New Mazda3 stands aside

THE redesigned Mazda3 won’t be unveiled at the Paris motor show in October as had been widely expected, a Mazda source has told GoAuto, adding weight to speculation that the all-new sedan version will instead emerge at the Los Angeles show in November, before the five-door Mazda3 hatch replacement appears at the Bologna show in December.

The current BK-series Mazda3 continues to sell well four and a half years after its January 2004 release in Australia. It lies two per cent down in terms of year-to-date sales, but remains Australia's top-selling privately-purchased vehicle.

Instead, Mazda’s Paris limelight will be reserved for the reveal of the first step in the Japanese maker’s renewed engine efficiency drive, believed to be in the form of a new diesel engine for the new Mazda6, which has failed to meet sales forecasts in Australia since its May 2007 launch.

Left: MX-5 and BT-50 (below).

The second-generation Mazda6 range does not include a replacement for the previous-generation diesel variant, or the MPS sports flagship.

A facelifted MX-5 sportscar, possibly featuring Mazda’s first employment of major shareholder Ford’s new double-clutch automated manual transmission, will also be presented Paris, while a revised version of the brand’s BT-50 utility range will go on sale in Australia in September, accompanied by a new marketing campaign to stimulate sales.

Finally, Mazda says the Kazamai concept, which will debut at the Moscow motor show in two weeks on August 26 and previews an all-new compact SUV entrant from Mazda likely to be named the CX-5, will share no components with Ford’s forthcoming Kuga.

Mazda has consistently expressed its desire to add a compact SUV to its range below the CX-7, sales of which have declined in recent months despite the discontinuation of the aged Tribute in March.