Mazda to stop production at U.S. venture with Ford, report says
TOKYO (Bloomberg) -- Mazda Motor Corp., Japan's second-largest auto exporter, will stop production at an unprofitable U.S. joint venture with Ford Motor Co., Japanese broadcaster NHK said.
Mazda will transfer production of Mazda6 vehicles to Yamaguchi prefecture in Japan from the AutoAlliance International Inc. factory in Flat Rock, Mich., as early as 2013, NHK said, without saying where it obtained the information. The yen's 13 percent gain against the U.S. dollar in the past year has reduced Mazda's profit from overseas sales.
Mazda's U.S. deliveries in May fell 21 percent from a year earlier. Kiyoshi Ozaki, chief financial officer of the Hiroshima-based company, said in February the company will announce plans for U.S. production by the middle of this year.
Ken Haruki, a spokesman for Mazda in Tokyo, and Jeremy Barnes, a spokesman for the carmaker's North American unit, both declined to comment on the NHK report.
"The company has been discussing future plans for our U.S. factory, and it's possible some of the things in the NHK report have been talked about," Haruki said. "But nothing has been decided."
In a statement released this morning, Mazda said the reports about AutoAlliance are "not based on information released by Mazda."
"Mazda and Ford are jointly studying various possibilities for AAI, and we have nothing to announce at this time," the statement said. "We do not comment on speculation."
A spokesman for Ford also declined to comment on the report, also calling it "speculative."
The Michigan plant produced about 54,000 vehicles last year, Ozaki said in February
TOKYO (Bloomberg) -- Mazda Motor Corp., Japan's second-largest auto exporter, will stop production at an unprofitable U.S. joint venture with Ford Motor Co., Japanese broadcaster NHK said.
Mazda will transfer production of Mazda6 vehicles to Yamaguchi prefecture in Japan from the AutoAlliance International Inc. factory in Flat Rock, Mich., as early as 2013, NHK said, without saying where it obtained the information. The yen's 13 percent gain against the U.S. dollar in the past year has reduced Mazda's profit from overseas sales.
Mazda's U.S. deliveries in May fell 21 percent from a year earlier. Kiyoshi Ozaki, chief financial officer of the Hiroshima-based company, said in February the company will announce plans for U.S. production by the middle of this year.
Ken Haruki, a spokesman for Mazda in Tokyo, and Jeremy Barnes, a spokesman for the carmaker's North American unit, both declined to comment on the NHK report.
"The company has been discussing future plans for our U.S. factory, and it's possible some of the things in the NHK report have been talked about," Haruki said. "But nothing has been decided."
In a statement released this morning, Mazda said the reports about AutoAlliance are "not based on information released by Mazda."
"Mazda and Ford are jointly studying various possibilities for AAI, and we have nothing to announce at this time," the statement said. "We do not comment on speculation."
A spokesman for Ford also declined to comment on the report, also calling it "speculative."
The Michigan plant produced about 54,000 vehicles last year, Ozaki said in February
