Mazda Intends to Expand Its U.S. Presence : Autos: The car maker will triple its research and development unit in Irvine and hire hundreds more workers across the country.

Mazda Motor Corp. plans to triple the size of its U.S. research and development operations and hire several hundred more workers here and elsewhere in the United States.

Officials at Irvine-based Mazda Research & Development of North America confirmed reports from Japan saying Friday that the expansion is part of the car maker’s plan to further “localize” research in the U.S. market.

Mazda’s U.S. research arm employs 166 people in Irvine and in Ann Arbor and Flat Rock, Mich. According to reports in Japan, Mazda said it would increase its U.S. research staff to about 600 over an unspecified period.

“Our plan is to localize our research and development work,” said Hiroshi Ozeki, president of Mazda Research in Irvine, where 90 people now work.

The expansion was approved Friday by Mazda directors in Japan.

“We haven’t seen a final breakdown as to how the increases will be allocated for each facility,” said Bob Hall, Mazda’s production planning director in Irvine.

He added that the expansion has been in the works since 1988.

The Irvine facility conducts research in vehicle design, engineering and testing. It is best-known as the site where Mazda’s popular Miata model was designed.

Analysts said the expansion shows that Mazda is trying to compete more effectively with its larger Japanese rivals--Honda, Nissan and Toyota--which have already announced plans to expand their U.S. research staffs.

“I would expect that Mazda will be conceiving, engineering and developing more new products specifically designed for the North American market,” said George Peterson, president of AutoPacific Group Inc., a Santa Ana consulting company.

Douglas Laughlin, an automotive analyst at Bear, Stearns & Co. in New York, said Mazda is following a trend among Japanese car makers to adapt local designs to appeal to U.S. tastes.

“I think this plan to expand R&D; is more of a move to support sales rather than increased production in North America,” he said. “They’re just Americanizing their R&D; to make their cars suit the U.S. market.”

Ford Motor Co. holds a 25% stake in Mazda, which is the fourth-largest Japanese auto maker in terms of U.S. sales.