Mazda announced that its next mid size sedan designed for the North American Market will be built in Japan. The Hofu Plant in Yamaguchi prefecture, Japan will be the home base for the next Mazda to take the place of the 6. Currently, the 6 is being built in three global locations: the Hofu Plant, the FAW Car Co., Ltd. in Changchun, Jilin province, China, and the AutoAlliance International in Michigan.
“Our intention is to transfer production of our next CD-car for North America from AAI and consolidate it at Hofu in order to improve production and investment efficiencies and optimize our business,” said Takashi Yamanouchi, Representative Director and Chairman of the Board, President and CEO of Mazda Motor Corporation. Mazda has a joint venture with Ford at the AutoAlliance which might now be in question. Even though Mr. Yamanouchi stated that Mazda plans on continuing with the joint venture, but if the next 6 won’t be built in America, what could Mazda do at AutoAlliance?
“”However, we are committed to working with Ford, our joint venture partner in AAI, to identify potential future opportunities for the plant,” said Mr. Yamanouchi. The current Mazda 6 will continued to be built at AutoAlliance until its production cycle is up, which will more than likely happen between 2012 and 2013.
