It’s only been two weeks since Mazda revealed its new CX-5 at the LA Auto Show, but already it has started production of the new crossover.

The first examples of the CX-5 rolled off the assembly line yesterday at Mazda’s Ujina Plant No. 2 near the company’s headquarters in Hiroshima, Japan.

The first units were evidently painted in the model’s signature shade of metallic red, and are destined for the Japanese Domestic Market, where the new model will go on sale in February before being exported around the world.

It’s a monumentally important milestone for Mazda, whose CX-5 by now accounts for one in every four vehicles it sells. The first-generation CX-5 was introduced five years ago and reached the million-made mark in April 2015 – making it the second-fastest-selling model after the Mazda3.

The Ujina plant is Mazda’s principal manufacturing facility, also handling production of the smaller CX-3 and larger CX-9 crossovers, the MX-5 and Fiat 124 roadsters, and a slew of vans we don’t get in America. A second plant in Hofu builds the Mazda2, Mazda3 and Mazda6.

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