I was lurking in other forums and came across some info that put me at ease concerning weather or not my mazda is ford or not and im pleased to say that it is.............NOT[sm=bounceybounce.gif], to make it short the only motor that fully belongs to ford is the 3.0l in the 6, the 1.6, 1.8, 2.0, and 2.3l in the 3 are contructed by mazda in japan, now heres something few ppl knew, Volvo is also involved with the creation of this car, Volvo made the structurals and safety, Ford of EUROPE was the lead for driving dynamics, and Mazda for the powertrains and exhaust systems (Japanese-reliability and technology). 58% of the Mazda3 is all Mazda, the other 42% was made by Ford or EUROPE and Volvo. The funny thing is Ford was to lazy to make a decent 4 banger (if they did it would be crap anyway and overpriced *cough* duratec focus *cough*) so they gave the crummy block form the focus to Mazda and told them to make it better and said we will just do the interior and exterior styling and throw a bunch of FoMoCo signs on alot of the parts we didnt make, oh and we will take the same motor downgrade it and put it in the focus but unlike Ford of Europe we will keep the same crappy platform nobody really wants. So again long story short Mz3=jdm, 3.0l Mz6=domestic.

 

We aren't too lazy to make our own 4-banger...It's called leveraging your assets. 4-cylinder engines are incredibly common in Japan, the Japanese have gotten the 4-cylinder dialed in. With our ownership of Mazda, it's a sound business decision to leverage their expertise in 4-cylinder powertrains.

The Mazda3 shares some common platform underpinnings as the Volvo S40.

The FoMoCo signs on the parts are there because they are made in FoMoCo parts facilities. We do make those parts, just overseas...you see Ford is a global company.

The Focus in Europe is actually a higher end vehicle than the Focus here. That Focus in the USmarket wouldn't be cost competitive with the other players in it's vehicle segment.

BTW...not to slam Mazda, but Ford, Lincoln and Mercury all outperformed Mazda in recent quality surveys that have been released by JDPowers.

 

ah, that made my day.
mazda3 2.0L = jdm!!
woot.
suck on that one focus!!! lmao

 

Yes i agree saying that we are too lazy to make a decent 4 banger was a little off, were better at making strong 6 and up cyl cars......that get still get blown away by some 4 bangers, lol j/p. The thing is they wanted to make a car that could compete with the hondas and something else i forget, as far as hp and tq goes we might as well give them points on that but then again that because of the focus block we have but the drivetrain is unbeliveable i mean there are turbo 3's out there making close to 500 hp with a freakin stock head and have been like that for a while now i just wish the tranny was made by volvo that thing is unbelievable, but we have them beat in interior styling (atleast thats what i think) also in handling i wonder how much faster we would have been if it was a cost efficient block made by japan instead of just slightly tweaked. Anyway Ford just wanted to sell a nice family car thats cost effective and did they succeed........hell yes.

 

Since a few people don't seem to think much of the focus...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=TeXr50LNJfM

I don't know if this model is coming/is in the US (as I don't pay attention to Ford, I'm a Chevy man), but it is quite brilliant.

 

yeah the EURO focus is kickass but the us version is poop

 

Hey you didnt add the whole history on how ford bought most of the Mazda company back then when buisness bad....

 

And helped them get financially stable and back on their feet so that they can develop the great cars they are today.

 

meh, they shoulda just put the Twin turbocharged inline 4 volvo engine into the focus. that woulda been awesome!!

 

lol twin turbo focus would be ridiculous.