Mazda Malaysia is seriously putting forth a business case to locally assemble a 2.5-litre hatchback version of the all-new Mazda3, said Datuk Seri Ben Yeoh, managing director of Bermaz Motor, Mazda's distributor in Malaysia which also has a 30 percent stake in the Mazda Malaysia vehicle assembly joint-venture.

Currently on sale in the US and Australia, the all-new Mazda3 SkyActiv-G 2.5-litre produces 184 hp of power and 250 Nm of torque.

However, Yeoh was quick to add that a tight supply for the locally-assembled (CKD) Mazda CX-5 has created a long waiting list and Mazda's immediate focus is to ease the current supply situation before introducing more new CKD models.

The need to ensure that Mazda Malaysia's newly recruited plant workers are sufficiently trained to produce cars that meet Mazda's quality standards also means that output cannot be ramped up immediately.

Masatoshi Murayama, executive officer and general manager of Mazda's Hiroshima plant also stressed that the cars assembled in Kulim are of the same quality standard as the cars made in Hiroshima, adding that productivity, rather than quality is the area that needs improvement.

Mazda's problem is enviable. It has far more customers lining up to buy their cars than they have cars to sell. Still, both Mazda Malaysia and Bermaz Motor are seriously concerned about the situation.

Yeoh was speaking during a ceremony to commemorate the completion of a Mazda-exclusive vehicle assembly facility within contract assembler Inokom Corporation's plant in Kulim, Kedah.

The 20,000-unit per-year RM 100 million (US$ 31 million) plant began operating in March 2013 with a body shop facility, while its interior trim fitting facility was still shared with other brands produced within Inokom.

The completion of this facility will mean that apart from body painting (which is still shared other vehicles assembled by Inokom), all locally assembled Mazda vehicles will be produced at this Mazda-exclusive facility.

Currently, the facility is producing about 13,000 units of CX-5 models per year for both domestic sales and export to Thailand. The next model to be locally assembled will be the all-new Mazda3.

Presently, Bermaz Motor only sells the fully imported (CBU) 2-litre 162 hp version of the all-new Mazda3 sedan.

"Ideally Mazda likes to have everything," said Yeoh. "If you look at the Mazda3, it is a beautiful car. The option that we have now is only the sedan. The sedan looks sporty enough, but if you look at the hatch, it looks even better. So we are introducing it in stages because we do not want a situation where every Mazda has a waiting time. We have a limited capacity for CKD and in terms of CBU, we have limited APs," he added.

Yeoh also said that additional variants will only be introduced when the company has additional capabilities to support more variants.

"The reason why we have additional variants is to capture a bigger slice of the market. In this instance, we have limited capacities, we have limited resources, so we focused on the sedan at the moment. We will introduce the hatchback in due time and in terms of engine capacity, we will look at 2.5-litre and not the 1.5-litre," said Yeoh.

Yeoh believes that the 1.5-litre variant would not meet the expectations of local Mazda customers, whom he believes expect a certain level of driving performance from a youthful brand like Mazda.

He also explained that the latest generation of Mazda SkyActiv engines allows Mazda to produce high power outputs without sacrificing fuel economy.

Yeoh added that from a production point of view, there is little difference in production cost between a SkyActiv 1.5-litre engine from a SkyActiv 2.5-litre.

The tight supply for the CKD Mazda CX-5, whose waiting list now stretches up to around six months, means that it is difficult for Mazda Malaysia to give a definite date to introduce the CKD Mazda3, but sources within the company estimates that it should be between the third and fourth quarter of this year.