Is The Mazda CX-50 Built By Toyota? What To Know Before You Buy

Toyota is an undisputed titan of the automotive industry, not just among its Japanese rivals, but among all global automakers. Its power also expands far beyond Toyota-badged vehicles, with the Hino truck company, Daihatsu, and Lexus falling under Toyota's corporate umbrella. Beyond those names, Toyota's influence also includes partnerships and agreements with smaller Japanese automakers, including both Subaru and Mazda.

Subaru's partnership with Toyota is well established at this point. It's a relationship that's borne fruit like the co-developed Toyota GR86 and Subaru BRZ sports cars, the Subaru Solterra and Toyota Bz4x EVs, and has also seen Toyota lending its hybrid technology to Subaru. The Toyota-Mazda partnership is more recent, but has already birthed some ambitious ventures of its own, including the Mazda Toyota Manufacturing plant in Huntsville, Alabama, which builds the Mazda CX-50 alongside the Toyota Corolla Cross.

Does that mean the CX-50 is made by Toyota in the way that the GR86 is made by Subaru or the Supra is made by BMW? No, not quite. Though it's built in a joint factory with Toyota, the CX-50 and its underlying platform are both unique to Mazda, and that's helped make the CX-50 one of the more engaging SUVs in its class. The CX-50 Hybrid, on the other hand, is heavy on Toyota DNA under the hood, with its entire drivetrain borrowed from the Toyota RAV4. Let's break down this partnership a little further.

The construction of Mazda Toyota Manufacturing USA was first announced in 2018, with production lines opening in 2021. But unlike some joint ventures, where a factory cranks out what's essentially the same car with two different badges, the Toyota-Mazda relationship is a little different. Both sides of the partnership each build their own unique vehicle, with the Corolla Cross and the CX-50 sharing neither their platforms nor any significant components. In fact, the Toyota Corolla Cross and Mazda CX-50 are not even in the same class: The CX-50 is a compact crossover in the same segment as the Toyota RAV4, while the Corolla Cross is a smaller crossover that sits below the RAV4 in Toyota's lineup, and competes more directly with Mazda's smaller CX-30. 

Non-hybrid CX-50s are powered by two different Skyactiv engines, both of which are 100% Mazda and used in several of the company's vehicles. The non-turbo CX-50 makes 187 horsepower while the turbo version makes 256 horsepower (when running premium fuel). Both versions come with a mechanical AWD system and a traditional six-speed automatic transmission.

For the 2025 model year, Mazda added a new CX-50 Hybrid to the lineup. But rather than a homegrown Mazda hybrid system, the CX-50 Hybrid borrows not just Toyota's hybrid technology, but the entire powertrain from the Toyota RAV4 Hybrid. That means the hybrid motor and battery system, the 2.5-liter Toyota engine, the ECVT transmission, and the AWD system, which uses a rear electric motor rather than a mechanical differential. It also has the same 219-horsepower total system rating as the RAV4.

In our experience with the CX-50 Hybrid, the SUV nicely combines the efficiency (and, presumably, the long-term reliability) of Toyota's hybrid system with the more driver-focused Mazda platform. In terms of performance, the CX-50 Hybrid slots neatly in between the two Skyactiv versions, trading off some of the high-end punch of the turbo model for electric torque in the city and much-improved fuel economy.

As one more unique part of this factory-sharing situation, and because of the Alabama plant's shared paint shop, the 2025 Toyota Corolla Cross is available with Mazda's signature Soul Red Crystal paint color. It's the only Toyota to offer the color and even uses the same name in its catalog. So far, the Toyota-Mazda partnership seems like a win-win situation, with the two companies able to combine resources and improve production efficiency while maintaining their unique products and sharing technology (or cool paint colors) when useful.