The new Mazda2 has been a sport success for Mazda, selling almost 40,000 copies as of April since hitting the showrooms last October. A three-door version (above) was announced back in January and is now available to European customers. A 1.4 litre diesel engine is now also an option across the Mazda2 range and is cleaner and more efficient than the MZR gas engines. According to Mazda's own numbers (read them after the break), the breakdown goes like this:

• The gas-powered MZR 1.3 gets 43.5 mpg (U.S.) while emitting 129 g/km of CO₂.
• The gas-powered MZR 1.5 gets 40 mpg (U.S.) while emitting 140 g/km of CO₂.
• The diesel-powered MZ-CD 1.4 gets 54.7 mpg (U.S.) while emitting 114 g/km of CO₂.

All of these engines are mated to a five-speed manual tranny with higher gear rations that also reduce fuel use. One thing to note: those 114 grams make the Mazda2 with the MZ-CD 1.4 the Mazda production car with the lowest CO₂ emissions ever sold in Europe. The diesel will still generate 50 kW/68 PS at 4,000 rpm and 160 Nm of torque at a low 2,000 rpm for, in Mazda's words, "lively driving fun."

We've been keeping an eye on the new Mazda2 for a while, and our UK readers can now start calculating just how badly they might want to drive one of these little cars. Mazda has announced that the common-rail turbo diesel-engined Mazda2s will start at £9,499 (on-the-road) for the lower-end version and £10,999 for the upper end (see details after the jump). The cost will nab you a supermini that gets 65.7mpg (Imperial, which is 54.7 U.S.) and emits just 114 grams of CO₂ per kilometer. Compliant with the Euro IV directives, the Mazda2 will cost the owner just £35 in annual road taxes. Deliveries start in March.


Related:

• Mazda2 sedan to debut at Guangzhou Motor Show
• Mazda demonstrates that small lightweight cars be safe too

[Source: Mazda]

The doors stay intact and functional

When Mazda introduced their new B-class car, the Mazda2, earlier this year one of the most interesting technical aspects of the car was that the company bucked the seemingly irreversible trend of making new models bigger and heavier. The new car is more than 200 lbs lighter than its predecessor. While many people (particularly SUV owners) seem to think that lighter cars are inherently less safe this doesn't necessarily have to be the case. The new Mazda2 has just completed its EuoNCAP crash testing and received the maximum five stars for adult crash protection and four stars for child protection. It's not clear why smaller children would fair worse than adults but the ratings are still very good such a small car.

[Source: Mazda]

We first got our first official look at the new Mazda2 mini-car last March at the Geneva Motor Show. This week at the Guangzhou Motor Show in China, Mazda is taking the wraps off of a sedan version of the new car. The sedan version will be built at the Changan Ford Mazda plant in Nanjing, but it's unknown if it will be available anywhere outside of China. While Ford's upcoming small car is based on the same platform as the Mazda2, it's not known if it will be available with a trunk when it debuts in 2009.

[Source: Mazda]

While most cars and trucks have been getting progressively heavier over the last three decades, Mazda is making a concerted effort to turn that around. In designing the new Mazda2 they focused on weight as one of the ways to improve fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions. They managed to reduce the weight by over 200lbs compared to the previous generation car.

They've used high-strength steels to optimize the design of the whole body to reduce the weight while improve the rigidity and crash resistance. They also made the exterior dimensions smaller and adjusted features on the new car. Some of the detailed design features included changing speaker magnets to neodymium and making the wiring harness shorter. There's more after the jump.

[Source: Mazda]

Featuring cars one step up from a minicar, the Japanese subcompact segment was once Mazda's turf. Recently, the company has lost ground to Toyota and Honda in that category, but hopes that today's introduction of the new Demio (known as the Mazda2 elsewhere), will be the spark that brings sales numbers back up. With a starting price of 1.125 million yen ($9,170), that's not unlikely.

