Mazda Increases Mazda3 Output to Help Keep Up with Strong Demand

Mazda Can Now Produce in Excess of 350,000 3s Per Year

Mazda's hot-selling 3 has left every C-segment competitor in its tracks since debuting almost two years ago, due to heady

Mazda's hot-selling 3 has left every C-segment competitor in its tracks since debuting almost two years ago. (Photo: Shawn Pisio, Canadian Auto Press)

performance, superior interior build quality and stylish good looks. Truly, the only problem its retailers have had is getting enough of them to fulfill demand.

The Mazda3, named Axela in its home market, has been in especially short demand in Europe, North American and Australia, according to a Reuters news service report.

Therefore, on Tuesday, Mazda Motor Corp. announced that it would be raising output of its compact model effective immediately by producing it at an additional location, the Ujina No.2 plant near its headquarters in Hiroshima, western Japan, which the automaker reopened last year to build the Mazda2/Demio subcompact.

The Ujina No. 2 plant, called U2 within the company, was retooled to allow for flexible

Mazda Motor Corp. announced that it would be raising output of its compact model effective immediately. (Photo: Shawn Pisio, Canadian Auto Press)

manufacturing prior to reopening. Therefore, not only can the tiny Mazda2 and larger Mazda3 be produced side-by-side, but the facility also has the capability to produce a wide range of models, including minivans.

Plans to build 2,000 Mazda3 models per month at the U2 plant are now underway, all of which will be shipped overseas. The extra 24,000 units should increase production from last year's 337,377 units up to more than 360,000 units, although Reuters news service reported that a Mazda spokeswomen commented on a total Mazda3 production run of about 350,000 units per annum.