When considering automotive production, few will likely even consider Vietnam as a logical or likely choice to produce a car, but that is exactly what Mazda has done in an effort to localize production for the growing market in Vietnam.
Today, production official begins for the Mazda2 subcompact car, which has been on-sale in the U.S. and other markets for the past year, but will now join the growing markets in and around Vietnam and the ASEAN region.
“The Mazda2 delivers beautiful design, sporty driving dynamics, and superb environmental performance at a level unmatched by other small cars. We are confident that the Mazda2 will be warmly accepted by Vietnamese customers despite the extremely competitive compact car segment,” said Seita Kanai, Mazda director and executive vice president.
The production is taking place at a plant owned by Vina Mazda Automobile Manufacturing Co., Ltd., located in the Nui Thanh district of the Quang Nam province located in the central region of Vietnam. By global standards, the plant is fairly small with just 300 employees and capacity for just 10,000 units per year. The physical footprint of the facility is a little over 800,000 square feet in totality.
Mazda first began selling completely built-up vehicles (Mazda2, Mazda3, Mazda6 and CX-9 from Japan, as well as the BT-50 pickup from Thailand) through Vina Mazda in March 2011. Mazda announced its decision to begin local assembly of the Mazda2 in Vietnam in August.
Mazda expects the Mazda2 to become one of its backbone products for the Vietnamese market, hoping to produce about 2,000 cars per year.
