Mazda rolls out its 50 millionth vehicle in Japan

Mazda motor corporation produced 50 million units recently and celebrated it at its Hofu Plant in Yamaguchi prefecture. Representative director, president and CEO Masamichi Kogai, executive officers and union representatives were in attendance. The 50 million-unit milestone was achieved 86 years and seven months after Mazda produced its first three-wheeled truck in October 1931.

At the ceremony, Kogai said, “Mazda began making cars 86 years ago, and now we've reached 50 million units of production in Japan. Even making 1 million cars a year, it would take 50 years to reach this milestone, showing just how long Mazda's history is. Our plants in Hofu and Hiroshima will continue to evolve and act as parent factories, rapidly deploying their technologies and skills to our overseas plants.”

In 1960,  Mazda commenced production of the R360 Coupe micro-mini and vehicle manufacture started at Hofu Plant in Yamaguchi in 1982. Domestic production duties have since been shared between the Hofu and Hiroshima plants. Mixed production lines capable of producing different models on a single line enabled Mazda to manufacture multiple models at low volumes.

In 2016 and 2017, the company took steps to increase its production flexibility for crossover models and to create a framework capable of responding quickly to changes in demand.

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 the fiscal year ending March 2024. Mass-production of vehicles featuring next-generation technologies and design is slated to start in 2019, and the company has stated that it will continue expanding its production framework in an effort to get cars to customers as quickly as possible.

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