OREANDA-NEWS. Mazda Motor Corporation announced that Mazda Malaysia, a joint production and sales company in Malaysia, will acquire a body shop from Inokom Corporation Sdn. Bhd. (Inokom) to exclusively produce Mazda vehicles It has also begun construction of a vehicle assembly facility. The measures were taken to enhance Mazda Malaysia's local assembly operations.

On the basis that Mazda Malaysia would purchase it, Inokom established the Mazda-exclusive body shop at their plant located in Kulim, in the Malaysian state of Kedah. Operations started in April 2013. Acquiring ownership of the facility will allow Mazda Malaysia to respond to production plan changes and implement quality control measures quickly and flexibly. The purchase process has begun and is expected to be completed before the end of the year.

Construction of Mazda Malaysia's assembly facility, located on the same grounds as the body shop, started in May 2013. Construction will be completed and operations commence in the spring of next year. The Mazda CX-5, which is currently assembled at Inokom's factory, will then be moved to the new facility.

In total Mazda will invest approximately 100 million ringgit (approximately 3 billion yen) in enhancing its local assembly operations. Given market trends and plans to enhance its model lineup, Mazda expects local production to increase to around 20,000-units per year in the future.