Mazda can't build enough SUVs because Alabama's unemployment is so low
Tight labor market holding up production of CX-50 SUV
Mazda has a new American-made car, but it can't find enough Americans to make it.
The CX-50 is a new model that was designed with the U.S. market in mind and is built at the recently opened factory in Huntsville, Alabama, the automaker jointly operates with Toyota.
The compact SUV has one of the brand's hottest-sellers since it went on sale earlier this year, but it's been struggling to increase production at the factory.
It had planned to have a second shift going by now, but staffing has proven to be a challenge amid a tight labor market.
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The CX-50 is built at a factory in Huntsville, Alabama. (Mazda / Fox News)
"The employment rate stands around the 2% level in Alabama. Retention is not so easy, so the local staff has been working hard to provide training and ensure employee retention. We work to ensure stable operations on one shift there, and then look to move to two-shift operations. So, we are pushing back the two-shift timeline a little," Masahiro Moro, senior managing executive officer, said during the company's quarterly earnings call this week, Automotive News reported.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate in Alabama was 2.6% in September.
Mazda is the second Japan-based automaker to mention how the shortage of workers in the U.S. is affecting its business in recent days.
The CX-50 was designed for American buyers. (Mazda)
Subaru's CEO Tomomi Nakamura said during his company's earnings call last week that it won't be making any major investments in U.S. electric vehicle production because it can't compete with the high wages McDonald's has been paying near its manufacturing campus in Indiana.
"As for the U.S. market from next spring onward, we believe that the economy will gradually slow down," Yasuhiro Aoyama, Mazda senior managing executive officer, said. "As the tight semiconductor market is still continuing, the supply-demand relationship is not likely to loosen so easily."
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Mazda recently began moving its model mix further upmarket with more premium offerings, but Aoyama expects consumers to start shifting back toward lower grade models.
The CX-50 is similar in size to the CX-5. (Mazda)
Mazda's U.S. sales are down 17.8% so far this year due to supply chain and manufacturing issues and has lowered its full-year global sales target by 113,000 vehicles to approximately 1.2 million.
"The situation continues to be that it is difficult to see clearly for the next two weeks," Moro said.
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Reuters contributed to this report