Mazda 3 – sedan production kicks off in Thailand

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Mazda today began production of its third-generation Mazda 3 in Thailand, with assembly taking place at AutoAlliance Thailand, the automaker’s manufacturing facility located in Rayong. The plant is making the Mazda 3 for the Thai market, where it will begin going on sale next week, on March 18.

Thai production joins Mexico, which began assembling the new Mazda 3 for the North American market in January, as manufacturing sites for the car, aside from the primary build taking place at the company’s Hofu plant in Japan. Production is also slated to take place in China, at Mazda’s plant in Nanjing.

No mention was made of the engine variants for Thai assembly, but it has been reported that the three overseas production sites would begin with the petrol version of the car. In Malaysia, we’re set to kick things off with the SkyActiv-G 2.0 litre version of the car, with the official launch set to happen sometime next week.

We’ve test driven the Mazda 3 – read our Australian drive report on the 2.0 and 2.5 litre variants. There’s also our video walk-around of the Malaysian-spec Mazda 3 2.0 Sedan, if you haven’t seen that yet.

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Anthony Lim

Anthony Lim believes that nothing is better than a good smoke and a car with character, with good handling aspects being top of the prize heap. Having spent more than a decade and a half with an English tabloid daily never being able to grasp the meaning of brevity or being succinct, he wags his tail furiously at the idea of waffling - in greater detail - about cars and all their intrinsic peculiarities here.

 

Comments

  • Neutronium on Mar 14, 2014 at 2:10 pm

    Interesting to note that Mazda still finds Thailand, with its current state of unrest, to be more worthy for them to maintain production as compared to Malaysia. Malaysia definitely has to step up its game, or risk being left far, far behind other developing countries…

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 15 Thumb down 6
    • kl fella on Mar 14, 2014 at 3:12 pm

      thai have more political freedom than here in malaysia along with its business friendly policies. Malaysia? you need a compulsory local partner here to hitch a ride

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 7 Thumb down 8
      • Petrolhead (Member) on Mar 14, 2014 at 3:27 pm

        Altis, Civic, Sylphy, Lancer and Kizashi Brace yourselves and bow to the best Japanese C-segment car.

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 19 Thumb down 3
      • kzm (Member) on Mar 14, 2014 at 9:50 pm

        R u sure bout that? hard for me to digest with wat u saying…u read to much MKini..better read BBC or CNN…

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 6 Thumb down 5
        • Danial Md on Mar 15, 2014 at 11:37 am

          This what happens when you only read Utusan and think Malaysia is the bestest place to live on earth.

          Like or Dislike: Thumb up 9 Thumb down 9
          • kzm (Member) on Mar 16, 2014 at 1:18 pm

            Yes i read utusan sport page..i don think BBC or CNN has coverage for local sport.

            Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 2
    • kzm (Member) on Mar 14, 2014 at 9:47 pm

      If u wait more time u will not embarrass urself..

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 4 Thumb down 0
  • jolly_idiot (Member) on Mar 14, 2014 at 2:29 pm

    Mazda 3 is good to look but quite cramp in real car. It may not be an ideal family c segment sedan for its size and price.

    No doubt its a good sport super compact sedan for singles

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 10 Thumb down 2
  • Simonsuksuk on Mar 14, 2014 at 2:57 pm

    @jolly_idiot: I’m totally agreed with you. I’ve tested Mazda 3 and Civic 2.0 Navi. At the end, I’ve selected Civic because Civic is most spaces and comfortable for my family to travel long distance (2 adults and 2 teenagers)

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 10 Thumb down 9
    • Petrolhead (Member) on Mar 14, 2014 at 3:32 pm

      You should have gotten the Altis or Cerato instead. The Civic looks pretty dull inside and out compared to its competitors now

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 18 Thumb down 3
    • I agree, its simply not value for money too.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 4 Thumb down 0
  • Mazda Malaysia damn lousy especially kuching, waiting list 4-6 month, even demo car also don’t have! 3s centre? NO! WTH, seems like they dont want to sell their car!

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 4 Thumb down 4
  • This car is rated best in segment in US but Malaysian spec simply lousy. For RM138K++ nothing special inside. Same like old waja spec.

    Mazda 3 dont have the following where competitor like Altis , Civic , New City , Cerato, Preve etc are offering.

    Again, this comperison is on value for money basis from my point only.

    1) No Reverse camera.. (stupit decision to exclude)
    2) No leather seat (The fabric seat is simply the lowest quality.
    3) No dual zone aircon ( not so important but others are offering)
    4) No front sensor (all competitor are offering it)
    5) No rear aircon (most new cars have it.. its not so important
    6) No electric seat.. (every other new car have it for this price
    7) Rear seat to cramp. (depends)

    Hi Mazda.. if you want to price your car so expensive without any feature like what the new Altis have .. my advise is “Have a nice DIE”.

    Fuel saving with Altis : How much :RM30 amonth different… (guys very subjective just take it as a joke)

    For the buyer who want to install rear camera (after market). Please don’t do it, will void the manufacturing warranty, even what ever your car sales man promise verbally.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 10 Thumb down 0
    • What you are highlighting is very basic features that to me is something i can live without

      Let me highlight something that the Mazda 3 has and others do not

      1.Commander control with WIFI compatibility
      2.I-Stop
      3.I-Eloop
      4.Active Grille Shutter
      5.Rear Independent Multilink Suspension(Altis,City,Cerato are using Torsion beam,which is cheaper to produce)
      6.Electric Sunroof(Not offered by Civic,City or Altis)
      7.6 all round airbags(Civic got 4,City got 2,Altis have to pay more to have 7,if not its only 3)
      8.LED Daytime running light with Adaptive front light and auto leveling(Cerato and Preve come with LED Daytime running lights,the rest no,and as far as I know no Adaptive Lights as well)
      9.18″ rims
      10.Not to the ride and handling is far better that civic,altis,city,cerato(Actually Preve can match in the handling department(
      So can u see where the “expensive” price comes from now?

      Its easy comparing cars based on spec sheet,anyone with Internet connection can do that.But that dun make you the next Jeremy Clarkson does it…

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 9 Thumb down 4
      • jojoS on Apr 11, 2014 at 9:49 am

        dont you forget the focus does hav active front grill shutter with 28 different mode, for sport suspension even better thn mazda 3..sunroof and the head light fully automatic leveling up and down even left and right(adaptive light) DRL ..ETC ETC ETC

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • The Rock on Mar 15, 2014 at 4:13 pm

    Better get cerato 2.0 or topup get bigger segment K5.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 6 Thumb down 0
  • mygnie19 on Mar 17, 2014 at 11:19 pm

    Mazda car if from CBU, the built quality is quite good..As a x mazda tech, the parts is expensive, even they share the same part number and brand with FORD. n Bermas have a bad technical team behind..

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 0
 

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