Titled Mazda de Colombia SAS, the new company will import and sell completely built-up vehicles from Japan, Thailand and Mexico and provide after-sales services.

Mazda began assembling vehicles in Colombia in 1983 with Compañía Colombiana Automotriz SA (CCA), which has overseen sales of Mazda vehicles and built up the Mazda brand in the country since then with a focus on locally built models. Assembly of Mazda vehicles at CCA finished at the end of April 2014.

Mazda's executive officer and general manager of global sales and marketing, Yasuhiro Aoyama said: ‘We have steadily developed our business in Colombia over the 31 years since local assembly began in 1983. As a result, both the public awareness and strength of the Mazda brand have increased. Moving forward with MCOL, we will take full advantage of our ability to supply vehicles from our new plant in Mexico, and offer our Colombian customers even higher levels of service and product quality. With our new generation of products that adopt SKYACTIV TECHNOLOGY and KODO-Soul of Motion design, Mazda will continue its efforts to become a brand that engenders long-term customer loyalty.’

In addition to models such as the Mazda6 (known as Atenza in Japan) and Mazda CX-5, which are already on sale in the country, MCOL is planning to launch the new Mazda3 (Axela in Japan), production of which began in Mexico recently.