A Mazda Mustang?

Mazda Motor of Hiroshima, well known for the rotary engine that is the soul of its spirited RX-7 sports car, is joining Japan's automotive invasion of the U.S. Mazda announced last week that it would start producing cars in Michigan in 1987, bringing to four the number of Japanese automakers manufacturing in the U.S. Honda has a plant in Marysville, Ohio; Nissan has one in Smyrna, Tenn., and Toyota will begin producing cars this month in a venture with General Motors in Fremont, Calif. Mazda plans to construct a $450 million assembly plant near a Ford foundry in Flat Rock, literally in Detroit's backyard.

Mazda's U.S. venture will bring it closer to Ford, which already owns 25% of the company. The Mazda GLC sedan is marketed by Ford in Australia and New Zealand as the Laser. The proposed Michigan plant will probably put 3,500 people to work in an area of high unemployment. By the end of 1988, the factory could be turning out vehicles at the rate of 240,000 annually. Ford is expected to buy some of the cars and may put the Mustang name plate on them. Fast-growing Mazda has been crimped by import restraints that limit its U.S. sales to 173,400 cars a year. Said a Mazda official: "We've had no choice but to start production in the U.S."