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Mazda3 to ride on 'Aussie' suspension
Australian-delivered small car to be tuned for Australian roadsMazda has invited Australian motoring journalists to sample the new Mazda3 on home turf at the Anglesea proving ground in Victoria, a little over two weeks from now.
According to Mazda Australia's Public Relations Manager, Steve Maciver, it's an opportunity for the local press to assess the vehicle ahead of its full-blown launch early next year.
Since the cars are pre-production prototypes, journalists will not be permitted to drive them on public roads, but the proving ground emulates public roads and provides an opportunity to evaluate the new small car... complete with tyres and suspension specification intended for Australian-delivered production vehicles, rather than the North American suspension and all-seasons tyres tried previously.
"The tune that we get is what is known as 'rest of the world'," Maciver explained to motoring.com.au last week, "but... if you consider that Australia is the leading market for the rest of the world – for Mazda – it's been designed around what we need for a suspension tune and the rest of the markets fall into line with what we have."
The Mazda3 has been engineered with different suspension calibrations in mind for European, North American, Asian and 'rest of the world' markets, Maciver explained. In Mazda's 'rest of the world', Australia plays a pivotal role, as local MD Martin Benders has previously told motoring.com.au.
"Mazda Australia has delivered on year-over-year growth pretty well through the last ten years," he said back in May. With nine per cent market share locally, and total sales of nearly 104,000 for 2012, Mazda Australia's performance in a market so relatively small compares very well with the sales volume of 277,046 in North America last year and 123,903 sales in Europe.
So while Australia will get a 'rest of the world' tune for the suspension of the new Mazda3 –Australia's needs will come first.
Presumably that will mean tyres will be chosen for sound-dampening characteristics on our coarse-chip country roads, and suspension that will achieve the appropriate balance of ride and handling. Mazda has been criticised in the past for road noise in their cars, and the 'Zoom-Zoom' marketing strategy demands high-grade driving dynamics.
In this, Mazda is not alone. Hyundai and sister company Kia have been tailoring suspension and steering to suit local buyers' tastes for some years now. It has been paying dividends for Kia's brand image (as has smoother styling courtesy of ex-Audi recruit Peter Schreyer).
In Hyundai's case, revised steering and suspension for Australia is not necessarily as influential in the buying decision, but should be given its due – even as a lesser element in that company's marketing strategy – for Hyundai reaching number four in the country's top ten makes. With sales of 63,796 as at the end of August, it's less than 7000 units behind third-placed Mazda in year to date sales.
That gap is probably too far to close before the end of the year, but Hyundai's striking distance and the much improved sales performance of Toyota's Corolla (currently the top selling car in Australia) are two strong reasons for Mazda to make every post a winning post with the new Mazda3.
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Written byKen Gratton
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