Hyundai/Kia & Mazda US/Mexico Production (Model) : 2017-18

Hyundai & Kia share factories in the US and Mexico so have been combined here. Mazda was added to the page as its too small for a dedicated article.

USA: Five models are made here and none stands out in terms of volume. Two years of -17% and -9% decreases have been experienced. While the 550,000 units sound a lot, the 1,270,000 sales in the country puts them well into net importers.

VW Passat vs Mazda 6

Head to head comparisons are popular. I know when I see one in a magazine or web page I like to find out who won. The thing is that it is just an opinion and not necessarily an unbiased one either. We are all prone to that and car testers are as much as the average motorist, if not more. They may feel the pressure that a negative review will bring from a car company.



The swooping styling is

Mazda Global Production Car/LCV By Nation : 2011-14

Mazda is a small fry in the big Japanese car making pool. 70% of production is in the homeland, fine when the Japanese government manages to under value the Yen - which is most of the time. At least the Chinese market isn't too important to Mazda as it seems to have peaked. Mexico (Mazda 3) has replaced the USA (Mazda 6) as a source of cars.

Some of the numbers are so low that one wonders if

Mazda Sales By Model : 2013

The new CX-5 is selling well. It needs to.


Sales for the independent Japanese brand were slightly down for 2013. This surprised me as the new CX-5 came along and proved to be a big hit, already the second best seller in the range. The CX-7 ceased production in 2012 and that was part of the reason for the sales slip. Only one car/MPV model increased, while the BT-50 pick-up did well also.

Where To For Mazda From Here?

Mazda has always been a relatively small player in the Japanese car industry. Most of its cars are made in Japan, beneficial with the Yen always cleverly undervalued. It has had to be a little different, even quirky, to get noticed. The rotary engine is a classic example of that. For the last three decades, Ford has owned up to a third of Mazda in a tie up beneficial for both car makers.

Fiat And Mazda Team Up?

The next Alfa Romeo Spider will be a Mazda MX5, built in Japan! The platform will be all Mazda, with unique body panels and engines to each brand. This is the way of the future. Mitsubishi already make SUVs for Peugeot and Citroen.

Both Mitsubishi and Mazda are not well placed. Mazda no longer has Ford to help defray expenses with. However, thanks to the Ford tie-up, Mazda currently has a