[michael95350]

I had a conversation today with my Mazda dealer contact today. He mentioned that Mazdas are becoming increasingly sought after by the Asian demographic. The reason he gave had to do with where the car was built. This same dealer also owns a Honda dealership next door to the Mazda site. He said that customers will read the VIN numbers off of the cars and specifically look for one with a country code of "J". If it doesn't have a "J", they won't even consider it.

When asked, the reason the customers gave is that they don't want anything that is from the US, Mexico or Canada. If it's a Japanese name brand, they expect it to come from Japan. Being that a majority (if not all of) Mazda vehicles sold in the US right now pretty much are built in Japan, it's become a very strong selling point.

I found this to be interesting at any rate.

 

[Uncleo]

I had wonderful reliability with products, both car and electronics, that's 'Made in Japan'.

I'm asian in asia. Yeah they ravaged my country in ww2 and I should boycott them no matter what but that's another generation. It's all in their culture and it makes a differences in the quality of their products.

 

[aneville11]

Being here in the Midwest I haven't seen buyers particular to where the car was assembled but in the scheme of things it makes sense. If I'm buying a Mazda over a Chevy one of the the first things I notice is build quality.

I will say that if you get picky enough, you can certainly tell a difference as to which vehicles rolled out of Hiroshima and which crossed the border down south.

When the 3rd Gen Mazda3 was introduced to the American Market in 13' as 14 MY, those vehicles crossed the ocean and were manufactured in Japan. However, when the production plant in Mexico opened up January of 2014 we saw the first products of 15' MY 3's start to roll state side later that year. Put a fresh 14' from Japan next to a 15' from Mexico and you'll begin to notices minor defects in things like body panel alignment, paint blemishes, interior mishaps, along with many other little things. When you start to see repeated examples like that, the devil is in the details. If I were in the market for a 3 it's certainly something to consider in long term ownership especially when the product came from a brand new production plant which still has some bugs to sort out.

I'm just glad I know my 6 came from Japan.

 

[michael95350]

I had wonderful reliability with products, both car and electronics, that's 'Made in Japan'.

I'm asian in asia. Yeah they ravaged my country in ww2 and I should boycott them no matter what but that's another generation. It's all in their culture and it makes a differences in the quality of their products.

I think it has more to do with a reliability quotient. I agree that anything 'Made in Japan' has had superior quality. I owned an Aiwa CD player with FM tuner that came from Japan, as well as a JVC auto-reverse portable cassette player. Both put other models to shame. Not to mention the old Sony ES series audio receivers. If Sony made electronics now like they made them in the late 80s/early 90s then perhaps they wouldn't be in the mess they are today.

 

[Uncleo]

I would add that Made in Japan doesn't really meant Made in Japan actually as many parts are sourced from other countries like China.

However, being assembled and inspected in jap by japs makes all the differences.

 

[GWL]

I would add that Made in Japan doesn't really meant Made in Japan actually as many parts are sourced from other countries like China.

However, being assembled and inspected in jap by japs makes all the differences.

I would be surprised if that is the case as Japanese are nationalistic and prefer not to deal with China.

 

[blitzoid]

However, being assembled and inspected in jap by japs makes all the differences.

Show me the real data that backs this up. I've heard this line of discussion countless times in VW forums, and the conversation never goes anywhere. And, I'm sorry - anecdotes don't equal facts.

The most important work on all cars is done by robots these days, and the real issues that drive quality are settled between engineers/bean counters, and the guys who negotiate with parts suppliers and perform quality control on all of the prefabbed sub-assemblies that are combined to make the car.

Now, if you want to talk about japanese-style manufacturing processes (Kaizen and such) - there's plenty of data to go around, but as far as I'm aware, all of Mazda's factories operate under the same philosophies.

 

[GerryB]

I would be surprised if that is the case as Japanese are nationalistic and prefer not to deal with China.

This, right here.

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

 

[Jerrycobra]

the Japanese have a fine touch and dedication to their work that most others don't have, fit and finish from them tend to be superior. But as for as their Formula 1 efforts though that needs a bit of work :grin2:

When I purchased my 3rd gen 6 and saw that it was 100% assembled in japan I was pretty impressed about that. Now the mazda 3s are built in mexico, they are still great cars, probably built just as well, but they lack that extra "Japanese touch".

Same with BMW or mercs, I would rather purchase a made in Deutschland than one of the USA Alabama? assembled units

 

[MilR]

Are all 6's still built in Japan ? Including the 2016 Mazda 6 ?

 

[GerryB]

Yes they are.

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

 

[GWL]

Are all 6's still built in Japan ? Including the 2016 Mazda 6 ?

Yes, all are built in Japan.
Mazda 3's with the 2.5L engine are also made in Japan.

