Mazda 6’s Production In Us Will Be Placed To A Halt

By Author: Marty Vergel Baes
Total Articles: 423
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Mazda currently builds the Mazda 6 on its assembling plant in suburban Detroit. The current production of the Mazda 6 vehicles on the AutoAlliance International (AAI) plant in Michigan was actually a joint venture between Mazda and Ford Motor Co. and this has lasted for a few years. However, Mazda has recently announced that they would place the production of this vehicle model to stop. This simply means that the Mazda 6 which is assembled in AAI plant in Flat Rock, Michigan, in Hofu, Japan, and in China will be solely produced in Japan.

This announcement caught some of the new car finders who are interested in buying the Mazda 6 in the future by surprise. This is because the transfer of the model’s production might affect the supply of the Mazda 6 as well as the availability of the auto financing deals offered for this.

Mazda first established the AAI plant in Michigan in 1985. This was eventually transformed into a joint venture facility with Mazda’s 50-50 partnership with Ford Motors Co. ...
... in 1992. After the joint venture was finalized, the two companies have established closer working relationships which lasted for almost 30 years.

During this timeframe, the AAI plant had produced about 1.7 million units of Mazda vehicles which provided better options for car finders. This figure also includes almost 500,000 units of the Mazda 6 since 2002. However, this relationship between Ford and Mazda was suddenly questioned when Mazda announced its particular plan.

As a response to the growing speculation, Mazda’s President and CEO Takashi Yamanouchi justified their move. According to Yamanouchi this plan aims to improve their production of this model and at the same time promote efficiencies on investment on their part. He also assured that this effort will not affect their company’s relationship with Ford. They will still continue working with Ford but the CEO failed to provide details for this issue.

The stopping of Mazda 6’s production in AAI will take effect in the middle part of 2012 which is also the schedule set for the replacement of the present Mazda 6 version with the upgraded version. Given these, most car experts and buyers are still waiting for the next events that would take place after Mazda’s plans for its Mazda 6 is realized.