Toyo Kogyo was another example of the fact that if you were not the leader, then you had to specialise and innovate. Around 1960, Mazda (Toyo Kogyo) became interested in the rotary engine with its low
pollution qualities and became the only company in the world to produce rotary-engined cars in volume.
Unfortunately, the 1973 fuel crisis hit the firm hard because of the rotary's excessive thirst. For a time, there was a danger of bankruptcy, but Mazda stepped back from the brink by cutting rotary-engined models to only 10 per cent of their production. The company has since prospered, and by 1980 Ford had taken up a 25 per cent share. Production in 1979 was 647,000 vehicles.
Origins:
Cork factory (1920), firm changed name in 1927, becoming Toyo Kogyo; motorcycle production (1930), soon halted, three-wheeler vans made, 1931; attempt to produce light cars (1940); production resumed
1950 with vans, first light car produced 1960.
Milestones:
First mass-production model: Mazda R360 (1960).
First model exported to Europe: Mazda 1000 Coupe and Mazda 1600/1800, (1966).
First model exported to USA: Mazda 1000 Coupe and Mazda 1600/1800, (1966).
Model most sold abroad: 323/9LC (Familia) - 222,306 units exported (1979).
Number of employees (as at 1979): 28,000.
Position among Japanese Manufacturers (as at 1979): 4th (10.4 per cent of home market).
Position among manufacturers/exporters (as at 1979): 4th (14 per cent).
Position among World manufacturers (as at 1979): 10th.
Car assembly plants abroad (as at 1979): Korea, South Africa, Malaysia, New Zealand, Ghana, Indonesia, Trinidad, Thailand, Costa Rica, Greece, Portugal, Ireland.
Number of cars assembled abroad in 1979: 34,100.
Associates (as at 1979): Ford Motor Company held 25 per cent of the capital of Toyo Kogyo.
Group products (as at 1979): Cars, vans, trucks, buses, machine tools, stampings, drills, moulding sand.
Range (as at 1979):
Mazda 121 (two models), Mazda 929 (three models), Mazda 626 (two models), Mazda 323 (three models), Mazda RX-7.
Mazda Car Production 1958 - 1979 |
Year |
Production |
Exportation |
|
23,417 |
- |
|
31,758 |
361 |
|
41,882 |
434 |
|
53,980 |
1,031 |
|
60,957 |
3,446 |
|
81,434 |
4,416 |
|
92,143 |
8,606 |
|
129,051 |
21,171 |
|
178,115 |
37,944 |
|
201,133 |
62,324 |
|
224,520 |
86,016 |
|
300,980 |
143,905 |
|
379,073 |
272,166 |
|
465,734 |
327,684 |
|
378,954 |
367,263 |
|
387,145 |
328,598 |
|
446,618 |
395,862 |
|
498,691 |
502,030 |
|
493,111 |
499,956 |
|
683,101 |
608,366 |