

????? Its sales are up 8% this year, twice the industry average;

????? June 2014 represented Mazda’s best June in ten years and a 17% improvement over a year earlier;

????? The company’s Mazda6 flagship enjoyed its best June since 2006.

????Along with higher sales, Mazda continues to win more awards in relation to its size than just about any other automaker. Last month, Mazda was named the most improved non-premium brand in the recent J.D. Power APEAL study for performance, execution, and layout , while the Mazda6 won highest honors in the hotly contested midsize car segment against such rivals as Toyota Camry and Ford Fusion. Mazda has been rated as the lowest cost to own brand two years running by Kelley Blue Book and it is the only manufacturer with two cars in Car & Driver‘s 10 Best list.

????The buzz is growing. Tiny Mazda has a reputation among industry watchers, raters, and writers that is way out of proportion to its size. But all the awards and press clippings haven’t helped Mazda improve its longtime competitive position. Its market share has remained capped at two percent for more than a decade. Even with this year’s strong performance, it is running at a rate of 1.9%.

????The pressure is on because Mazda’s Japanese parent wants it to boost sales by one-third over the next two years — the way to of 400,000 units in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2016, according to Automotive News. (Mazda sold 283,946 units in calendar 2013.) That’s going to strain the automaker’s under-performing dealer network as it undergoes a long-needed tuneup.

????Some analysts say Mazda Japan may be asking too much. “Mazda has gotten the attention of the media and shoppers but hasn’t been able to translate that into sales even with highly lauded redesigns of core models,” says Edmunds.com’s Jeremy Acevedo. “Unfortunately, that doesn’t bode well for Mazda making that quantum leap to the next echelon in sales.” Awards and press clippings are nice, but they are only the icing, not the cake.

????Back when I started covering the auto industry some 35 years ago, the Japanese manufacturers could be easily divided into three tiers, and the groupings haven’t changed much since then. Toyota, Nissan, and Honda – the Big Three in the 1980s –remain in the top tier today. The bottom tier– Isuzu, Suzuki, and Daihatsu – never improved their standing and have left the U.S. market.

????No surprises there. Automotive market share is sticky and hard to win or lose. Especially among the Japanese, steady state is the most likely condition.

????But the middle tier of the industry has produced big surprises from two of its members, Subaru and Mazda. (Mitsubishi, the third, has been struggling for more than a decade.)