LA MOTOR SHOW: 2019 Mazda3 brings sexy back

One of Australia’s best-selling cars is also set to be one of the best looking.

Making its world debut on the eve of the Los Angeles Auto Show tomorrow, the all-new 2019 Mazda3 has been revealed in stylish sedan and sexy hatchback forms.

Both models will hit Australia’s hotly contested small-car marketplace by mid-2019, although the sedan could follow the hatch by a few weeks and the model grades may differ between body styles.

Consistently one of Australia’s top-sellers outright and regularly battling with Toyota Corolla for top-selling passenger car honours Down Under, the Mazda3 is also Mazda’s most successful model globally. So there’s plenty riding on the sedan and coupe-like haunches of the all-new hatch.

But the vehicle has the looks and potentially the substance to keep Mazda high on the must-buy list – not least thanks to the fact the new production hatch is a dead-ringer for the cool Kai concept revealed at the 2017 Tokyo show

Mazda says the goal of the new 3 is to cement what it calls ‘Mazda Premium’. The car will play “an important role in raising this driving pleasure to new levels and beginning a new era in which Mazda Premium will become a reality”, the company says.

Importantly, the new Mazda3 will also debut the first production versions of Mazda SKYACTIV-X Spark-Controlled Compression Ignition petrol engines.

The engines, which claim diesel or better fuel economy, petrol refinement and low emissions, will be offered alongside conventional SKYACTIV-G petrol and SKYACTIV-D turbo-diesel powertrains dependent on the markets in question.

In Australia, we’re expecting to eventually see both petrol technologies. That said, Mazda Australia is yet to confirm whether the 3’s new-tech SKYACTIV-X engine option will be available immediately when the new Mazda3 arrives in the second quarter of 2019.

The new 2019 Mazda3 also adopts the latest versions of Mazda’s platform/structural technologies dubbed SKYACTIV-Vehicle Architecture.

“It is also the first to adopt a more mature interpretation of the Kodo design language that explores the essence of Japanese aesthetics and pursues elegant and sophisticated styling,” Mazda says.

And there’s more to the new Mazda3 than good looks and ground-breaking engine tech.

Mazda says the new 2019 Mazda3 is the first commercial model to feature technologies it outlined in its 2017 ‘Sustainable Zoom-Zoom 2030’ long-term tech plan via which the company plans to use “driving pleasure in the search for solutions to the issues facing the earth, society and people”.

Mazda defines ‘driving pleasure’ as such: “In everyday situations… the car accelerates, turns and brakes in a way that feels natural and intuitive, like a tool you have been using for many years.

“The feeling of interaction is pleasurable and makes you want to keep on driving. Passengers can relax and enjoy the ride too because the motion of the car is congruent with natural human movements and feels natural to everyone on board.”

In creating the new generation 3, Mazda has significantly separated the styling of the hatch and sedan. According to the Japanese marque, the hatch “presents a powerful and seductive look with lasting visual appeal that evokes a sense of exciting experiences to come”.

In penning the sedan, on the other hand, Mazda says it “set aside the notion of a C-segment car, removed all constraints and extended the overall length.

“We overcame numerous technical challenges in order to keep the hood and trunk low and presents [sic] ‘clean, sleek and sophisticated beauty of the sedan speaks of maturity and refinement’.”

At more than 4660mm, the new sedan is 200mm longer than the new hatch and 80mm longer than the current-generation four-door. The new generation’s 2725mm wheelbase (shared across hatch and sedan) is a 25mm stretch on the outgoing generation auguring well from interior space.

Indeed, a measure of just how much the Mazda3 has grown in its four generations is that the new car’s wheelbase is 50mm longer than the original Mazda6’s.

Sleek new headlight and tail-light designs are also signatures of the new 3 – and Mazda’s Kodo theme in general. Unlike the ‘bejeweled’ look of some of the 3’s competitors, the new car’s front and rear lamps are simply executed and elemental.

In this regard at least, the new Mazda3 draws heavily from the RX-VISION concept shown at the 2015 Tokyo show and the Vision Coupe concept model exhibited at the 2017 show.

Inside there’s an all-new cabin design that is more driver-centric than most vehicles in this segment. Ergonomics are changed and material quality has been enhanced, Mazda claims. Bespoke colour themes have been developed for both body styles.

For the driver, there’s more fore and aft adjustment at the wheel and the gearshift has been moved forward and higher on both the automatic and manual transmission variants. Climate controls are neatly integrated into the strong horizontal elements of the main fascia.

Significant attention to detail has been paid to the reduction of noise and the new SKYACTIV platform features thinner, better shaped A-pillars for better sight lines, Mazda claims.

“Keeping all elements other than the cockpit as simple as possible helps amplify the presence of the cockpit zone,” Mazda’s blurb suggests.

“This creates a comfortable environment in which the car and driver engage in a natural dialogue that enables the driver to focus on the task of driving.”

The cockpit features Mazda’s latest Active Driving Display and a new 8.8-inch centre screen.

The new 2019 Mazda3 also features an evolved version of the company’s human-machine interface (HMI) which the company claims is more intuitive.

Like all Mazdas, the current Mazda3’s touch-screen functionality only works when the vehicle is stationary, but Mazda says that is no longer required, and the main rotary controller has also been repositioned. The new centre console layout “significantly improves operating stability, ease and comfort”.

Expect a high level of standard safety features in the new Mazda3. Autonomous emergency braking will be standard across all grades in Australia along with a suite of active aids.

New safety technologies that arrive with the new 3 include a Driver Monitoring system that uses an infrared camera to monitor and detect drowsiness, fatigue or inattention.

The 2019 Mazda3’s new Front Cross Traffic Alert system uses front side radars to detect vehicles while the new Cruising & Traffic Support (CTS) system can assist “with accelerator, brake pedal and steering operations when stuck in traffic jams on the highway”.

A driver’s knee bag also debuts on the new 3.

The same Jinba-ittai driving philosophy that Mazda employed in developing four generations of Mazda MX-5s was used in new 3, the company says.

Nonetheless, the new Mazda3 features a less sophisticated rear suspension design – gone is the independent rear-end in place a more packaging-friendly torsion-beam design.

Front- and all-wheel drive (i-ACTIV AWD) versions of the Mazda3 will be offered in some markets and under the bonnet at least three displacements of the conventional SKYACTIV-G four-cylinder powerplants will feature – 1.5, 2.0- and 2.5-litre.

Europe will see a 1.8-litre SKYACTIV-D turbo-diesel version of the new Mazda3.

The all-new 2019 Mazda3’s new SKYACTIV-X powertrain promises “superior initial response, powerful torque, faithful linear response and free-revving performance”.

In the new 3 the engine will be paired with a mild-hybrid system that Mazda says “supports greater gains in fuel economy, and achieves higher levels of driving pleasure and environmental friendliness”.

No news yet on the price premium that Mazda Australia will ask for the new technology.

Mazda is also tight-lipped about whether it will reprise the previous Mazda3 MPS turbo hot hatch in the new 2019 generation. We can but hope…