Marton Pettendy•5 Mar 2014
NEWS
Next Mazda2 to play it safe as CX-3 nears
Mazda rules out new 2 three-door; sedan and diesel unlikely for Oz, but Mazda2-based SUV edges closerA three-door version of the next-generation Mazda2, which was previewed overnight by the five-door Hazumi concept at the Geneva motor show, has been effectively ruled out.
And Mazda is unlikely to import sedan or diesel versions of the replacement for Australia’s top-selling light car, which will go on sale in Australia by the end of this year.
That means the new 2 is likely to be available here only in a five-door hatchback body style, powered by a new 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine matched with six-speed manual and automatic transmissions.
However, while Mazda Australia will play it safe with the new 2, work continues to progress on the Japanese brand’s first sub-compact SUV, which will be based on the same new B-segment SKYACTIV platform and is likely to be named CX-3.
Motoring.com.au understands the CX-3 will emerge in concept form later this year before going on sale in Australia’s booming small SUV segment in 2015.
Mazda Motor Corporation Design Chief Ikuo Maeda would not confirm the existence of an SUV smaller than the CX-5, but admitted he and his design team had ‘road tested’ the company’s KODO design theme on a compact crossover.
“Yes, I have. I can say it looks good – it looks great,” he said.
Maeda-san said that while details like ‘jewellery’ and oversized 18-inch wheels would not be seen on the new Mazda2, the proportions of the handsome Hazumi concept will transfer to the production car.
“In overall image they are very close to each other. Hazumi is typical concept car – it needs to have bigger wheels – but proportions won’t change, only details like wheels.
Maeda said the 2015 Mazda2 will take a dramatic step upmarket from the outgoing model, which he himself designed, in line with the more masculine KODO design theme, which he admitted was a challenge to apply to a model as small as the 2.
“It was difficult to adopt Kodo to a B-segment car because the size is so different from Mazda3 and Mazda6.
“With the present Mazda2 I tried to focus on the female as a high priority... a friendly face, very stylish and lean.
“Hazumi is like a boy... upmarket, strong, solid and firm feeling.”
Maeda said Mazda had no current plans to offer a three-door version of the new Mazda2, but that a four-door sedan would again be part of the range.
Both body derivatives of the existing Mazda2 were briefly offered in Australia before sourcing reverted back from Thailand to Japan, where the Mazda2 sedan is not produced.
While sedans account for about half of all Mazda2s sold in Thailand, the four-door attracted less than 15 per cent of sales in Australia, with the three-door accounting for less than 10 per cent here.
Mazda Australia says it will look at importing the new Mazda2 sedan, which would need to come from Thailand, but indicated its chances of being sold here were only marginally better than the diesel’s.
This year’s new Mazda2 will be followed next year by the all-new CX-3, new MX-5 and new CX-9, marking the renewal of the entire sixth-generation Mazda range.
Maeda said applying Kodo design to the new MX-5 roadster, which is also due to emerge this year, also presented challenges but that he was happy with the result.
“This is also very tough to do, but it’s also a good challenge to deliver another type of Kodo design and show our performance in different terms. When people see the design they will say ‘wow, this is Kodo’.
Just as Mazda’s engineers are already working on next-generation SKYACTIV engine, chassis and body technologies, Maeda said he was developing the next evolution of the Kodo design language for future Mazda models post-2015.
Maeda, whose father designed the original RX-7, said the model he still most wanted to design was a “super sports car”.
While the sleek 2010 Shinari concept that heralded his Kodo design theme most closely resembles the latest Mazda6, if Maeda gets his way a born-again RX-7 could emerge in the second half of this decade wearing an entirely new style of threads.
“Shinari was the starter for Kodo concept and Mazda6 is the typical transfer for Shinari,” he said. “But in the future I am challenging to spread ideas to each different type of vehicle and I’d also like to see it evolve.
“The car I’d most like to make is a super sports car, no doubt, and I have an image in my mind.”
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Mazda
2
Car News
Hatchback
Family Cars
First Car
Written byMarton Pettendy
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