Mazda is ending it’s Ute-collaboration with Ford, which will also see the Japanese manufacturer free up capacity at its joint-venture AAT plant in Thailand to focus on passenger vehicles when the current BT-50 comes to the end of its model cycle.
Currently the Auto Alliance Thailand plant also produces the Mazda2 and CX-3 in addition to the BT-50.
Mazda Motor Corporation and Isuzu Motors Limited have reached a basic agreement on a next-generation pick-up truck collaboration, but timing of the new Isuzu Ute-derived Mazda BT-50 is yet to be confirmed.
“It will depend on the current model cycle of the D-Max,” says the managing director of Mazda New Zealand Andrew Clearwater.
“As with the current arrangement with Ford, both the BT-50 and Ranger are well differentiated for competition in the market although they share a common platform. This same level of product differentiation will continue with this new arrangement, with Mazda taking the lead design and development of Mazda unique content,” says Clearwater.
“It is very early days, there is still a course to be run with the current vehicle manufactured at the AAT plant in Thailand, and there is no confirmed timing as yet for the new collaboration, the vehicle will be sold globally with the exception of the North American market,” says Clearwater.
