Mazda Motor Corporation

Company Information

Date Founded: 1920

Industry:Automotive

Corporate Headquarters: Fuchu, Japan

Type: Public

Overview

The Mazda Motor Corporation, or simply Mazda, is a publicly traded Japanese automobile manufacturing company headquartered in Fuchu, Japan. It is known for its small, relatively inexpensive high-performance vehicles. With sporty models such as the MX-5 Miata and Mazda3, Mazda remained a profitable company into the twenty-first century, earning a range of automotive awards for its vehicles and enjoying the support of the global public.

Businessman Jujiro Matsuda founded Mazda on January 30, 1920, in Hiroshima, Japan, as the Toyo Cork Kyogo Co. The enterprise manufactured cork, various tools, and machines throughout the 1920s before changing its focus to producing automobiles in the early 1930s.

The first Mazda vehicle was the Mazda-Go. Manufactured in 1931, this was essentially a three-wheeled motorcycle with a cargo rack on its back. The company began making automobiles in earnest after World War II, starting with trucks in the 1950s and small passenger cars in the 1960s.

In the late 1970s, despite its sales of such high-performance cars as the Mazda RX-7, Mazda began experiencing financial difficulties and was forced to sell significant portions of its ownership to the Ford Motor Company to remain financially secure. Ford invested even more heavily in Mazda into the 1980s and 1990s. This led the two companies to produce a number of similar vehicles based on shared technology.

Financial strain in the late 2000s forced Ford to sell off most of its Mazda shares. This granted Mazda more production freedom but left it with less financing. Nonetheless, Mazda continued to produce large trucks and SUVs as well as smaller customer favorites such as the Mazda MX-5 roadster. Many of these vehicles proved to be consistent best-sellers for Mazda into the 2010s. Ford sold the last of its Mazda shares in 2015.

History

Mazda’s earliest automobile sales came from China, where the company, still known as Toyo Cork Kyogo Co., started exporting the Mazda-Go in 1932. Mazda produced only this car until Japan entered World War II in the early 1940s. The company then stopped manufacturing vehicles to make guns and other war materials for the Japanese army.

The war ended in 1945, and Mazda resumed vehicle production in 1949, starting with the Mazda-Go. The company introduced the four-wheeled Mazda Romper, a compact truck, in 1958. Mazda’s first passenger car was the Mazda R360 Coupe, released in 1960.

Still only a moderately-sized company, Mazda began seeking foreign partnerships in the early 1960s to raise funding and develop more advanced automotive technology. It established its first such alliance with the German company NSU Motorenwerke in 1961.

Mazda and NSU eventually collaborated to create the Wankel rotary engine, a car engine with rotating parts. Mazda leadership wanted to do this to distinguish the company as unique among other Japanese automakers. From the 1970s to the 2010s, Mazda was the only automobile company in the world to manufacture its vehicles with Wankel engines. This technology defined Mazda cars as being lightweight yet powerful. The first Mazda car featuring a rotary engine was the 1967 Cosmo Sport 110S.

In 1970, Mazda expanded its reach to the United States, which proved to be its most profitable market. That year, the company established Mazda North American Operations to manage its American sales. The venture quickly proved successful, with the rotary-powered Mazda R100 coupe becoming a fast-selling model among Americans.

The 1973 oil embargo against the United States by the oil-rich Arab world caused a severe oil shortage in America. Consequently, many Americans stopped buying Mazda’s rotary-powered cars, which consumed high volumes of gasoline, in favor of more fuel-efficient vehicles. Mazda, however, had continued developing its standard piston engine as well, and used it to make smaller, more efficient models such as the Familia and Capella.

The Ford Motor Company bought a 27 percent stake in Mazda in 1979. The investment injected Mazda with significant new funding but also forced it to include Ford in company decision making. For example, in the 1980s, Ford used Mazda’s Familia design to manufacture its own compact Laser and Escort models. Ford bought another 20 percent of Mazda after these cars began selling well.

In 1989, Mazda introduced its MX-5 Miata, a sleek two-seat roadster that was advertised as being affordable, lightweight, and powerful. The global public responded well to the MX-5, and the car quickly became one of Mazda’s most recognizable and best-selling models. The company manufactured them into the twenty-first century.

A severe financial crisis struck Japan in the late 1990s, leaving Mazda in a dire economic situation. To save Mazda from bankruptcy, Ford acquired a controlling stake in the company. The two automakers then started collaborating even more closely, sharing technology and designs among the models of both companies. The global financial crisis of 2008 found Ford struggling to stay financially solvent. To quickly raise funds, Ford sold off the majority of its stake in Mazda for half a billion dollars. This returned a great deal of company control to Mazda, but its executives worried about its future without the technological and financial assistance of the much larger Ford.

Mazda continued producing small, high-performance sports cars, sedans, trucks, and SUVs into the twenty-first century. Its MX-5 remained one of its top sellers; sales of the car reached more than 900,000 in the 2010s. Mazda also began work on hydrogen-powered engines to reduce their vehicles’ emissions of harmful gases into the environment.

In 2015 Ford sold the last of its Mazda shares, leaving the Japanese company fully independent. Earlier that year, Mazda had already announced the formation of a partnership with much larger rival Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corporation. The plan, later deepened, allowed for a wide range of collaborations on technology and manufacturing. Notably, Mazda received hydrogen fuel cell technology from Toyota, which in turn was provided with access to Mazda's high-efficiency gasoline and diesel engine systems known as SkyActiv technology.

Japanese automakers have been faulted as being "late to the game" regarding the emerging Electric Vehicle (EV) market. In 2023 Mazda marketed its first-ever EV, which it named the MX-30. The vehicle was positively cited for its price, design, and eco-friendly interior. It was also described as being a pleasurable ride. On the negative side, the MX-30 was reported to have a limited range and to be only available to American consumers in California.

Impact

Mazda built itself up from a modest producer of small trucks and sedans into an international corporation globally recognized for its lightweight, affordable compacts and roadsters. The MX-5 Miata, Mazda’s premier sports car, is one of the best-selling convertibles of all time. In 2016 it was named the World Car of the Year and World Car Design of the Year.

Throughout its history, Mazda fashioned itself as an innovator, experimenting with the rotary engine in the 1970s and hydrogen-powered vehicles in the twenty-first century. Mazda’s products have won numerous automotive awards and generate billions of dollars in annual revenue for the company.

Bibliography

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