Mazda Motor Corporation (Matsuda Kabushiki-gaisha) (TYO: 7261 ) is a Japanese automotive manufacturer based in Hiroshima, Japan.
The name of the company is supposedly derived from Ahura Mazda, the transcendental god of Zoroastrianism. It is also said that Mazda coincides with the anglicized pronunciation of the founder's name, Jujiro Matsuda, who was interested in spirituality, and chose to rename it in honor of both his family and the Zoroastrians. Mazda means "wisdom" in the Avestan language. However, in Japanese, the company has always been pronounced and spelled as "Matsuda" leading many to believe that Mazda is really just a poorly anglicized version of the founder's name.

Mazda began as the Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd, founded in Japan in 1920. Toyo Cork Koygo renamed itself to Toyo Kogyo Co., Ltd. in 1927. Toyo Kogyo moved from manufacturing machine tools to vehicles, with the introduction of the Mazda-Go in 1931. Toyo Kogyo produced weapons for the Japanese military throughout the Second World War, most notably the series 30 through 35 Type 99 rifle. The company formally adopted the Mazda name in 1984, though every automobile sold from the beginning bore that name. The first four-wheel car, the Mazda R360 was introduced in 1960, followed by the Mazda Carol in 1962.

The Ford Motor Company had owned 15% of Mazda, and its stake was increased to a 33.4% controlling interest on 31 March 1999 after Mazda fell into financial crisis. Ford executive Mark Fields is credited with Mazda's turnaround. Ford has based many of its models on Mazdas, such as the Probe, late model (North American) Escort and Mercury Tracer, and the co-developed Escape/Mazda Tribute.
Mazda also helped Ford develop the 1991 Explorer, which Mazda sold as the 2-door only Mazda Navajo (1991-1994). Ironically, Mazda's version was unsuccessful, while the Ford (available as a 4-door or 2-door) instantly became the best selling SUV and kept that title for over a decade. Mazda has used Ford's Ranger pickup as the basis for its North American-market B-Series trucks, starting in 1994 and continuing today. These trucks are manufactured in the US. They now use a Mazda-sourced 2.3L I4 instead of the old Ford Lima 2.3L I4. Both 3.0L and 4.0L Ford V6s are available, as is 4-wheel drive and a 4-door (albeit with the clamshell style rear doors, not a true 4-door crew cab as offered by Toyota, GM, Nissan, and even Ford with the Sport Trac).

The 1979 deal paved way for Ford selling badge-engineered Mazdas in Asia and Australia, such as the Laser and Telstar. These models replaced the models from Ford Europe sold throughout the 1970s. Ford also used the Mazda models to establish its own retail presence in Japan - the Autorama dealers sold these cars, plus the occasional Ford US and Ford Europe models. The badge-engineered models came to an end in the early 21st century, as Ford replaced the Laser with its own Focus, and Telstar with its own Mondeo.

The reverse also happened, with Mazda selling badge-engineered Fords in Europe, such as the Mazda 121 based on the Ford Fiesta. Ford and Mazda have moved onto collaboration in a more fundamental sense, by way of platform sharing.

1940s, Much production of Toyo Kogyo Co., Ltd. in the 1940's was utilized by the Japanese military war-effort, including production the of the famous Type 99 rifle, one of the strongest bolt-action rifles of World War II.

The year 1960 was the birth of Mazda as an automaker. In just this decade, the marque progressed from a 16 horsepower (12 kW) kei car to a Wankel engined sports car, the Mazda Cosmo. Mazda began sales in Canada in 1968 and entered the United States market in 1970.

Internationally, the 1970s were the heyday of Mazda as a performance leader. The Wankel rotary engine outperformed their piston-based competitors by a large margin,[citation needed] and Mazda made the most of the powerplant by putting it in almost every product they sold, from the Rotary Pickup to the RX-7, and even the large Luce sedan. The only exception was the Mazda Chantez kei car, because other car makers vetoed the move.

