Mazda, Ford To Upgrade U.S. Facility.(Brief Article)

Mazda Motor Corp. and Ford Motor Co. will invest about $81.4 million on a new output line at their loss-making U.S. unit, a Japanese newspaper reported.

AutoAlliance International Inc. (AAI) has a total output capacity of 240,000 vehicles per year, making Mazda's compact 626 sedans and Ford's Cougar sports cars. AAI production stands at about 110,000 units a year, with the ratio of plant utilization at less than 50 percent, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun said.

The planned new computerized production line will allow for the instant adjustment of welding machines to handle a wide variety of models, reducing output costs, the daily said. Mazda will build a successor model to the Mazda 626 and Ford will make compact cars using the same platform as the Mazda 626's successor model, the daily said.

The model succeeding the 626 will be launched in 2002, the paper added. Ford owns 33.3 percent of Mazda. Mazda and Ford have also been collaborating in Europe since March when they agreed to make B-class subcompact cars at Ford's Spanish plant for sale from 2003 in Europe under Mazda's brand name.

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