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Thread: REPORT: Ford and Mazda may develop vehicles separately going forward

  1. #1
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    Default REPORT: Ford and Mazda may develop vehicles separately going forward

    Filed under: Plants/Manufacturing, Ford, Mazda, Rumormill



    For the last umpteen years (since about 1979, to be exact), Ford has owned a significant share of Japanese automaker Mazda, growing in 1997 to a 33.4-percent controlling stake. As such, the two automakers have historically shared a significant amount of resources and product architectures - a system that has helped both companies remain competitive in the increasingly tough automotive market.

    At present, the Ford Fiesta, European Focus and Fusion sedan all borrow unseen bits and pieces from Mazda platforms, and the Japanese automaker offers its own versions of the Ford's compact and midsize crossovers.

    Lately, though, it seems Ford and Mazda have been seeing less and less of each other. About a year ago, Ford sold off 20 percent of its stake in the Japanese company, and while it's likely the two automakers will continue to enjoy cooperation in some capacity, Bloomberg is reporting that product sharing may very well be diminished moving forward. Drat. And to think, for all these years, we've apparently been wasting our time holding out hope for a Ford-badged fixed-head coupe based on Mazda's ever-delightful MX-5 Miata.


    [Source: Bloomberg]REPORT: Ford and Mazda may develop vehicles separately going forward originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 04 Dec 2009 17:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.



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  2. #2

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    I was always under the impression that it was a one way street, and that Mazda borrowed/bought ideas from Ford and never the reverse.

  3. #3

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    About time as I started at Tynan Mazda in 1979 - 1984 and hated that the crappy Ford badged Mazda's sold better than the real thing....

    Mazda give Ford the flick and let them look in their own spare parts bins....

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by mpsJOE View Post
    I was always under the impression that it was a one way street, and that Mazda borrowed/bought ideas from Ford and never the reverse.
    Plenty of shared components going both ways. The 3 and 6 platforms were developed by Mazda with Ford and Volvo adding their bits, ie. Ford Control Blade rear suspension on the 3, Mazda MZR engines being rebadged and retuned as Duratecs and so on!

    The downside to this is the R&D cost associated with bringing a new platform to market may limit the frequency of future upgrades for Mazda if there is less sharing than before
    R36 - Just like an MPS6 except with a growly V6

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