New Mazda Cars

In 1920, Jujiro Matsuda started the Toyo Cork Kogyo Ltd., in Hiroshima, Japan. Within ten years, the company went from manufacturing corks, to machine tools, to industrial trucks. In 1934, the name was changed to Mazda – based on “Ahura-Mazda” the Zoroastrian God of reason and wisdom. During the 1940s the company began developing small sedans. But the WWII devastated auto manufacturing. The 1960s marked the rebirth of the automaker and its introduction to the American market. In the 1970s, Mazda introduced the stylish Capella RX-2 that won a lot of IMSA races. In 1979, the RX-7 rotary engine cast a halo over Mazda racing, and in 1989, the Miata brought back the inexpensive roadster written off by other auto manufacturers as a niche market. Today, Mazda is partially owned by Ford. The model lineup includes CX7, Mazda3, Mazda5, Mazda6, MazdaSpeed6, the MPV, the MX-5, RX-8, and the Tribute.