Ask Centennial: Is Mazda Owned By Ford?
December 06 2019, Centennial Mazda
Does the Ford Motor Company own Mazda?
No. But there's more to the story.
This is the first installment of a new series here in Centennial Mazda's News & Events section: Ask Centennial. When our customers have questions about Mazda, we want to answer them.
The Ford Motor Company used to own a portion of Mazda. In 1974, Ford and Mazda began a partnership that eventually led to Ford acquiring a 24.5% stake in Mazda in 1979. 16 years later, Ford increased that stake to 33.4%. This partnership was responsible for products such as the Mazda B-Series pickup truck.
Once The Great Recession struck, Ford gradually began selling off its Mazda shares, and by 2014 Ford's investment was just 2.1%. At the end of Q3 in 2015, Ford fully divested its interest.
Although automaker affiliation is typically the way forward in the modern automotive industry, Mazda generally goes it alone. There are partnerships with Toyota on certain products – Toyota has a 5% stake in Mazda; Mazda conversely has a 0.25% stake in Toyota. Generally speaking, however, Mazda develops its own platforms and powertrains, completes its own research and development, conducts its own testing, and brings products to market independently.
