Who Owns Mazda And Where Are Its Cars Built?

For several decades, Mazda and Ford had a close relationship, but that tie-up came to an end in the years following the recession of the late ’00s. Since then, the Japanese manufacturer has partnered with a different automotive giant, Toyota, with the latter holding around a 5% stake in Mazda at the time of writing. However, aside from the Toyota partnership, Mazda has been mostly going it alone. The majority of shares of its parent company, Mazda Motor Corporation, are owned by various Japanese investors. Only around 37% of the company is held by foreign investors. These shares are held via banks and investment trusts, including the Master Trust Bank of Japan (which holds 16.8% of the company) and Morgan Stanley (which holds 1.7%).

Mazda didn’t originally start out as a car manufacturer. The company was founded in 1920 as Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., and initially produced corks before moving into producing machine tools. The brand’s first prototype engine was built in 1929, and Mazda briefly used those engines in a line of motorcycles until it switched to making three-wheeled vehicles in the early ’30s. After the World War II, Mazda continued building three-wheeled vehicles but also expanded into the production of four-wheeled trucks. It didn’t make its first passenger car until 1960, but over the following years, the brand saw huge growth, and its fledgling car lineup was quickly fleshed out with more models.

This rapid expansion eventually evolved into the brand’s modern day lineup, which includes family-oriented models like the CX-70 and CX-90, alongside budget-friendly models like the Mazda3. The brand also continues to sell its MX-5 Miata sports car, which is available both as a roadster and with a folding hardtop roof. Its lineup is built in a variety of global assembly plants, including several in Japan. The Miata is assembled at Mazda’s Ujina Plant No.1 near Hiroshima, Japan, while the CX-90 is assembled in the brand’s Hofu, Yamaguchi plant. Also produced at Hofu are the CX-5, the CX-70, Mazda3, and the CX-30.

The CX-50 is the only Mazda model made in the USA, and is assembled by the Mazda Toyota Manufacturing plant in Huntsville, Alabama. The same facility is also responsible for the Toyota Corolla Cross. While Mazda also makes the Mazda3 and CX-30 at its plant in Hofu, Japan, many American market examples of the cars are built in Salamanca, Mexico at the brand’s Mazda de Mexico Vehicle Operation plant, which has been in operation since 2014. Both Mazda’s Japanese-built cars and its Mexican-built cars remain subject to tariffs from the U.S. government at the time of writing, although the tariff situation remains unpredictable. The brand has already stated that the tariffs might lead to price increases for some of its foreign-made models, although for now, it has yet to confirm how significant those price rises might be.