Even though Mazda‘s upcoming plant is still under construction in Salamanca, Mexico with a launch date set for March 2014, the automaker has already made plans to increase its initial annual capacity from 140,000 units to 230,000 units by March of 2016.

Mazda’s reasoning for boosting capacity is to cater to the worldwide demand of its new SKYACTIV vehicles as well as being able to accommodate the additional annual production of approximately 50,000 Toyota-branded vehicles built under contract, beginning in the summer of 2015.

“This production capacity increase is an important part of Mazda‘s drive to strengthen its overseas production base as laid out in our medium- to long-term plan,” said Mazda president Takashi Yamanouchi. He continued to add, “It is important to note that this capacity increase in Mexico which will allow us to meet our production agreement with Toyota as well as the growing demand for our SKYACTIV products around the world, will be incremental to production in Japan.”

In addition, Yamanouchi declared that the Mexican plant will build the Mazda2 and Mazda3 models that will be sold throughout North, Central, and South America. After the end of production of the Mazda6 in Michigan, the company imports all of its products from Japan, so the Salamanca factory is especially crucial for Mazda‘s North American operations.Image courtesy of Mazda Canada