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A Mazda-built Toyota would be interesting!
I, somehow, missed the news of Toyota and Mazda getting a relationship . . .
For those who don't know, Toyota is a VERY complex group, which a number of independent and semi-autonomous parts. Toyota Group is larger than Toyota Motor . . .
One part often makes vehicles for another. The Gen 1 xB was built by Capital Auto and the xB2 was built by Kanto Auto Works in their Iwate plant (I've been told that the newer ones are made by someone else). Recently, like in the last months, Kanto AW, Capital and a Toyota Motor Tohoku merged and became a full part of the Toyota Group, changing the name to Toyota Motor East Japan. http://www.toyota-ej.co.jp/english/company/history.html
Mazda was an independent-unto-itself entity, with a relationship with Ford, until it got itself into serious financial problems in the 1990s Japanese "Bubble Burst" and Ford stepped into buy enough to gain controlling interest in Mazda. Then, they used Mazda as practically their new-product-development arm, leading to the 6-based Fusion and 500/Taurus and 3-based Focus and a Volvo model (among others). In recent years, I've read reports of Ford offering to sell-off its interest in Mazda.
I'm now interested in looking-up how Mazda has changed.
Oh, and I LIKE the Mazda mentality. In many ways, it is the "don't tell us it can't be done" company and is always thinking outside-the-box. Even if Mazda is the smallest, by far, of the major Japanese manufacturers.
I, somehow, missed the news of Toyota and Mazda getting a relationship . . .
For those who don't know, Toyota is a VERY complex group, which a number of independent and semi-autonomous parts. Toyota Group is larger than Toyota Motor . . .
One part often makes vehicles for another. The Gen 1 xB was built by Capital Auto and the xB2 was built by Kanto Auto Works in their Iwate plant (I've been told that the newer ones are made by someone else). Recently, like in the last months, Kanto AW, Capital and a Toyota Motor Tohoku merged and became a full part of the Toyota Group, changing the name to Toyota Motor East Japan. http://www.toyota-ej.co.jp/english/company/history.html
Mazda was an independent-unto-itself entity, with a relationship with Ford, until it got itself into serious financial problems in the 1990s Japanese "Bubble Burst" and Ford stepped into buy enough to gain controlling interest in Mazda. Then, they used Mazda as practically their new-product-development arm, leading to the 6-based Fusion and 500/Taurus and 3-based Focus and a Volvo model (among others). In recent years, I've read reports of Ford offering to sell-off its interest in Mazda.
I'm now interested in looking-up how Mazda has changed.
Oh, and I LIKE the Mazda mentality. In many ways, it is the "don't tell us it can't be done" company and is always thinking outside-the-box. Even if Mazda is the smallest, by far, of the major Japanese manufacturers.
