OSAKA (Kyodo) Mazda Motor Corp. aims to open a car plant in Mexico by 2013 through a joint venture with Sumitomo Corp., targeting Brazilian and other Latin American markets, sources said Tuesday
The Hiroshima-based company aims to build subcompacts and other vehicles there with annual output starting at 100,000 units, the sources said.
Mazda will partner with a company other than Ford Motor Co., formerly its top shareholder, for the first time in an overseas plant project. Ford sold the bulk of its Mazda shareholdings in November.
The investment cost of the new plant is estimated at ¥30 billion to ¥40 billion.
Mazda and Sumitomo are looking at several locations in Mexico for the plant site. They hope to break ground on the facility next year.
It will be Mazda's fourth overseas factory. Outside Japan, the company now makes cars in the United States, Thailand and China.
The automaker will start production in Mexico in line with its plan to boost global output to 1.7 million vehicles in the year through March 2017 from 1.32 million projected for fiscal 2010.
The company is also setting up the new manufacturing base because it needs to shield itself from the negative impact of the appreciation of the yen on its business.
Sumitomo holds an interest of about 3 percent in Mazda after purchasing shares sold by Ford.
No comments:
Post a Comment