Mazda, the Japanese multinational automaker recently revealed that it is planning to move further into the premium car territory in the future. Mazda is reportedly planning to compromise on the sale of cheaper models and is exploring the market to find out if consumers will be willing to pay more than $30,000 for its cars.

Ryo Yanagisawa, Mazda chief designer, who reportedly spoke at the debut of the Mazda CX-30 crossover, said that the automaker is striving to improve the perception of its vehicles so that future customers will be interested to pay a premium to purchase its cars.

He added that Mazda at present has a mere 2% in the global market share with a limited production capacity. Therefore competing in the non-premium auto sector will constrain Mazda’s growth. By moving into premium car segment, it is anticipated that Mazda will be successful as a brand while its brand image gets a makeover.

Ryo Yanagisawa is of the opinion that the company will make the next-generation replacements of the Mazda2, Mazda6 and other vehicles more expensive to experiment with what the customer is ready to pay. He said that a brand is all about how to customers perceives it.

Mazda is planning to price its Mazda3 at nearly $30,000 on the road while justifying the premium price with the inclusion of numerous technological additions in the cars such as the reverse autonomous braking, a head-up display and radar cruise control. The CX-30 which will be based on the Mazda3 and is expected to split the difference between CX-5 and Mazda2-based CX-3 models, both of which will follow the same trends as the Mazda3.

Compared with existing models, both vehicles feature improvements on road noise and include premium materials such as advanced tech and leather available in a variety of colors. They also come with an 8.8-inch infotainment system that will be equipped with a rotary remote controller often found in luxury cars.