I've owned a '95, '97 and '02 Mazda PU trucks recently and was told they are built in NJ in a Ford factory but by Mazda workers. The story I got is Mazda makes less than Ford workers and they pass the savings along on the cost of the truck. In '95 I compared 2 identically equipped Ranger/Mazda SE pickups and the Mazda was ~ $2000 cheaper.

The only difference was in optioning - Ford allows (or used to, haven't looked lately) real flexibility in picking and choosing what goes on the truck. Mazda offers only 3 "packages", take it or leave it.