Updated Mazda2 on its way

Pocketing several sought-after accolades in recent times, such as the '09 Carsales People's Choice Award (Best Light Car) and the '08 World Car of the Year in 2008, an updated version of the Mazda2 is being readied for Australian roads.

Previously sourced from Japan, Australian-market Mazda2s will now be imported from Thailand, heralding a subtle new design and more importantly the arrival of a new body style, the Mazda2 sedan.

"Having listened to customer feedback and studied the light segment very closely, we believe that the new Mazda2 sedan offers the potential to engage with a whole new set of customers," says Mazda Australia's marketing manager, Alastair Doak.

One of the drawcards of the new sedan body style is a larger boot, which offers a significant 450 litres of cargo space.

The Japanese company has confirmed the Mazda2 sedan will be packaged with strong feature list, including aircon, power windows and mirrors, 15-inch alloy wheels plus a raft of safety systems such as front, side and curtain airbags, ABS and EBD. Stability control is expected to be an option, as is the case with most passenger vehicles in the light car class.

Arriving in May, both the sedan and hatch Mazda2 models will be powered by the same 76kW/137Nm 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine used in the current generation, paired with either a manual or automatic transmission. Fuel efficiency is quoted at 6.4 litres of fuel use per 100km for the manual models.

With more than 35,000 Mazda2s having found homes in Australian carports and garages since its arrival in 2007, Mazda predicts this latest upgrade "…further evolves Mazda2's award-winning formula and is expected to keep the model at the top of Australian buyer's shopping lists."

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