The new Demio is about 220 pounds lighter than the previous version (this is comparing the Demio Casual with MZR 1.3L engine and 4-speed electronically controlled automatic transmission compared to the all-new Demio 13C-V) and gets 20 percent better fuel economy. The Demio 13C-V, using Mazda's MZR 1.3-liter Miller-cycle engine and CVT, has a fuel economy rating of 23.0 km/L. Other environmental aspects of the new Demio, courtesy of Mazda's press release, include:

• All model grades have exhaust emissions at least 75 percent lower than Japan's 2005 standards. In addition, all grades, except for the 5-speed manual transmission version of the Demio 15C and Demio SPORT, qualify for Japan's Green Tax exemptions.
• In order to reduce the concentration of volatile organic compounds (VOC), which is a potential cause of Sick-house Syndrome, the Mazda Demio employs low-VOC emitting resins, paints, and adhesives in the cabin. It satisfies the indoor VOC concentration level guideline figures for 13 substances that were set by Japan's Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.

The first generation Demio went on sale in August 1996. The most recent generation before today's introduction was released in 2002.

Related:

• New Mazda2 pricing announced
• Geneva Motor Show: 2008 Mazda2
• Mazda2 coming to America as Ford Fiesta in 2009
• First Mazda 2 rolling out of the assembly line in June
• Japanese-market Mazda2 gets new Miller cycle engine

[Source: Reuters, Mazda]

Prices and standard equipment for the New Mazda2 were announced today. At first, Mazda will be keeping the diesel versions for themselves - they'll be available a few months following the petrol versions' debut on Sept. 8.

The low-end gas drinkers will be £8,499 (OTR), and that money will get you 15-inch steel wheels, ABS brakes, a Thatcham Category 1 alarm and more. There are three trim levels - TS, TS2 and Sport - and the diesel versions will be similarly equipped. Full details in the press release after the jump.

Related:

• Geneva Motor Show: 2008 Mazda2
• Mazda2 coming to America as Ford Fiesta in 2009
• First Mazda 2 rolling out of the assembly line in June
• Japanese-market Mazda2 gets new Miller cycle engine

[Source: Mazda]

We already know a lot about the new Mazda2 (see links below) and its forthcoming Ford cousin, but Mazda released a new batch of pictures a the B-segment's full specs this week, so it only seems fair to pass them along. The press release is after the jump, and you can see the photo gallery by clicking any of the images of the car in this post.



Related:

• Geneva Motor Show: 2008 Mazda2
• Mazda2 coming to America as Ford Fiesta in 2009
• First Mazda 2 rolling out of the assembly line in June
• Japanese-market Mazda2 gets new Miller cycle engine

[Source: Mazda]

Click on the photo for a gallery of high-res images of the new Mazda2

Mazda recently started production of the new Mazda2 that debuted at the Geneva Motor Show and one of the new engines available in the car will be a 1.3L Miller-cycle engine which would be more accurately called an Atkinson cycle engine. The Atkinson cycle uses a longer power stroke than the compression stroke. This is achieved on modern engines by keeping the intake valve open past bottom dead center, allowing the engine to push some of the air-fuel mix back out into the intake manifold. This can result in a significant increase in fuel economy but at the cost of low end torque. The Miller cycle adapts this concept by adding a supercharger to improve the torque and was first used by Mazda on the mid-nineties Millenia.

On the new 2 Mazda gets rid of the supercharger but uses the Atkinson cycle. Nomenclature aside the new setup provides some excellent economy. The engine is mated up to Mazda's first CVT and manages 54mpg compared to the 1.3L in the old model that got 45mpg. The engine also has variable valve timing which it appears Mazda is using to adjust the use of the Atkinson cycle to maximize efficiency and while still maintaining decent performance. On top of the all the fancy powertrain stuff, Mazda also reduced the weight of the new 2 by over 200lbs compared to the old model which helps both performance and efficiency. So far their is no indication of whether we will see this engine in the US market.



[Source: Mazda]

4 cm (1 1/2 inches) shorter and 100 kg (220 pounds) lighter than its predecessor, production on the new Mazda 2 has started in Japan. The car, developed together with Ford, will be assembled in Mazda's plant near Hiroshima for the Japanese market, branded as Mazda Demio and at the end of the year the production will start in the Chinese factory of Changan Ford Mazda in Nanjing.

