Production of the redesigned Mazda 2 (Demio in Japan) has started at the automaker’s new plant in Mexico.
Mazda de Mexico Vehicle Operation (MMVO), is the company’s third global facility to assemble the 2 along with Hofu in Japan and Auto Alliance in Thailand.
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The MMVO Salamanca plant has an initial capacity of 140,000 vehicles a year, operating on two shifts. Mazda intends to expand this to 250,000 cars a year by 2016. The factory started operations in January producing the 3.
The plant is also scheduled to build a derivative of the 2 on an OEM basis for Toyota to sell in North America.
Mazda is working to establish a global production footprint, one of four key initiatives laid out in its structural reform plan announced in February 2012. The start of production of the 2 at MMVO, along with the start of operations at the engine machining plant on the site, and the planned production capacity increase, represent steps forward.
The engine machining plant is based on the same production technologies used in Hiroshima.
MMVO president Keishi Egawa said: “With the start of production of the 2, operations under way at the engine machining plant, and an increase in our annual production capacity, we now have an even stronger production framework capable of supplying global markets.”
