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Mazda Car Company Mazda was founded in Japan, 1920 originally as the Toyo Cork Kogyo Co, Ltd. It was the introduction of the Mazda-Go in 1931 that eventually led the company away from manufacturing machine tools to vehicles. Like many other companies during the Second World War, Toyo Kogyo helped the Japanese military by supplying weapons made in their manufacturing plants. The name of the company and its origins is the subject of debate. Some say that it is derived from Ahura Mazda who was the transcendental God of Zoroastrianism. Others believe that it coincides with the anglicized pronunciation of the founders name, Jujiro Matsuda, a very spiritual man who chose to re-name the company in honour of his family and the Zoroastrians. ‘Mazda' malso means ‘wisdom' in the Avestan language. It is worth noting, however, that in Japanese, the company has always been pronounced and spelt as ‘Matsuda'. This leads most people to believe that it is simply a poor anglicized version of the founders' name. Although the company didn't officially adopt the Mazda name until 1984, all vehicles ever produced by the company bore that name. Their first four-wheel car, the Mazda R360 was introduced in 1960 with their second, the Mazda Carol following just two years later in 1962. Their cars were so successful in the Japanese market, that by 1968 Mazda were exporting their vehicles to Canada and eventually the United States in 1970. The seventies were the heyday for Mazda internationally. Their Wankle rotary engine out performed their piston-based competitors by a large margin and Mazda made sure it was implemented in almost every product they sold. An unforeseen difficult financial period during the 1970's marked Mazda's first financial crisis. This led to the Ford Motor group buying a 25% stake in the company. Mazda launched the successful RX-7 in 1978 and although a good seller for the manufacturer, the real sales revival wouldn't be seen until the early 1980's. With their partnership with Ford in full swing by the 1980's, Mazda made the transition form a niche Japanese player to a more globally recognised brand of the Ford Empire. Mazda's contribution to the Ford line-up was unmistakeable and very successful during the 1980's with the introduction of revolutionary cars such as the MX-6 and Eunos Roadster (the MX-5), cars that are still popular to this day. Unfortunately, the 1990's saw yet another decade of decline in sales for Mazda. The disastrous attempt at the end of the 1980's to diversify its brand names did them no favours. The reasoning behind this re-branding was down to some market research that was conducted about the company revealed that the Mazda brand carries with it the connotations of economic budget cars. This was a feeling shared from Japan to the US. Mazda embarked on a manufacturing frenzy: building more and more models, trying to compete and match with brands like Nissan and Toyota, who had multiple chains in Japan. Mazda were criticised all the way through the 1990's for its bland designs so the first couple of years into the new century, Mazda were hard at work designing and developing new cars for a great comeback. By 2002, Mazda had launched the hugely popular Mazda 6 and perceptions on the brand almost immediately changed. Mazda had taken control of Mazdaspeed in 1999 as a tuning and performance parts operation within the company. By 2003 Mazdaspeed had debuted with the Mazdaspeed Protégé for the North American market. Initially only coming in two colours, Black and Spicy Orange, the model was launched in a variety of different colours just a year later. Only 4,750 Mazdaspeed protégé cars were sold and it would eventually be replaced by the extremely popular Mazda 3. Today, Mazda have managed to re-coup some of their recent losses and continue to build cars that will give any manufacturer a run for their money. In 2006, Mazda became the fourth highest sold car marque in Australia: beaten only by Toyota, Ford and Australia's own Holden brand. Mazda Car Insurance Models121 323 626 B-Series Bongo Demio E2200 Eunos Mazda2 Mazda3 Mazda5 Mazda6 MPV MX-3 MX-5 MX-6 Premacy RX-7 RX-8 |
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