How much do you know about the only location that makes the 2016 Mazda MX-5 Miata?

If you are a fan of the Mazda Miata, you already know that it is built in Hiroshima. Except for a handful of first-generation cars that were built in the Hofu plant by Mazda, all of the nearly one million Miatas have come from the same factory in Japan. Mazda’s museum has an interesting video about that location.

Prior to the war, Hiroshima was the city that supplied about half of Japan’s steel. Its Tatara steel method was used to make files and needles. The steel business paved the way for ship building and eventually the automotive industry in Hiroshima.

Mazda’s first vehicle was the Green Panel, a three-wheeled truck/motorcycle hybrid. It was produced under Mazda’s initial company name, Toyo Kogyo. During the war, it was one of the few non-military vehicles produced. We all know that an atomic bomb destroyed Hiroshima. However, did you know that production of the Green Panel resumed at the plant just four months later?

August 6, 1945 was Mazda founder Jujiru Matsuda’s 70th birthday and the day the bomb was dropped. Many of us know the story of that day, and it is forever linked with the name of the city that builds every Miata. If you’d like to learn a bit more the video below is worth watching.