A new Mazda showroom will be launched in May, making the Japanese car brand the latest entrant to Cambodia’s growing mass-market car industry.

The 8,800-square metre facility along Russian Boulevard, which includes a service centre, will be run by HGB Auto, said Pen Piseth, general manager of HGB Auto, which signed the sole distributorship deal end of last year.

From June, the local company will import from Japan the Mazda 2 and 3 sedans, and the CX-5 and 9 SUVs, Pen said. Meanwhile, sales for the Mazda BT-50 have begun at a temporary premises next to the eventual showroom.

Twenty of the pickup trucks imported from Thailand in late January were sold within a month, he added.

“In one to two years, I am confident we can capture 10 per cent of the market share [for mass-market cars],” Pen said.

HGB Auto is a new subsidiary of HGB Group, the official distributor in the Kingdom for brands like Nikon, Victorinox, and Samsonite.

The group was established in 2006, and operated as a luxury car wholesaler in the grey market. Such companies import cars without a authorisation by the manufacturer, which is not illegal in Cambodia, but is in some other countries.

“Previously, many consumers talked about buying from the grey market, but their attitudes are changing,” especially with numerous official distributors launching operations in recent years, Pen said.

Last Thursday, the Post reported that Volkswagen vehicles would be officially distributed here from May.

About 30,000 mass-market cars are bought in Cambodia every year, about 90 per cent through the grey market or second-hand, the general manager of another official car distributor estimated.