2002 Mazda 626 Lx Sedan 4-door 2.0l on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Illinois’ pro-union stance kills bid for Toyota-Mazda plant, report says

Mazda and Toyota are fielding bids from states eager to land its new prize: an all-new $1.6 billion U.S. plant where the Japanese automakers would jointly build electric vehicles and employ around 4,000 workers. Now we can apparently scratch Illinois off the list of contenders. According to Automotive News, the Land of Lincoln has been disqualified due to a lack of shovel-ready sites and the state's lack of a right-to-work law curtailing union membership. Mark Peterson, the president and CEO of economic development agency Intersect Illinois, told the publication he's been informed Illinois is not among the three or four finalists for the facility. It's believed those finalists are all in the South. Peterson said that "many national site consultants charged with making recommendations for corporate relocations and expansions will not even consider a state that is not a right-to-work state. In this case, the three states I am told are still in the running are all right-to-work states." The Midwest may be the ancestral home of U.S. automotive manufacturing, but the South has made major inroads in recent decades, with the likes of Honda, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan and Toyota all opening plants there, among others, thanks to lucrative tax incentives and the absence of labor unions. Recent years have also seen so-called right-to-work laws, which prohibit union dues and membership as a condition of employment in organized workplaces, spread to traditional labor strongholds such as Michigan and Wisconsin. The new joint venture plant, which would start operating in 2021, would be capable of producing 300,000 vehicles a year, with production divided between the two automakers. Mazda and Toyota would also take small stakes in one another as part of the deal. It's expected that at least 15 states have submitted proposals to attract the plant. Expect the Illinois news to trigger a new round of debate over the role of organized labor in the modern economy.Related Video: Image Credit: Reuters Green Plants/Manufacturing Mazda Toyota

Mazda refurbishing this NFL running back's 22-year-old daily driver

I don't actually care for the Washington Redskins (which is a good thing, considering the start to their season this year), but I love their running back, Alfred Morris. Why? Well, to start with, Morris helped deliver a dominating 10-3 season for my fantasy football team last year after a flash of prescience saw me pick him up off the waiver wire in Week 1 (hit me up on Twitter if you need fantasy sports insight, guys, I'm sort of like the Ruxin of Autoblog).
Morris is also pretty endearing because of his loyalty to his car, Bentley. Hold up - that's not to say the running back has splashed out on a Continental GT or a Flying Spur. No, Morris gave his much-loved 1991 Mazda 626 the tongue-in-cheek name "Bentley" while he was still a student at Florida Atlantic. One 1,613-rushing-yard rookie season and a $2.2-million contract later, and Morris is still using his Mazda as his daily driver. It might be easy to assume that the young player is simply being really prudent with all of his newfound wealth, but the guy really just has a thing for his five-speed-manual 626.
And Mazda, of course, loves the story of Morris' affection. In an effort to keep his 626 running strong and looking good, the company's Washington D.C.-area dealers have agreed to refurbish Bentley back to its original showroom freshness. Rather than spoil the classic (?) lines of the 626, the Mazda folks are essentially restoring the car for Morris. The cracked dash will be swapped out for a factory replacement, the engine and transmission given a thorough going-over and the whole vehicle generally made as fresh as Will Smith circa 1991. Bentley is expected to be completed and rolling through the capitol city by October 15, and in the meantime, Morris has been driving around in a new 2014 Mazda6 loaner car.

Mazda 767B crashes during Goodwood, suffers heavy damage [UPDATE]

Update: Autoblog has learned that the Mazda 767B wrecked at Goodwood was being driven by Seniji Hoshino. He was not seriously harmed and was able to walk away from the crash. Hoshino's car was chassis 001 and scored a win in the GTP class of the 1989 24 Hours of Le Mans. A Mazda 767B Group C racer suffered a crash the Goodwood Festival of Speed that tore off the rear wing and did some fairly serious looking front end damage. According to Jalopnik, the racer was taking a timed run during the event's famous hillclimb when it went into the hay bales. The driver is reportedly okay, though. We've reached out to Mazda and Goodwood sources to identify the pilot in question, with no luck so far. Look for an updated post later in the day if we get any answers on that front. Images of the sad wreck seem to be populating on Twitter feeds as we write this. The racing Mazda clearly suffered a big hit today; painful to look at even after the fact. But we're not sure if the damage is beyond the abilities of skilled factory workmen to fix. Our collective fingers are crossed. Mazda has a major presence at Goodwood this year, including the event's art installation. Among all of its vehicles, there are two privately owned 767Bs. These racers have a four-rotor engine, said to be good for more than 600 horsepower in racing trim, and are predecessors to the famous 787B that scored an overall win in the 1991 24 Hours of Le Mans. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.