[Mr Fields]

Good morning. Thank you for joining us for this century's last Mazda press meeting. I am sure that our mid-term plan for our future growth, announced on November 17, is still fresh in your mind. Stock prices increased more than 30% from October's lowest level. We understand this shows that the stock market has given credit to our mid-term plan. As for the production site in Europe, we will announce it with Ford Motor Company early next year.

Production in Europe is just one area in which we are pursuing synergies with Ford. Mazda is a unique brand in the Ford Motor Company group, but we give much more to the Ford team. Product engineering, for example, is a core strength of our company, and we have been designated as the global center of excellence for engineering larger I4 engines. The I4 engines will be produced in four plants around the world: in Hiroshima here in Japan, Chihuahua in Mexico, Dearborn in the US and Valencia in Spain. We will begin production of I4 engines at Mazda in early 2002. We have also been selected as the global center of excellence for developing front-wheel-drive, mid-size vehicle architecture for the Ford group.

We are also seeing synergies with Ford in sales and marketing operations in countries such as Taiwan, Thailand, Australia, and New Zealand. Taiwan, for example, is showing great success, with a 68% increase in sales from the period January through October last year, along with a record market share. In 2 or 3 years we believe that Mazda's market share in Taiwan will increase to 5%, which is up more than five times from the 1998 level. In Thailand and New Zealand, Mazda's sales were strong, up 87% and 23%, respectively, for January through October over the same period last year.

Another positive point for this year was the successful introduction of the Mazda Tribute. The Tribute has been enthusiastically accepted in North America, with mid-August to the first week of December sales in the U.S. and Canada exceeding more than 19,000 units. We believe that, at this pace, we will easily exceed our sales target of 20,000 units before the end of the year. Starting in March, we will begin selling Tribute in Europe and other parts of the world. Here in Japan, Tribute went on sale on November 30, with monthly targeted sales achieved in the first 10 days.

Let me follow up briefly on MBLD ? or Mazda Business Leader Development program. By the end of March next year, we will have finished the first phase of MBLD. The second phase is to begin after the spring of next year. There are 1,000 projects being undertaken ? 1,000 projects full of innovative ideas. As an example of such innovation, let me introduce to you one of the projects. It is based on the theme 'Mazda's new approach in communication with women consumers.' This project group by all female members is aiming to establish a new business approach to enhance Mazda's brand awareness among female buyers. This plan includes ideas such as a website designed especially for women, developing interfaces to collect and incorporate voices of female buyers for new models or limited editions, and making their car buying experience more enjoyable through special campaigns in collaboration with businesses, such as fashion, travel and other areas which capture women's interests. The team intends to promote Mazda as a global company with a female- friendly business environment. I am keenly watching the progress of this, and many other team projects.

As I mentioned a month ago, the year 2001 will be a challenge. Each one of us is highly committed to meet the challenges that lie ahead. With the beginning of the new century, I sum up next year with the phrase 'Mastering Execution and Delivering on our Commitments.'

The year 2001 provides us with the opportunity to demonstrate to ourselves, and the world, what an educated, passionate and change-oriented organization with a clear vision and plan for the future can accomplish.

By the end of FY2004, we will add 16 new models or major changes in Japan, 11 in North America, and 9 in Europe. This includes four new platforms and derivative vehicle lines that will be totally new to the market.

Next year, we are planning to introduce in Japan a number of freshened products and limited series with special themes. A fine example of our success in the market place is our Mazda MPV, which continues to enjoy strong sales in Japan. I am proud to say that the MPV recently won the Automobile Researchers' and Journalists of Japan's '2000-2001 Best Minivan' award.

Next spring, we will add to the North American market the Protege 5, a five-door urban activity vehicle. This is a unique entry in this market segment. We will also add a dynamic, and exciting Protege MPS performance-oriented version in North America. In Europe, in addition to the all new Tribute, we will introduce freshened vehicles such as MX-5, Xedos 9, and 323.

There are several more pieces of information we would like to share with you today. Let me start with the FCEV's field-testing. As a member of the Ford group, using Mazda developed vehicles, we will undertake field-testing in collaboration with DaimlerChrysler and Nippon Mitsubishi Oil Company. This will be held in Yokohama next year, from mid-February through mid-March.

