Category: Mazda

Only eight months after domestic production started, Mazda built the 100,000th Demio confirming the success encountered by the small Mazda in Japan but also in Europe.

The Mazda Demio, known as 2 model in Europe has been delivered to 34,389 units in the first six months on the Japanese market while in Europe 12,591 units found an owner four months after it hit the showrooms.

Well born, the Mazda 2 took the second place in the 2008 European Car of the Year thanks to a bold design but essentially to its focus on weight reduction. The Mazda is around 100 kilograms lighter than the previous model while almost all other competitors grew in size and weight.

Mazda is seriously considering launching a coupé variant of the successful MX-5 roadster. The future coupé would go on sale from 2010.

According to the Japanese car magazine Best Car, there is 60% chance that we will see the coupé hitting the showrooms. 2010 is also the year Mazda will likely revamp the roadster.

The coupé won’t be built on the same assembly lines as the roadster. It will be produced at a small scale by Mazda R&E, the Research and Engineering department of the company which compromises the probability to see the coupé being exported outside of Japan.

This is not the first time Mazda would build a coupé derived from the roadster. The previous generation featured a coupé also sold exclusively in Japan.

Mazda has unveiled a face-lifted MPV in Japan, two years after hitting the showrooms. The main changes concern a new front fascia, a new five speed automatic gearbox and equipment upgrades.

Despite being only two year old, the current MPV seemed to belong to the old generation due to its overall design. As it’s still too soon to replace it, Mazda revamped the exterior styling by featuring the new corporate DNA: new upper and lower grilles, and bumper. At the rear end, it comes with new lights with integrated red lenses while the 18-inch alloy wheels have been redesigned with gentle curves. The freshened MPV looks more aggressive. Fve new colors have been added: Metropolitan Grey Mica, Diamond Grey Metallic, Lilac Silver Metallic, Maroon Red Mica and Sparkling Black Mica.

On the inside, the main visual change is the central console which gets a new wide silver panel. The very cool optional second row Super Relax Seats has been improved as it now provides more legroom by extending the front/back seat slide range rearward by 80 mm.

Under the bonnet, the MPV keeps the ubiquitous 2.3-litre turbocharged engine in either naturally aspirated or turbocharged versions, but hooked it up to a new five-speed automatic gearbox. Chassis has laso been refined for comfort.

In Japan, limited edition versions are more valued than normal versions, so it’s normal to see Mazda releasing the first special edition based on the new Demio. Called Chiara, it features an exclusive Golden Red Mica, a vivid shade of red sprinkled with gold flakes, and an unusual multi-stripes pattern cover seat.

This special edition is powered by either the 1.3-litre Miller cycle engine associated with a CVT gearbox or the 1.3-litre petrol engine with four-speed automatic transmission and four-wheel drive system. On the inside, along the multi-stripes seats, the Chiara edition features silver bezels on the steering wheel, a keyless entry system, auto light system, rain sensing front wipers, and water-repellent coating.

It is available in Japan at a price tag of ¥1,410,000/£6,200 for the front-wheel drive model and ¥1,550,000/£6,850 for the all-wheel drive model.

The small Mazda won five stars at the latest EuroNCAP test and got 34 points out of 37 which is good news for the well acclaimed model.

This good score is interesting as Mazda focused on reducing weight recently. The Mazda 2 is nearly 100 kilograms lighter than the former model and still achieves the best score like its rivals. For many years, the weight has been justified by car maker as consequence of more equipment and more safety systems. Well, Mazda proved that it is still possible to make a light and safe car.

However if the Mazda 2 offers a high level of safety protection for occupants, the pedestrian safety is not so glorious as the small Mazda scores an average. In a world, it’s safer to be in a Mazda than being a pedestrian.

Mazda might become ambitious as it will unveil a supercar at the next Detroit Motor Show in January. The Furai for ‘Sound of the wind’ will apply the Mazda’s unique design language called Nagare on an American Le Mans Series (ALMS) racing car.

Information remains scarce but Mazda says the engine will be a 450bhp three-rotor rotary engine using ethanol (E100) produced by British Petroleum (BP). Franz von Holzhausen, Mazda’s North American director of design, says “Furai purposely blurs boundaries that have traditionally distinguished street cars from track cars. Historically, there has been a gap between single-purpose racecars and street-legal models — commonly called supercars — that emulate the real racers on the road. Furai bridges that gap like no car has ever done before.” We’re excited to see the concept car in a few weeks

Mazda will also surprise visitors and journalists with a face-lifted RX-8 model whose nobody has ever heard before. However a development mule based on the current RX-8 has been recently shot. Would it be the revised coupé and no the next-generation as originally thought?

Despite a sexy and still modern styling, the RX-8 will celebrate next year its fifth anniversary and Mazda is currently working on its replacement due to go on sale from 2009. A development mule has been caught and from the shape we can guess a few hints for the next-generation RX-8.

The prototype appears to be wider than the current model. At this stage it is not known if the car will receive new powertrains or upgrade the current units. Secrecy surrounds the engine spec although some observers think the future RX-8 will the 16X Renesis rotary engine unveiled at the last Tokyo Motor Show. Internally dubbed 13B-MSP, the 16X Renesis saw its displacement growing from 1.3-litre two 1.6-litre and features a direct-injection system to boost power and reduce emissions, and oil consumption.

The current RX-8 has only been available as a 2+2 coupé although Mazda considered producing a two-seat version. It is rumoured that the next-generation will offer a convertible variant in 2011-2012.

Source: Autoblog

Mazda will unveil the four-door Mazda Demio/2 at the 2007 Guangzhou Motor Show this week. Designed especially for the Chinese market, the small saloon will be built the Changan Ford Mazda joint-venture. Designing a sedan form a small car is always a difficult exercise., but Mazda designers succeeded in drawing that looks like a small four-door Mazda 3 from the back. The saloon keeps the appealing style of the hatchback.

The engine line up will be likely similar to the Hatchback’s with a 75 bhp 1.3 litre petrol engine and two 1.5 litre units, which deliver 84 bhp and 103 bhp. On the Chinese market, the four-door MAzda 2 will join the current lineup that includes the Mazda 3 and Mazda 6.

Do not expect to see the car on our roads. The is no real demand for tiny sedans in Europe and Mazda will probably focus on selling the Mazda 2 and the new Mazda 6.

The website Worldcarfans has released its interpretation of the next Mazda 6 that will be unveiled at the next Frankfurt Motor Show.

As I mentioned in a previous post, the next Mazda 6 will grow in size and in status like the Alfa Romeo did with the 159 model. At the top of the range it will replace the current Duratec 30 V6 engine also found in the Mazda MPV with the more powerful Duratec 35.

Inside, the first spyshots confirm the direction taken by Mazda: it will continue to develop the Zoom Zoom philosophy. Let’s hope it will not become a caricature of itself.

Source: Worldcarfans