President James Miller of Mazda. Martin Leach, Managing Director in charge of the Hiroshima company's product development. Development of Mazda's new MPV was accelerated by utilizing Ford's latest CAD/CAE technology. Mazda will continue touting the rotary engine as its unique technological prowess in the latest RX-7 sports car.

Miller delivered a speech at at the 1999 Geneva Motor Show, saying "We are proud of the fact that our new management approach in blending Mazda's best part and Ford's expertise is generating many positive outcomes. Mazda is often referred to by media as a successful showcase of international integration where East meets West." Indeed, Mazda's case is one of the most outstanding come-back stories of our time, and even more extraordinary, from the typical traditional Japanese viewpoint, which had held major automobile manufacturers impregnable. Miller admitted, "When Ford purchased additional Mazda shares in 1997, you read headlines crying out doom and gloom. Three years later, when the Nissan-Renault alliance was announced, nothing negative appeared in the press. It astounds me how much things have changed in Japan, in business, industry, and financial circles."

Miller is far from content with Mazda's current performance, "Building financial strength of Mazda remains our top priority. Efforts to improve our operating efficiencies of the parent company and subsidiary and affiliate companies are daily endeavors with a lot of focus." He emphasizes Mazda's drive for single brand strategy in two vital fronts—"corporate image and product brand image." There are a lot of qualitative issues, factors that influence corporate and brand images, built over years and decades. He continues, "There are also some things we can do to improve our image that will help increase our sales." Amidst Japan's bubble economy period in the late '80s and early '90s, Mazda took a euphoric expansionism route of nameplate, and dealer network proliferation. In Japan alone, it had five networks and five vehicle lines: Mazda, Autozam (curious name is mazauto rearranged), Eunos, Anfini, and Autorama (the last selling Ford-badge-engineered Mazda vehicles as well as some Ford products). For example, the MX-5 sports car was consigned to the Eunos network, and called "Eunos Roadster" in Japan. It is the MX-5 Miata in the U.S. and simply the MX-5 elsewhere.

In Europe, the Xedos line of upscale models was launched. Mazda aspired to challenge Honda's Acura, Toyota's Lexus, and Nissan's Infiniti upscale lines of cars by establishing its separate dealer network to be named Amati in the U.S., which would have had three distinct models, including a luxury sedan powered by a V12 engine, only to abandon it, when it sensed imminent burst of the bubble economy. Miller said, "I observed for many years that we had cars, particularly in Japan, which did not carry the Mazda name, nor dealerships (yes, four of them). They are now in the reorganized Mazda fold, with the exception of Autorama which was subsequently absorbed into Ford's network.

"I made some unhappy people, our own and outsiders, including advertising agencies. I was president of Mazda for about eight months when I sat down with our sales and marketing teams from Japan, North America, and Europe. We had built a very, very great deal of complexities in our system in terms of communication and operation. We were trying to operate one brand strategy in Japan, one in North America, and one in Europe, all different. I told them, "Whatever time you might take in this room, use it to form a single global strategy.

"Similarly, I wanted our R&D people to come up with products that go anywhere in the world. There was nothing like unanimity, but I persuaded our people, to make our life, our suppliers,' and dealers' life less complex, and our customers (and the hapless Japanese journalists in the heyday of Mazda's bubbly multi-nameplate strategy) less confused." They understood and responded to the challenge well.

"The first tangible product of the new single brand strategy, unveiled at this year's Geneva auto show, was a new compact multi-purpose vehicle, called Premacy in all the markets," said Miller. On the Premacy development, Miller confides that his executive team, notably Martin R. Leach, Managing Director in charge of product development, tore up the original proposal that called for a very ordinary station wagon variation, a mere 24 months before Job One. Miller praises Leach, "He is an absolutely phenomenal product guy, in the same league as Richard Parry-Jones, Ford's vice president." Leach, a Briton like Parry-Jones, came to Mazda through Ford of Britain, through Jaguar when it was pulled under Ford's umbrella, Ford of Europe again, and the fast-growing Truck Vehicle Center in Dearborn, MI.

What was Mazda's strength and shortcomings Leach found when he arrived on these far eastern shores? "I saw Mazda's underlining strength in vehicle dynamics, and weakness in the vehicle packaging area," said Leach. "And in the vehicle dynamics area, it was declining, too." Powertrain competitiveness was also on a decline, and appeal quality, "sensory quality as it were," was waning. In the Premacy, Leach and his team wanted a car with style and performance. "We didn't want a shrunken version of a North American minivan, a 'mum-and-kids' type," said Leach. "The marketing people wanted a sticker surprise version with a tiny 1.3-L engine and small wheels. No, we wouldn't have it. The Premacy is powered by our DOHC 1.8-L engine and fitted with larger wheels and tires, to make it a more spirited vehicle." Leach wanted to put Mazda's experience gained in the world-class sports cars, the Miata and the rotary-powered RX-7, and assigned some elite members of the sports car development team to the Premacy.

Jim Miller surprised the Japanese industry and press alike, when he appointed Akira Marumoto, a 41-year-old development engineer, to directorship of Mazda. He is one of the youngest directors (equivalent to vice president) in the Japanese automobile industry, Honda included. It may be common happenings in America and perhaps Europe, but the time-honored seniority system still prevails in Japan. Miller responded, "I love Japan with a passion. I have the greatest and sincere respect for the country and people. There have been many time-honored traditions. There are things we respect and must retain, because they are parts of the country's (Japan) culture. However, many things are changing, people systems included. We must prepare this company for a brighter future. People at all levels of our organization, particularly at younger levels, must be well trained, developed, and motivated. That will require changes in the ways we promote people and compensate people for their achievements." Miller affirmed, "I discussed the appointment of directors with our senior management. The decision of Marumoto's appointment was mine, and our senior managers were very supportive. He is the best man for the job, an extraordinary bright young engineer who has brought our new MVP to fruition. He will make significant contribution to Mazda long after older people like myself (Miller is 12 years senior to his new director) are gone!"

Miller emphasized Mazda's long-held strategic alliance with Ford is a critically important strength both tangibly and intangibly. And the alliance is growing more and more tangible. The two companies already produce a jointly developed pickup in its Auto Alliance factory in Thailand. The new MPV is powered by the Ford Duratec V6 mated with a Ford automatic transmission, though Marumoto tells it's a product of his team's sweat and tears. He adds that the next Ford/Mazda joint project, an SUV to be launched in 2000, is truly a vehicle fully exploiting both companies' engineering and technological resources, Ford's advanced CAD/CAE resources in particular.

Mazda is the last revolutionary, in the history of the internal combustion engine, putting the Wankel rotary engine in volume production, guarding it jealously through many lean years, and is still offering the hugely improved RX-7 sports car powered by it, although it is limited to the Japanese market only. One cannot help ask the chief executive officer what he would do with the rotary. Miller smiled and said, "I drive an RX-7. The latest version has its power uprated to 209 kW (280 bhp) (the limit a Japanese manufacturer can put on the catalog) and is a wonderful car to drive. The only engine photograph in my office is that of the rotary. You should draw your own conclusion."

The rotary faces two tough challenges, fuel economy and emission control. Young engineers at Mazda's small rotary engine department are as fired up as their latest engine, and are responding to the challenges of which are not getting any easier in the face of ever tightening economy and emission requirements.

In a recent historical car event at the British Goodwood race track, Martin Leach, an accomplished driver, was seen in the cockpit of the Mazda 787B racecar, the only Japanese car that ever won the famed Le Mans 24-hour sports car endurance race back in 1991, revving its quad-rotor engine to play that incredible high-pitched rotary music.