Will Mazda be forced to scale back on even more racing?

Mazda IMSA DPI

Mazda has already pulled out of the Road to Indy. Now comes more bad news that is sure to curtail other Mazda racing efforts.

Mazda slumped into the red in the most recent quarter, broadsided by falling global sales, suspended production in Japan, unfavorable foreign exchange rates and increased investment in its U.S. retail network reforms.

The automaker booked an operating loss of 2.2 billion yen ($19.4 million) in the fiscal second quarter ended Sept. 30, the Japanese automaker said on Wednesday in its quarterly earnings report. The downturn reversed a quarterly operating profit of 36.6 billion yen ($322 million) a year earlier.

Net income tumbled 86 percent to 3.8 billion yen ($33.4 million) in the July-September period.

Revenue flatlined at 856.0 billion yen ($7.53 billion), as worldwide retail sales declined 3 percent to 392,000 units in the three months, losing ground in North America, Japan and China.

Results were hammered by numerous factors. Declining sales were triggered partly by interrupted supply from Japan, where Mazda suspended production following heavy rains that caused flooding throughout the region of western Japan where Mazda is based.