Japanese auto maker Mazda Motor Corp. announced a $10.6 billion investment plan to electrify its vehicles on Tuesday, as well as plans to invest in battery production.

The company also increased its target for electric vehicles (EVs) to up to 40% of total global sales by 2030, as automakers around the world invest billions of dollars to ramp up battery and EV production in response to tougher environmental regulations.

Mazda’s investment plan follows similar announcements by domestic rivals such as Toyota and Honda this year, which have been chastised by environmentalists and green activist investors for being slow to electrify.

“We will promote the full-fledged launch of battery EVs and consider investing in battery production. We estimate Mazda’s EV ratio in global sales to rise to a range between 25% and 40% as of 2030,” Mazda said in a statement.

Its previous target for EV sales was 25% by 2030.

The new forecast is consistent with a broader industry trend, with consulting firm Deloitte projecting that EV sales will account for approximately 32% of total new car sales globally by 2030.

Mazda said it would introduce battery-EV models in the “late half of phase 2,” which it defined as the period between 2025 and 2027, as part of a three-phase plan. The company stated that it intended to launch fully electric vehicles on a large scale between 2028 and 2030.

Akira Koga, senior managing executive officer, told reporters that the 1.5 trillion yen ($10.6 billion) investment would be made in collaboration with partners and would be used for research and development. The Nikkei business daily broke the story first.

Koga declined to provide a detailed investment timeline, stating that it would be determined by how quickly EVs became popular.

Nonetheless, Mazda CEO Akira Marumoto stated that the company will work to introduce a new hybrid system and improve internal combustion engine efficiency.

“We believe that a multi-solution approach will be effective,” he said.

The automaker announced collaboration plans with seven companies, including electric-component maker Rohm Co (, to develop and manufacture electric drive units.

Mazda executives also announced a supply agreement with battery maker Envision AESC for a limited time between 2025 and 2027.

“Beyond that, we would like to develop a strategy on procurement and securing (batteries) step by step,” said Koga.

Shoichi Matsumoto, CEO of Envision AESC, told Reuters last month that his company was in talks with automakers in Japan, Europe, the United States, and China about new supply deals.

Mazda is aiming for 4.5 trillion yen in net sales for the fiscal year ending March 2026, a 45% increase from the fiscal year ending March 2022.

According to Deloitte, total EV sales will reach 31.1 million by 2030, up from 11.2 million in 2025 and 2.5 million in 2020.

(Adapted from Latestly.com)

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