 

[richmondthefish]

I wonder if the earthquakes could be bad from manufacturing if made in Japan. I know the camera market is hurting now from Sony, Nikon, Canon

 

[Horn17]

When we bought my wife's 2007 Mazda 3 we made sure it had a VIN starting w/ "J". I'm not sure if Mazda was still partnered w/ Ford at that point (or if 3's were even assembled in the U.S.), but it was still something we looked for since we learned the hard way w/ a 2005 Mazda 6 we bought used which was not a Japan built car.


I'm not sure there is a way to find cold hard facts that cars built in Japan are more reliable, but for some unknown reason it gives me a little more confidence in the build of the vehicle. Domestic cars have come a really long way from where they were even 10 years ago regarding the build quality, but if I have the choice of a Mazda 6 built in Japan or the identical car built in the U.S. I'd pick the Japan built car.

 

[barryso]

In 1989 I bought a Mercury Tracer. Basically it was a very nicely loaded Mazda 323 sold by Lincoln Mercury dealers.

It was built in Mexico. It was also the most reliable car I'd ever had needing nothing more than wear items until about 93,000 miles (when it was traded in). It was more reliable than the Honda's I'd owned and WAY, WAY more reliable than the VW's.

It was a great car to drive (5-speed) and it rode well for a small car. It's vice? Noise, just like all Mazdas.

So I don't assume cars built in Mexico are going to be bad because of the excellent reliability of that Tracer. Maybe it was just luck but it turned me into a Mazda fan. The current ride, a 1st gen Mazda 6 has also been very reliable, and it was built in the states.

 

[btp589]

This all comes down to quality control. Regardless where a vehicle is made, there are guaranteed to be lemons. With that being said, I believe that the quality control in Japan is better than elsewhere. I believe it has to do with the fact that the brand is a Japanese brand, and if it's made in Japan, the workers there will put more pride into their work (again, there will still be lemons, but probably less).

With that being said, cars that are made in Mexico are made there specifically due to labor cost. Something tells me that people putting Mazda's together in Mexico are doing it because it's a job and it gets them paid, not because it is their brand and they put pride into it. Sure, some cars come out good because someone is doing their job properly, but at the end of the day, it's a comparison between people who do their job for income and pride, and people who do their job for just income alone.

 

[RANERANE]

Yes, i can see little diffrence where car is made. Image, monday morning in miserable weather of vladivostok, Sergey have horrible hangover, hands are shaking and he have bad mood as he is on the gate of factory but not worries couple swigs of vodka can make miracles.

 

[MazdaMetalhead]

I think this is probably a very small subset of consumers. The VAST majority of the car buying public knows absolutely nothing about cars and bases their purchase decisions on factors like "this is cute," "this sits up high and gives me the illusion of safety," and "my touchscreen is x inches big so it must be good."

I read somewhere that the president of BMW admitted that something like 70% of new BMW buyers don't even know their car is RWD! So yeah, there are customers that care where their car is manufactured, but that's probably a tiny percentage.

 

[tickerguy]

Well......

2003 timeframe, I bought a VW Jetta Wagon. It was assembled in Wolfsburg and put on a boat.
There are same-year gas-engine models assembled in Mexico.

There is a VAST difference in quality. I would never buy anything assembled in Mexico after seeing a few examples of this, and it's not just one car -- it's a number of them that friends of mine have owned over the last 10+ years.

My '03 is still on the road and all the major mechanical parts, with the exception of the A/C compressor, are original. It's not just fit and finish, it's also tolerances of the parts that come out of the bins and who's paying attention (or not) to which bin gets used in which vehicle, along with whether someone pays attention to whether welds are correctly done, bolts are correctly torqued, etc.

My "6" was assembled in Japan and I've had no trouble with it.

You buy what you want, but I assure you that VW, GM and others didn't put the plants down in Mexico for grins and giggles -- they did it because the labor is cheaper and in many cases you do what you pay for. We as a nation in the US should have NEVER tolerated this garbage and still shouldn't; we were LIED to, flat-out, during the NAFTA negotiations about Mexican wages rising to parity with US. It didn't happen and now they're trying it again with the USMCA; IMHO we should hang every single politician and CEO involved in that garbage, along with EVERY member of the "Chamber of Commerce" that ought to be named "Chamber of screwing the people."

But somewhere along the last nearly 250 years Americans have lost what made our nation worth existing, so we won't.

Nonetheless I won't buy a vehicle assembled in Mexico. Not now, not ever.

 

[Cdn17Sport6MT]

The fact that my 6 was built in Japan most definitely was a big consideration for me. Now as for the source of at least some of the parts... well, some are from China which I trust least of all.