The general high quality of the Protege is no happy accident. The car is built in Mazda's Hofu plant, which is one of the auto industry's truly world-class assembly plants. It was built just a few years ago and was to be the assembly facility for Mazda's luxury channel--Lexus is Toyota's luxury channel--before that plan was abandoned. The plant was completed, however, and produces Mazda's high-quality Millenia luxury sedan alongside the Protege. Clearly, the same attention to detail that makes the Millenia such a triumph has carried over to the Protege. That's good company to be in.Overall, the Protege is a great choice for buyers who want a roomy, high-quality small sedan that offers crisp handling and performance. Mazda's biggest challenge is to get the Protege on the shopping list of people who are looking at Hondas, Toyotas and Nissans. It's well worth adding Mazda to this list.
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