Mazda planning a sporty future

At last year’s Tokyo motor show, Mazda CEO Masamichi Kogai boldly stated his company would launch five new models by March 2016. Those include the new Mazda2, new MX-5, all-new CX-3, new CX-9 and new Mazda5 people-mover.

With next month's redesigned Mazda2 joining the latest Mazda3, Mazda6 and CX-5, which will also receive a midlife makeover soon, the Japanese car-maker has finally renewed its four core models, all built around the company’s new SKYACTIV chassis, body and powertrain technologies.

Next year, the fourth-generation MX-5 arrives and will be joined by an all-new model -- a small SUV based on the new 2, called the CX-3.

The remaining two models – the second-generation CX-9 and new Mazda5 -- will be revealed by early 2016.

After that things will get more interesting, according to a source close to Mazda, with those five volume-selling vehicles set to form the basis of a number of exciting spin-off models.

“What comes after that is the interesting bit,” says our insider. “The company plans to focus heavily on development of niche products, or in other words, special-editions.”

Before mid-2016, we can expect to see a Mazda6 diesel hybrid landing in showrooms and the company is also planning a Mazda6 coupe for release in the second half of that year.

What you see here is an artist’s impression of the coupe, which we think takes Mazda’s stylish ‘Kodo’ design language to the next level.

In what looks like being an exciting year for Mazda, 2016 will also see the car-maker release the much-anticipated Mazda3 MPS hot hatch, powered by a 2.5-litre turbocharged petrol engine pumping out more than 220kW and incorporating a new lightweight AWD system.

Adding even more spice to Mazda's fresh line-up, we can also expect to see MPS versions of the Mazda2 and Mazda6, as well as a successor to the previous Mazda2-based Verisa premium compact model in Japan, to target the likes of MINI and Citroen's DS3.

And, in order to cater to its market needs in developing countries -- especially in Asia – our sources insist Mazda plans to launch an all-new entry model called the Mazda1. To be produced in the company’s Thai and Mexican plants, the Mazda1 will sit on a revised version of the new Mazda2 platform.

Of course, there's also Mazda's born-again rotary-powered coupe, the RX-9, which is slated for a 2017 debut in concept form and should arrive in showrooms by 2020. As we've reported, the sleek two-door rotary is strongly rumoured to employ a two-stage turbo system that should see it generate over 335kW.

But Mazda is not stopping there. The company also plans to apply its rotary technology in the form of a rotary range-extender as seen in a recent Mazda2 plug-in hybrid concept.

As part of its next-generation SKYACTIV II powertrain strategy, it also plans to commercialise homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) technology, which achieves petrol engine-like emissions with diesel engine-like efficiency, including the emission of extremely low NOx levels without a catalytic converter.

And for anyone thinking Mazda wasn't interested in electric cars, our insider also tells us the company is working towards the launch of its own zero-emissions EV by 2018.

“From rotaries to range extenders, diesel hybrids to EVs, turbocharged sports models to coupes, the company is branching out in ways you can’t imagine," said our source.