However, the 1970s also saw Mazda's first financial crisis, which led to Ford taking a 25% stake in the company. The first RX-7 released in 1978 would be a strong image leader for Mazda, but actual sales revival would not come until the early 1980s.

The 1980s saw Mazda transition from a niche Japanese player to a part of the global Ford empire. Nevertheless, the 80s saw the most mainstream success for Mazda. The early-80s 323 (GLC in North America) and 626 were massive hits, with the 323 taking the number one spot in Japanese car sales, overtaking the Toyota Corolla.[citation needed] (This is still very significant today whenever a non-Toyota tops the sales charts).

Mazda also contributed to Ford's lineup, most notably with the MX-6-based Ford Probe. Mazda also began building the new-for-1988 626/MX-6 in the United States. US production was initiated via a joint venture with Ford called AutoAlliance International.

Mazda finished the decade with the revolutionary Eunos Roadster (Mazda MX-5 or Miata outside Japan) sports car (for the 1989 model year). This model revitalized the world sports car market,[citation needed] which was filled at the time with expensive, heavy GT cars.[citation needed] Arguably inspired by the Lotus Elan, the Miata has remained very successful to this day.

The 1990s were a decade of decline for Mazda. Due to the high price, the third-generation RX-7 sold poorly and the Miata could not sustain the company's sales.[citation needed] The rest of the lineup was poorly-received in the United States and Japan; their popularity in Europe didn't seem to make up for the losses.

In the late 1980s, Mazda embarked on a disastrous attempt to diversify its brand names. It chose to do so because market research revealed that the Mazda brand has the connotation of economic, budget cars both in Japan and abroad.[citation needed] With the aim of doubling its sales, Mazda launched three new brands in Japan: Eunos, Anfini and Autozam. Eunos was to have a counterpart overseas in the US-market Amati luxury division, and Xedos in Europe. However plans for Amati was pulled at the last minute, and the rumored V12-engined flagship was shelved.

The number of brands was also an attempt to match Toyota and Nissan, both of which had multiple chains in Japan. A common opinion is that the sheer number of models had overwhelmed the company — in 1993 Mazda sold seven models based on the 626, yet they only amounted to one third the sales achieved by the comparable Toyota.

In other markets, Mazda's identity crisis saw it confused over which logo to adopt. The "Mazda" lettertype was introduced in 1975 as part of Japan's first CAD-assisted corporate identity redesign. In 1991 a new logo was introduced, but was soon swapped for a rounded-off version ("Eternal Flame") because the original had an uncomfortable resemblance to Renault's logo. The new version is consistently used in 1990s Mazdas, but never became as well known as the lettertype. To resolve this issue, Mazda commissioned for a new logo in 1998 ("Wings" or "Owl"), which it uses till this day and features in considerably larger sizes on every model.

Mazda was widely criticised in Europe for the sheer blandness of its late-1990s designs,[citation needed] including the last 323 and 626 which compared unfavourably to the previous models. While technically superior, the 1998 replacement for the MX-5 (Miata) lost much of the purity of the original 1989 design,[citation needed] which is still preferred by many enthusiasts.

Mazda and Ford continued joint efforts. In 1994 the Mazda B-Series line was split between an international (Mazda-designed) version and North American clone of the Ford Ranger. In 1998, Mazda and Ford opened a new plant in Thailand, AutoAlliance Thailand. Patterned after Mazda's Hofu plant, AAT is now an important manufacturing location for the company.

Mazda assumed control of Mazdaspeed in 1999 as a tuning and performance parts operation within the company.

2001
• A very difficult year for Mazda[citation needed], as new models were in development and the company would have no new product until mid-2002.

2002
• Once the new cars arrived, however, the company quickly turned around. The Mazda 6/Atenza and Mazda Tribute proved popular and helped change perceptions of the brand.

