Mazda’s brand new vehicle and engine assembly facility in Salamanca, Mexico, has started mass production earlier than originally anticipated (March, 2014), as the first car, a Mazda3 sedan destined for the US market, rolled off the factory line on Tuesday.
“We have sent over 150 engineers and supervisors to Mazda’s plants in Hiroshima and Hofu, and made every effort to ensure that we are manufacturing products of the highest quality here at MMVO,” commented Mazda Managing Executive Officer Keishi Egawa. “With the start of mass production, we now have a system capable of offering vehicles of the same high quality as those made in Japan, on a global scale, and that is extremely gratifying.”
Besides the USA, the Japanese carmaker’s Mexican plant will produce the Mazda3 for other countries in the Americas and for Europe.
In the near future, Mazda intends to expand the production model line-up to include the Mazda2 sub-compact as well as approximately 50,000 Toyota-branded vehicles built under contract, beginning in the summer of 2015.
Mazda said it aims to reach an annual capacity of 230,000 units by March of 2016.
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