Mazda Motor said on Wednesday it would restart operations on January 6 at its Hiroshima factory, where a fire broke out last week, crippling a paint-coating facility.
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The automaker told Kyodo News it would have the Ujina No. 1 factory start making the Demio [2] compact car.
The factory had assembled RX-8 sports cars and Verisa passenger cars, in addition to the Demio, until the December 15 fire forced its suspension.
Mazda would arrange for the Ujina No. 2 factory adjacent to the crippled plant to paint the Demios made at the 180,000-square-metre No. 1 factory, it said.
Mazda would widen a path connecting the two plants during the year end and New Year holidays, so bodies painted at the No. 2 factory can be brought to assembly lines at the No. 1 plant, it said.
Kyodo News noted that the fire destroyed 9,200 square metres of the 45,600 square-meter paint-coating facility at the No. 1 factory, forcing 1,000 workers to evacuate.
Output at the Ujina No. 1 factory has accounted for 30% of Mazda’s domestic output.
