Mazda Kicks Off Production at New Plant in Mexico with Mazda3 Sedan

Mazda's brand new vehicle and engine assembly facility in Salamanca, Mexico, has started mass production earlier than originally anticipated (March, 2014), as the first car, a Mazda3 sedan destined for the US market, rolled off the factory line on Tuesday.

“We have sent over 150 engineers and supervisors to Mazda’s plants in Hiroshima and Hofu, and made every effort to ensure that we are manufacturing products of the highest quality here at MMVO," commented Mazda Managing Executive Officer Keishi Egawa. "With the start of mass production, we now have a system capable of offering vehicles of the same high quality as those made in Japan, on a global scale, and that is extremely gratifying."

Besides the USA, the Japanese carmaker's Mexican plant will produce the Mazda3 for other countries in the Americas and for Europe.

In the near future, Mazda intends to expand the production model line-up to include the Mazda2 sub-compact as well as approximately 50,000 Toyota-branded vehicles built under contract, beginning in the summer of 2015.

Mazda said it aims to reach an annual capacity of 230,000 units by March of 2016.

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Mazda's 2014 Tokyo Auto Salon Lineup Revealed

Mazda will be heading to the 2014 edition of the Tokyo Auto Salon (TAS) in the second week of January with a group of racing, tuned and pre-production concept cars, some of which will be familiar to those of you who followed the brand's presence at this year's SEMA Show in November.

The ones we are referring to are the "Axela Sport Mazda Design Concept 2014" and "Atenza Sedan Mazda Design Concept 2014", which are more or less the same as the SEMA Show Mazda3 and Mazda6 ClubSport studies respectively, with different paint jobs.

Other cars to be found at Mazda's TAS stand will be the North American Mazda6 Skyactiv-D diesel-powered racer from the Grand AM GX series, and three pre-production studies, the Mazda6 estate-based "Atenza Wagon Mazda Design Concept 2014", Mazda3 sedan-based "Axela Sedan Mazda Design Concept 2014", and the "CX-5 Mazda Design Concept 2014", all featuring mild aero modifications and bespoke wheel setups.

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