2003
• Mazda introduced more new models for the 2004 model year, including a replacement for the popular Mazda Protege: the worldwide best-selling[citation needed] Mazda3 (known as the Axela in the Japanese home market), and the all-new RX-8, to continue Mazda's sports car heritage. • Mazda's performance brand Mazdaspeed debuted this year with the Mazdaspeed Protegé for the North American market, an update to the Protegé MP3 that had a 170 hp (127 kW)/160 ft•lbf (217 N•m) T25 Callaway Garrett turbocharged and intercooled engine, 17 inch Racing Hart wheels, larger four-wheel Euro disc brakes, and a custom Kenwood stereo system that included an amplifier, and 8 inch subwoofer. The 2003 models came in two colors, Black Mica and Spicy Orange. Mazda then followed with a mid year change dubbed the "2003.5." These models included four new colors which were Blazing Yellow Mica, Sunlight Silver Metallic, Laser Blue Metallic, and Titanium Gray Metallic, different aero-kit, darker hyper silver wheels, and custom interior pieces. In total, there were only 4,750 Mazdaspeed Protegé models produced. This was the last year for the production of the Protegé which would be replaced by the extremely popular Mazda 3.

2004
• Mazda surpassed the ailing Mitsubishi in sales in some markets but not globally.

2005
• It had been widely rumored for a few years that Ford would use the Mazda 6/Atenza's platform in upcoming new cars. This was very different from the climate in 1996, when commentators expected Ford to impose its own engineering on Mazda and lead to the loss of Mazda's proprietary expertise. In the Autumn, three models based on the 6's CD3 architecture were released — the Ford Fusion, Mercury Milan, and Lincoln Zephyr. • The third-generation MX-5 (the Miata name used in North America is to be dropped) debuted in the Autumn. Mazda claims it shares no common parts with the previous generation except for the side indicator repeaters used on European-spec cars.

2006
• Mazda's performance brand MPS (MazdaSpeed in the U.S.A.) was re-launched early in the year with the arrival of a high performance 6, which featured all-wheel-drive and a 276 horsepower, turbocharged engine. The MazdaSpeed 3 followed, which won a spot on Automobile Magazine's "All Stars 2007" list. • Acknowledging the company's absence in many market segments worldwide, notably in the area of trucks, a new crossover SUV, the CX-7, was introduced, along with a smaller minivan, the Mazda 5, and hybrid version of the Tribute. At the same time, the company is expected to withdraw the slow-selling MPV from the United States market. • The MX-5 Roadster Coupe (MX-5 [Miata in USA] Power Retractable Hard Top in USA and Japan) had the world premiere at the London Motor Show on 18 July 2006. This is Mazda's first attempt at a powered folding roof. Were first delivered in October 2006. • Mazda has been popular in Australia and in 2006 became the fourth highest sold car marque in Australia behind Toyota, Holden and Ford. It is also the best selling fully imported car company in Australia.

Mazda has used a number of different marques in the Japan market, including Autozam, Eunos cars, and Efini, although they have been phased out. This diversification stressed the product development groups at Mazda past their limits. Instead of having a half-dozen variations on any given platform, they were asked to work on dozens of different models. And consumers were confused as well by the explosion of similar new models.

Today, the former marques exist in Japan as sales channels (specialized dealerships) but no longer have specialized branded vehicles. In other words, the Carol is sold at the Autozam store (which specializes in small cars), but it is sold with the Mazda marque, not as the Autozam Carol as it once was.

In the early 1990s Mazda almost created a luxury marque, Amati, to challenge Acura, Infiniti, and Lexus in North America. In Europe, the equivalent Xedos marque was launched, lasting just a few years. The initial Amati products would have been the Amati 500 (which became the Mazda Millenia), and the Amati 1000 (a new rear wheel drive V12 successor to the Mazda 929). This never happened, leaving the near-luxury Millenia to the Mazda brand.

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