Mazda MPS on hold – still

Mazda president and CEO, Masamichi Kogai, has declared that a performance variant in the Mazda3 range is currently consigned to the 'too hard' basket.

His remarks echo those of his marketing boss, Masahiro Moro, who informed journalists two months ago, in Frankfurt, that the manufacturer's R&D focus was currently on the Koeru SUV, which is expected to enter production – most likely as the CX-6.

Last week, in Tokyo – where the RX-VISION rotary sports car concept wowed visitors and hinted strongly at rotary power in Mazda's future – Kogai-san explained that a production version of the show car would take precedent over performance variants for the Mazda3 (and Mazda6 by implication).

"The performance vehicle Mazda3 and other models... we do not have a plan at the moment. We have to really have one best model," Kogai-san said through an interpreter.

"Because we have limited resources, if we keep developing... too many derivatives, the resources we can afford to allocate on the base model or the core models will go down and then we are not able to perfect each of these models."

A Mazda3 MPS has long been the subject of speculation since the arrival of the current generation Mazda3, with Mazda execs occasionally leading the media to believe a hot-shot Mazda3 was just around the corner. But nothing could be further from the truth, it seems. There are rumours that mating a turbocharger with SKYACTIV might be a very complex proposition, which if true, would be the actual reason an MPS model is over the horizon.

Mazda Australia MD Martin Benders and his PR staff have always been supportive of a Mazda3 MPS available for Australian consumers, but he has also warned that such a car may not happen.

"We've also lobbied hard for MPS models, but I think they've got to the point where they've said: 'it doesn't make sense at this point of time'. They're still growing their base... doing all the ground work with all the volume models, so they haven't been prepared to invest in those – for the time being."

Referring back to Kogai-san's earlier response, Benders left the door open for a Mazda3 MPS.

"When that question was asked, I don't think anybody said: 'We'll never do it', but they said: 'it's not on our agenda for the moment'.

Put to him that it might be possible for Mazda Australia to go too far over the top with the whole 'zoom-zoom' driver focus, with too many such models in its range, Benders offered qualified agreement.

"I don't think we need to do too much, but we do need to do two or three things. MX-5 is nice; if we got some version of the RX-VISION that would be great. And then maybe we only need one or two MPS-type things; that would be enough.

"To really get the people that matter in the consumer world, you need to have some performance models, to put Mazda on their consideration list... even if they don't end up buying it."

But as he also pointed out, in Mazda's current situation its products are priced close to some prestige competitors, which will score a sale with their inherent badge cachet or some technological advantage. That would make MPS a harder sell.

"Ultimately, we sell a car for 50 grand, and the premium [brands] sell the same sort of model for 60 or 70 grand, then people who can afford 60 or 70 grand will probably go to the premium, unless we're offering something unique that the premium [brands] can't match. That's why rotary would be good for us, because it gives you that point of difference.

"That sort of happened a little bit with the XD – the diesel Astina that we brought in. It's not going that well. We don't give it a lot of marketing [thrust], we just put it in to see what would happen. But I think people in the performance [realm] haven't switched on to diesel in a big way."