Second is our new overseas business. We will begin production of the Mazda Premacy at Hainan Province of the People's Republic of China in collaboration with First Auto Works Hainan from June next year, aiming to reach around 20,000 units in 2004. The model will be sold throughout China. We will provide engineering support for Job 1 to enhance quality. New recruitment activities for dealers in China is ongoing. We believe that this business undertaking will meet China's policy of developing their automotive industry and improving their means of transportation as well as providing Mazda excellent growth opportunity.

In Thailand, AAT, our plant, continues to show a very positive production performance, with an increase of 44% from last year's level. We expect an increase of about 26% in the coming year. Next year, AAT will operate at almost full capacity in two shifts. This will be accomplished one year earlier than planned. AAT was the Number 1 producer in May, July and August in Thailand this year, and AAT-built pickup trucks have been enthusiastically accepted in Europe, Oceania, and other parts of Asia.

Last, but not least, we are dedicated to making progress in e-business. Mazda aims to be the e-business leader of the Japanese automobile industry. Recent advances in information technology are truly remarkable and promise to reshape the 21st century business world. Successful companies in the new century must be prepared for constant change and be organized around networks, rather than rigid hierarchies.

So, in September, we established an 'e-business Enabling Office' to strengthen and coordinate Mazda's overall e-business strategy and to accelerate the implementation of e-business in our company.

Our Internet initiatives introduced this past year included Demio Internet sales, the establishment of a Telematics Center, and sales of the @Navi series. We also developed an internet-based information exchange service for our suppliers. The Mazda Supplier Network is an interactive website to improve the flow of information between us and 350 of our part suppliers. The number of suppliers who will use this service will increase in the future. We have also initiated this past year online-based auctions for selected parts.

Early next year, we will introduce a trial run of an innovative business model of a new car ordering system using the Internet, called 'BTO,' or 'build-to-order'. Details will be announced at a later date. In January this year we introduced Internet marketing of the Demio, from which we learned much about our customers. Internet customers requested strongly their own specifications for their vehicle.

In response to these voices, we have decided to implement next month this new BTO approach, using a number of models. We believe the choice of personal specifications will generate new values in our customers. We will ask Mazda web members and Internet customers for their recommendations of which specifications to place on the BTO site to reflect their voices into our products. As the first step, we will introduce on our Mazda website a voting procedure for preferred combination options at the end of this month.

Mazda will further accelerate and proactively develop e-business. In addition to the programs I have just mentioned, we are also supporting the introduction of websites in all dealerships across the country. These user- friendly websites will contain details of events, exhibitions, as well as information on limited edition models.

Another advancement is eliminating bureaucracy by changing our paper- approval Ringi system over to the Intranet. This will take place from January next year and will increase business efficiency. The system of circulating documents to get seals from numerous senior executives is a slow process: one that does not meet the pace necessary for a company in the 21st century.

To allow our staff to be able to access information wherever they may be, we are also introducing 'Mobile Access.' Mobile Access, promoting business information technology, is the combination of mobile PCs with the Internet.

Mazda also established a media website from July of this year, which was the first of its kind in our industry in Japan. Enlisted users topped 700 as of today.

Turning to projected sales and production figures...

Mazda has decided from this year not to make projections of calendar year based sales and production figures, since we are making business plan based on fiscal year from April through March and we wish to focus only on fiscal year based figures. We will announce FY2001 projections in sales and production in May next year.

Lastly, for all of you here today, I have a very special surprise. It is a sketch of a 4-door sports car design model, which we will unveil at the press conference on Tuesday, January 9 at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. The design is a step closer to an actual production model than the RX-EVOLV unveiled at the Tokyo Motor Show in October last year. We are developing a new rotary engine named RENESIS with improvements in fuel economy and emissions while maintaining output of the existing turbo-charged rotary engine. The new generation rotary engine will power the future model. Our dedicated and passionate engineers are striving to turn this dream into reality in the not- so-distant future. I will be in Detroit for the Auto Show, and if you have the opportunity to go, please drop by and see our exhibition.