Mazda plans to spend a further US$150m on its Guanajuato, Mexico, plant, currently being built, to boost annual capacity from 140,000 to 230,000 by the end of fiscal 2016, the company said in a statement.
The additional spend will take total funding to US$650m and allow Mazda to produce an extra 40,000 vehicles a year.
The Guanajuato plant is due to come on stream in the first quarter of next year with initial capacity of 140,000 vehicles. These will be Mazda 2 and 3 models for north, central and south America.
From summer 2015, the plant will also produce 50,000 Toyota models based on the Mazda 2 destined for North America. That agreement was announced last November. Toyota is paying for the investment needed to produce its models which will be sold through its own dealer network.
