Mazda’s headed in the right direction. Ford would be foolish to jeopardize the relationship for what would really amount to a pittance in the grand scheme of things.

I think Ford “quality” has seeped too much into this relationship already.

Mind, the relationship can remain the same, but the Ford’s stake in Mazda may change. A hint is directly in Mr Imaki’s words “We’ve had a relationship with Ford since the 1970s”.

But Ford didn’t have a controlling stake in Mazda until 1997 (33.9%). The scenario where Mazda buys a third of its stock is much more than plausible, especially given the fact that Mazda has been trying to do that for some time now.

Both would benefit, Mazda would be more independent and free from Ford’s influence, Ford would still have access to Mazda engines and chassis.

Yeah Get Real, Mazda is so much worse off with it’s Mazda3 and new Mazda6 than when it used to have the 323 hatchback and 626. If Ford infusing a line with style and performance is a problem, well, I hope every manufacturer has Ford buy part of them out!

Ford… This is your biggest success story in the past 20 years!!! Don’t let this one go! Heck, buy out the rest of Mazda and get rid of all Ford passanger cars and stick to just commercial trucks and expand Mazda’s lineup.

Indeed. Maybe at this rate Mazda will be the surviving / controlling entity.

When it comes to passenger cars, crossover, people-movers, etc… of all the lineups in the Ford empire, the North American lineup is the least attractive. Kill ‘em all except the Mustang and give us Mazdas badged as Fords, European Fords, Australian Fords… any of the above would improve the picture.

Yeah, Ford would be stupid to offload the only company thats making them money but they are very good at making stupid decisions so i guess its only a matter of time then. Just like the stupidity of trying to kill the aussie Falcon, they should have an export plan for that car not trying to kill it off!

66:

You obviously don’t know anyone who has owned a Mazda past the warranty period. Why does market share remain low with such “Great Cars” coming out all the time from Mazda.

Well, I have only owned three – had not had a problem with any of them, save the Tribute’s stupid seal that rubs off – but that was also a rebadged Ford. My friend owns a ‘98 626 and save a timing belt that needs to be changed, runs as good as ever.

The reason their market share is not “great” is because the lack of knowledge… People get into a rythem buying only certain brands and neglect Mazda – a MAJOR mistake. Plus, quality over quantity – goes for several manufacturers that produce good cars at reasonable prices that are often overlooked – Subaru among them.

Get Real,

In our family, we’ve had experience with 4 Mazdas past the warranty – Euro models – 1998 – 626, 150 000 miles and still counting, 1999 – 323 (protege), 231 500 miles and still counting, 2002 – Mazda 6, 160K miles and still counting. We sold these cars to our friends. Now we drive 2007 Mazda 6 MPS, 2007 Mazda 3 and 2008 Mazda 6.

By the way, my uncle still drives his 1995 Mazda 323 F at 100 000 miles.

Not a SINGLE thing broke down or stopped working. Maybe the difference was that ALL our cars were Made in Japan, while US Mazda 6 is made in Michigan….

As for the market share, Mazda makes 1.3 million cars a year and its global production and sales have been on a rise since 2001. In other words, Mazda’s market share corresponds to their production output.

Ford has done wonders with Mazda, but that’s also because they didn’t own them outright (and can’t – the Japanese gov’t limits ownership to 33.4%), just controlled them. It allowed them to guide Mazda through product development and strategy without forcing Mazda to align with its internal priorities.

There are also a few things that need to be noted:

The sale of Ford’s stake would not mean that Mazda and Ford would stop cooperating. It is in both companies best interest to maintain it.

Ford has contributed a lot to Mazda. Mazda’s manufacturing capability is far better than it used to be thanks to Ford. Mazda’s quality controls are also less consistent relative to Ford. Most products developed solely in Japan suffer much greater failure rates than those co-developed with Ford (the CX-7 and RX-8 comes to mind).

It was also Ford involvement in the top management of Mazda in the late-90s and early 2000s that allowed Mazda to better align with Ford’s development cycle, change its design and marketing direction and release products like the 3, CX-9 and now the new Mazda6 and Mazda2 (outside the U.S.).

In return Mazda has contributed a lot to Ford as well, including 4-cylinder engines and some vehicle engineering beyond the co-development of the B and C-platforms.

For all those reasons, even Ford does sell part of its stake, it will not easily be separate from Mazda.

Mazda is not going anywhere, before you know it Ford will be in a position that everything will be okay.

Get Real
I think Ford “quality” has seeped too much into this relationship already.

Not sure what you mean. Can you elaborate?

Get Real, my 03 Pro5 is approaching 150k, warranty went out at 50k. I belong to several Mazda forums and there are many members with their Mazdas (Pro, Pro5, Mazdaspeed Pro, Mazda6, Miata, etc.) past 200k. So don’t crap on a brand if you have never owned one.

Market share and quality aren’t related. A luxury brand has to have worse quality based on that analysis. One reason why Mazda remains low volume is its relatively small dealer network. Since its naming scheme change in 2003 (Naming models with “Mazda” in front), the brand is just now starting to get some brand recognition. When I bought my car in 03, nobody knew what it was by looking at the “Flying M” logo. Everybody knows what brand it is now.

Ford and Mazda has a mutually beneficial relationship. I can’t say the same regarding the one between you and this thread.