Mazda Celebrates 50 Million Vehicles Made in Japan
June 8th, 2018 Tokyo – Mazda Motor Corporation has announced that cumulative production in Japan reached 50 million units on May 15. The company held a commemorative ceremony at its Hofu Plant in Yamaguchi prefecture. Representative Director, President and CEO Masamichi Kogai, executive officers and union representatives attended. The 50 million-unit milestone comes 86 years and seven months after Mazda produced its first three-wheeled truck in October 1931.
Mazda began its journey as an automaker in 1931, when it started producing three-wheeled trucks in Hiroshima. In 1960 it commenced production of the R360 Coupe micro-mini, marking a bold entry into the passenger car market. Vehicle manufacture started at Hofu Plant in Yamaguchi in 1982, and domestic production duties have since been shared between the Hofu and Hiroshima Plants. The production techniques and flexible production systems developed at these plants have helped Mazda to grow its business. Mixed production lines capable of producing different models on a single line enable manufacture of multiple models at low volumes, a breakthrough in the traditional tradeoff between product variety and competitiveness and volume efficiency. In 2016 and 2017, the company took steps to increase its production flexibility for crossover models and create a framework capable of responding quickly to changes in demand. The domestic plants take the lead with Mazda’s global car-making; production techniques and technologies established in Japan are then rolled out to overseas facilities
Mazda aims to sell 1,660,000 cars this fiscal year, the final year of its Structural Reform Stage 2 medium-term business plan, and plans to establish a global production framework capable of manufacturing two million units annually by fiscal year ending March 2024. Mass-production of vehicles featuring next-generation technologies and design is slated to start in 2019. The company will continue expanding its production framework in an effort to get cars to customers as quickly as possible.
Mazda will continue to build a strong brand through a variety of initiatives. Manufacturing plants in Hofu and Hiroshima will continue to evolve and act as parent factories that embody the kind of technical prowess that does justice to Japan’s proud history of Monotsukuri, and rapidly deploy technologies and skills to overseas plants. Aspiring to create a world in which cars can co-exist sustainably with people, society and the earth, Mazda is committed to enriching people’s live through various touchpoints, including the manufacture of high-quality cars, and become a brand with which customers feel a strong emotional bond.
