Mazda May Be Shopping for an Ad Agency

Mazda Motors of America has begun shopping for an advertising agency to handle marketing chores for a new upscale car line to go up against Toyota’s Nexus and Nissan’s Infiniti, industry sources said Tuesday.

Officially, the new line--being planned at Mazda’s Irvine headquarters complex by a development team code-named Pegasus Group--is merely a feasibility study.

But one source said Mazda is expected to announce a final decision on the U.S. launch of Pegasus next year, possibly as early as the Chicago Auto Show in February.

Officials at Mazda headquarters and at the Pegasus offices could not be reached Tuesday for comment.

But sources that have been briefed by Mazda said the U.S. importer interviewed five advertising agencies in Irvine last week, including Foote, Cone & Belding/Santa Ana--the agency that handles the rest of Mazda’s domestic advertising.

Adweek magazine, a trade journal, reported that at least three other agencies, two in New York and one in Dallas, are in the running. Adweek estimates that the Pegasus account could be worth up to $75 million a year.

The Pegasus team reportedly is discussing a three-car line, to be sold in separate showrooms, that would include a full-size V-12 sedan, a V-8 coupe about the size of the current Mazda 929 and a V-6 sedan based on the Mazda 626.

In an interview earlier this year, Clark Vitulli, senior vice president of Mazda Motor of America, said the company is intent on upgrading its image in the U.S.