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Mazda began in 1920 as Toyo Cork Kogyo, a company focused on building machine tools and utilitarian vehicles. The company was regularly exporting three-wheel vehicles to eastern countries when World War II ended with the atomic bomb. The national crisis meant Mazda would halt production and lend its resources to revitalizing the Hiroshima Prefecture.
In the late 1940’s, Mazda would resume three-wheel exports, but wouldn’t produce a consumer level vehicle until 1960. By this time Ford had taken notice of the growing Japanese automaker. The two manufacturers collaborated on several products, and in 1979, Ford purchased a 25% share in the company. Mazda struggled through the ‘90’s, which lead Ford to a 33% controlling interest in the company. The brand has since been revitalized by major releases like the Mazda 3, Mazda 6, and the RX-8.
Sites worth visiting
Mazda
The Mazda official corporate website has more than just the standard retail fare of some other group owned brands. The page has a comprehensive history of the brand, a nice company profile, and interesting features including a look at their Rotary Engine. If you need the retail support, you’ll find all of the links from this page as well. This is a great spot to get some extra insight on the brand.
Mazda at Wikipedia
The Mazda page at Wikipedia is a bit scattered, but if you’re willing to dig, there is plenty of info to pick up. The page focuses on the development of the Mazda brand as a part of the Ford group. Wikipedia always shows a nice model timeline and, in Mazda’s case, a look at the changes to the brand image.
Around the Blogosphere
Mazda at Autoblog
If you’ve spent any time on our site, you know we revere the guys at Autoblog above all else. The reason? They’re the best. If you want the latest developments on the RX-9 or just the daily news from our Japanese friends, this is the spot to be.
Mazda at Blogsome
This page might not look like much, but it covers all of the major news coming out of Mazda. The site is fairly fresh, so it could use some active readers to soak up the quality information from the pages.
Mazda at Motor Trend
The Motor Trend blogs are a lot like Autoblog’s twin brother. The sites look similar, and report on a lot of the same news, but there are little differences that make each unique. Here you can get a different take on the latest Mazda news and a few features you won’t find at Autoblog.
Community Sites
Mazda Club
The Mazda Club was formed in 1988 to offer a place for enthusiasts to share their passion for Mazda cars. The site has a lackluster forum, but they make up for it in good info and feature articles. They also have a decent blog covering much of the information mentioned in our bloglist above.
Mazdas 24/7
This is easily one of the best Mazda communities on the web. The forums are crazy active, boasting more than 500 active members at any time of the day. They have a base of 50,000 folks who post daily on any model and any tuning topic you can imagine. If you’re not already a part of this forum, you need to be. You’ve got 4,000,000 posts to read through.
Mazda 6 Club
This site keeps a basic blog as the front page, but the real nectar is in the forums. With 15,000 members and model specific forums the site is sure to have plenty of information to keep you busing during your lunch hour. Be sure to check back regularly – their forum members are active enough to keep a hot feed of fresh threads.
Recent News
Furai and RX-8 to Debut In January
The Furai has long been lauded and sometimes criticized for the organic design. The car, which harnesses a three-rotor rotary engine, will debut alongside the 2009 RX-8, meant to take the aggressive styling of the popular vehicle over the edge.
Please Bring the Mazda2 Across the Pond
The Mazda 2 recent showed at the Gangzhou motor show in China. The car has been celebrated for its excellent minicar design. It’s now the heartthrob of green car enthusiasts everywhere. The only question remains, will we see it stateside, or anywhere outside China for that matter?
A Closer Look At the CX-9
The CX-9 exploded onto the SUV market, quickly becoming one of the fastest selling, fun people-haulers. This article by Business Week takes a close look at why the car is so popular, and what makes it such a great car to own.