The sales of the Mazda 2 in the European markets will start in October, although prices have yet to be announced. The choices will be initially 3 gasoline-powered engines: 1.3 liter (74 or 85 HP) and a 1.5 liter (105 HP). A month later, Mazda will also include a 1.4 l diesel in the range (rated at 70HP).

Ford is planning to sell this model in the US for 2009 as the Ford Fiesta (or perhaps another name)

Related links:

• Small cars to be big part of Ford comeback
• Mazda2 coming to America as Ford Fiesta in 2009
• Ford merges B-Car teams into one global team out of Europe

[Source: Auto-news (German)]

The all-new Mazda2 (see story on the car's debut here) will be made for the Chinese market at the Changan Ford Mazda Automobile Co. plant in Nanjing, China, Ford announced today. The Nanjing-produced Mazda2 model has been "specifically developed ... to suit the tastes of the Chinese market," but what those developments are was not announced. The Nanjing plant will be able to make 160,000 units a year and "will feature cutting-edge eco-friendliness, efficiency, and an employee-friendly working environment," Ford says. When the Mazda2 was unveiled in Geneva last month it was announced it would have 1.3 and 1.5L engines ranging from 75hp to 103hp.

Ford also announced today that "an all-new Ford small car will be produced at Changan Ford Mazda Automobile Company Nanjing plant in 2008."



[Source: Ford]

Click on the photo for a gallery of high-res images of the new Mazda2

A pile of new images of the new Mazda2 have turned up. The new 2 will be making its debut at the Geneva Motor Show this week, and will also be forming the basis of the new Ford B-class car that will be coming to the US market sometime in the next two years. The new 2 will have a range of 1.3 and 1.5L engines ranging from 75hp to 103hp and should turn up here sometime in 2008.



[Source: Mazda]

Earlier this week Ford President of the Americas confirmed in an internal webcast that the new B-Class Ford for North America and the rest of the world will be based on the new Mazda2. The next question of course is what to call the new sub-compact? Ford could spend their limited resources trying to establish another new brand name, or they could revive another classic name with some established equity. Automobile magazine thinks it will be the latter, with the return of the Escort, once the best selling car in both the US and the World. They even photoshopped the Ford 3-bar grille onto the Mazda2 for a hint at what it might look like.

[Source: Automobile]

We've covered news of the Mazda2 and Mazda's Hakaze concept car, both of which are set to be unveiled at the Geneva Auto Show. The third car that will get Mazda's open-the-curtain treatment is the new Mazda3

Here's all that Mazda is saying about the Mazda3 for now:

"The new 2.0-litre Mazda3 diesel model will be unveiled for the first time. Topping the best‑selling Mazda3 model range, the Mazda3 2.0 MZR-CD is fitted with a powerful and frugal engine that delivers 360 Nm of torque – one of the segment's highest outputs – and 143ps (105kW) of power."

I'm inclined to trust that word "frugal." The 2006 Mazda3 made Forbes' list of Top Ten least polluting vehicles last summer. Just a few more days until we can judge for ourselves.

[Source: Mazda]

Click on the photo for a high-res image of the new Mazda2, suitable for wall-paper

Mazda will be taking the wraps off the all-new Mazda2 at the Geneva Motor Show in a few weeks and they just released the first official photo. This isn't just a new B-Class model for Mazda however, as the platform of the 2 is also expected to appear under the next generation Ford Fiesta. The folks in Dearborn have acknowledged that they are working on a new small car below the Focus for the 2009-10 time frame in North America. It's unknown whether the Mazda will come to the US but the underpinnings will almost certainly be here before long. Judging from the profile shown in the photo, this stylish sub-compact should make the trip from Hiroshima, because it displays some of the swoopy curves of the recent Mazda concepts on a very nicely proportioned body. The press release is after the jump.



[Source: Mazda]