TOKYO, 04/03/2007 - The head of Mazda Motor Corp. said on Tuesday that issuing new shares was one of many options for raising funds to increase research and development as well as other investment spending.

"We are at a point where we have various options available to us to raise funds," Chief Executive Officer Hisakazu Imaki told a small group of reporters in Tokyo.

Asked if issuing shares was one such possibility, he said: "That is one option."

The Hiroshima-based automaker held one-third by Ford Motor Co. said last month it planned to boost its R&D spending by 30 percent to 500 billion yen ($4.2 billion) over the course of a four-year business plan ending in March 2011.

It also said it would increase capital expenditure by 50 percent to around 400 billion yen compared with its spending over the previous four years.