Japan's Mazda Motor Corporation is performing a complete makeover on its brand image and design, and company executives are betting that a completely rebuilt lineup of automobiles will double its North American market share by the end of the decade. Over the next three years, the Japanese automaker will release 11 new products in North America and nine in Australia, Mazda executives said at a company roadshow in New York on March 20. Mazda is trying to rekindle a brand identification that it admits it has lost in recent years. "We're about to take one giant step toward relaunching Mazda," said Mazda President Mark Fields. New Vehicle Lineup The company will boost spending on product development by 30 percent for the five-year period through 2004 compared to the previous five years to replace all of its models and add two new vehicles, according to Mazda senior managing director Kei Kado. Its new four-door RX-8 sports car, a successor to the popular rotary-engined RX-7, highlights the roster of new products developed thanks to the company's heftier budget. The RX-8, which will house a 250-horsepower Renesis rotary engine, epitomizes the "zoom-zoom" ad campaign, which debuted last summer as part of Mazda's efforts to remake its image as a builder of "fun-to-drive" cars. Rear-opening back doors and the absence of a center, or "b" pillar, opens up the the interior with seating for four adults. Current plans call for construction of the RX-8 to begin in late 2002. Two other new mid-sized cars -- a sedan and a wagon -- will be introduced in 2002. The mid-size sedan, to be built at its joint-venture plant with Ford Motor Company in Flat Rock, Mich., will be the first car to reflect its new brand image. The wagon, one of three products derived from the same chassis to be launched next year, will feature rear seats which fold flat at the touch of a button. With the new product blitz, Fields predicted that Mazda will eventually boost its market share to three percent in Europe compared with 1.3 percent last year, and three percent in North America compared with 1.5 percent in 2000. Japan's fifth-largest carmaker, Mazda aims to break even this year on a group net basis after a projected net loss of about $415 million, in fiscal year 2000/01, ended in April. Earlier this month, Moody's Investors Service cut the senior unsecured debt ratings on Mazda to Ba3 from Ba1, despite its restructuring plans to cut 1,800 jobs and a quarter of its capacity. To ease the impact from exchange rate fluctuations, which have erased more than $1 billion from Mazda's bottom line over the past two years, Mazda will shift more production to Ford plants outside Japan, according to Fields. Ford owns a controlling 33 percent stake in Mazda. Fields said Mazda has targeted a three percent return on sales, six percent return on assets and a 50 percent net debt-to-equity ratio through the end of 2004. Mazda's engineering costs will drop anywhere between 10 percent to 50 percent per unit in various programs, Fields said, which should cut an average of $150 off the variable cost per unit.