Changan Auto to launch car in China using Mazda's technology

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chongqing Changan Automobile Co will soon launch in China a car model it co-developed with Mazda Motor Corp using technology provided by its Japanese partner, Mazda executives said on Saturday.

The Hiroshima-based Mazda chose not to come up with a China-only, co-brand car with Changan, as its rivals Nissan Motor Co and General Motors Co have done, Mazda Chief Executive Takashi Yamanouchi said.

Instead, Yamanouchi and Mazda's head of China operations, Noriaki Yamada, said Mazda chose to provide a platform or vehicle underpinning technology to Changan so that the two could develop a model for Changan to market in China under an existing Changan brand.

"It was too costly and would take up too many of our resources for us to start a new brand and develop a dealer network," Yamanouchi told a small group of reporters on the sidelines of the Shanghai auto show.

Yamada said the co-developed model will hit dealer showrooms "soon", but declined to elaborate in part because the marketing of the car will be controlled by Changan.

It wasn't clear how extensive this new phase of cooperation between Mazda and Changan will be or how many models are involved. (Reporting by Norihiko Shirouzu; writing by Fang Yan, editing by Jonathan Standing)