Even as the yen strengthened in 2012, Mazda brought production of its Mazda6 sports sedan back home, after falling vehicle sales in the U.S. spurred them to pull out of a Michigan assembly plant run jointly with Ford Motor Co.

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He must also deal with a shifty coalition partner in the state assembly, the NCP, run by the Pawar family.

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Next he had to turn his manual assembly shop into an automated operation run by real technicians.

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