Mazda will produce a Toyota model based on one of its own cars for sale in North America at its new plant currently being built in Guanajuato, Mexico. The deal is seen as another sign of how the industry globally is keen to maximise capacity at every factory.
The factory is due to come on stream by March 2014. It will build the Mazda 2 and has an initial capacity of 140,000 units and a workforce of 3,000.
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An additional 50,000 Toyota subcompact models based on the Mazda 2 will be built from summer 2015 and sold through Toyota dealerships in North America, the companies said in a statement issued in Tokyo on Friday.
The statement said that Toyota will invest “an appropriate portion of production equipment costs and development costs related to the Toyota vehicle and also an appropriate portion of costs related to the plant’s production capacity increase.” No figure was put on the investment by Toyota.
Toyota’s current subcompact for North America is the Yaris. A number of small Scion models are also sold.
Mazda cooperated with Ford with previous generation subcompacts, with the 2 and Fiesta sharing common components and built at a plant in Spain.
