Chongqing Changan Automobile will soon launch in China a car model it co-developed with Mazda using technology provided by its Japanese partner, Mazda executives said.
According to Reuters, chief executive Takashi Yamanouchi said Mazda chose not to develop a China-only, co-brand car with Changan, as Nissan and General Motors have done.
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Instead, Yamanouchi and Mazda’s head of China operations, Noriaki Yamada, said Mazda chose to provide a platform to Changan so that the two could develop a model for Changan to market in China under an existing Changan brand.
“It was too costly and would take up too many of our resources for us to start a new brand and develop a dealer network,” Yamanouchi said.
Yamada said the co-developed model would hit dealer showrooms “soon” but declined to elaborate in part because the marketing of the car will be controlled by Changan.
It wasn’t clear how extensive this new phase of cooperation between Mazda and Changan would be or how many models are involved, Reuters noted.
