Mazda Adapting to Ford’s New Role

Ford Motor Co.’s management takeover at Japan’s Mazda Motor Corp. probably won’t mean big changes for Mazda’s U.S. arm in Irvine, which has just launched an aggressive campaign to recapture some of the market share it lost last year.

Still, Mazda Motor America Inc., the company’s import, distribution and dealer development operation, has been longing for word from Hiroshima about its place on the corporate priority list. Mazda has been losing money and that hasn’t been good for its Irvine offspring.

“We look at Ford taking a larger share in our parent as giving the company greater stability,” said Jay Amestoy, Mazda Motor America’s vice president for corporate affairs.

George McCabe, MMA’s general manager, says he doesn’t believe Ford will use Mazda’s U.S. network to sell rebadged Ford products (the defunct Mazda Navajo was a 2-door Ford Explorer with a redesigned grille and headlight treatment).

What Ford could do, though, is help Mazda bring new products of its own to the U.S. market. The historic rotary-engined RX 7 has been dropped from the North American lineup and Mazda needs funds to bring in replacements derived from the Miata M Coupe and the rotary-powered RX-01 prototypes shown last week at the New York International Auto Show.

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John O’Dell covers major Orange County corporations, manufacturing and economic issues for The Times. He can be reached at (714) 966-5831 and at [email protected]