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2016 Mazda2 won't come to the US

Hoping to get your hands on the new Mazda2? Don't get your hopes up too high, because the latest word has it that the new hatchback won't be available in the United States. According to the report from Automotive News, Mazda's US office has decided against bringing the new Mazda2 to American showrooms. This despite it being made just south of the border in Salamanca, Mexico. The reasons are apparently two-fold. For starters, Mazda sales offices around the world have been clamoring for larger allotments of the new 2, and the company can only supply so many. "We could have had it, but we would have had a number that didn't make much sense with 600 dealers and with the marketing it takes to launch a new car," Robert Davis, Mazda's senior VP of US sales operations, told AN. For another, Mazda is apparently not convinced the new supermini would resonate with US buyers, who are increasingly migrating towards crossovers. So Mazda is focusing instead on "products that make us and our dealers considerably more profit than a Mazda2 does." That doesn't mean the latest Mazda2 will be entirely out of our reach forever, though. The company's agreement with Toyota will see a sedan version sold in the US as the Scion iA. Mazda is also certifying it to US safety and environmental standards so that it can sell the 2 in Puerto Rico, which means that it wouldn't take much to change course and bring the hatchback into the US in the future: "It'll always be there if we need it," Davis told AN. Reached for comment, a spokesman for Mazda's North American operations told Autoblog that "The Mazda2 launch in the U.S. market is on hold in order to evaluate the B-Car segment and enable us the opportunity to focus on the launches of the refreshed Mazda6 and CX-5, and the all-new MX-5 roadster and CX-3 subcompact crossover SUV." That leaves the aforementioned CX-3 - which is, incidentally, based on the same architecture as the Mazda2 - as the smallest mainstream model that Mazda will offer Stateside.

Mazda's mission for the 2017 CX-5: Smooth out the NVH

NVH: the dreaded noise, vibration, and harshness. According to current Mazda CX-5 owners, as well as those who decided against becoming owners, NVH was its biggest area of need. Traveling in the CX-5 was just too loud, so Mazda's engineers made sure that the redesigned, second-generation model would offer its occupants a more serene environment in keeping with quieter competitors. To reduce wind noise, more aerodynamic parts were strategically placed about the exterior, while extra efforts were made to reduce low-frequency noises on coarse surfaces. According to Mazda engineer Dave Coleman, the new CX-5 is nearly as quiet as its platform-mate, the 2016 CX-9. Actually, to be very accurate, all Mazdas apart from the CX-3 and 2 (aka Toyota iA) now share that platform. Another reason compact SUV buyers opted to skip the CX-5 was its comparatively firm ride. So, while the CX-5 remains "head and shoulders above the segment for handling," according to Coleman, the ride was improved. One of the primary ways of achieving that was the adoption of rigid steering mounts, which allowed for the suspension to be less stiff without a loss in handling precision. View 12 Photos Of course, handling remains a key reason to buy the CX-5, and it's improved for 2017 courtesy of an increase in body rigidity, the adoption of liquid-filled front suspension bushings, and Mazda's G-Vectoring Control. Under the hood, every CX-5 now comes standard with the 2.5-liter Skyactiv-G four-cylinder, with output figures to be announced at a later date. The 2.0-liter, previously standard on the Sport trim, has been exiled to other markets. However, finally making its appearance on these shores is Mazda's 2.2-liter Skyactiv-D diesel engine. Although Mazda did its darndest to make it certifiable in the United States without a urea injection system, it was ultimately unable to do so without resorting to an ultra-sluggish throttle response that engineers deemed was anathema to what was expected of a Mazda. Therefore, the diesel-powered CX-5 will indeed have a DEF tank that will need to be periodically topped off to not run afoul of emissions regulations. Otherwise, the 2017 CX-5 is very much an evolution of the SUV it replaces. Customers thought its size was just right, so its passenger and cargo area remain in the same ballpark.

Mazda Vision Coupe | Tokyo Motor Show's big, sensuous 4-door

Mazda has been making a lot of noise recently about not giving up on the rotary engine. Enough that we started to think it might show a new epitrochoid-engined concept at this year's Tokyo Motor Show. But the brand is nothing if not surprising. Have you driven a CX-5 or a CX-9? Have you noted the real-world fuel economy in a Mazda3? Have you looked at a Miata RF? So instead of trotting out the latest in Wankel weirdness, today in its home market, the Mazda folks pulled the silk off of a stunning full-size four-door design concept, the somewhat inaptly named Vision Coupe. Known mainly for sporty and affordable small(ish) vehicles, Mazda hasn't really had an entry in this category since ... ever. Well, save for the staid and short-lived 929 of the '90s (and the rotary-powered, 7/8-scale Olds Cutlass, JDM-only Roadpacer of the '70s.) As customers flock to crossovers, it's not exactly a category brimming with vitality, at least in the American market — sales of the existing Mazda 6 are down in the States by nearly 25 percent this year, double the market average for cars. And this thing is bigger than that. But the decision is intentional and strategic in Mazda's mission to head upscale and focus on clean design — differentiators from its mass-market Japanese peers. "A big sedan has always been the symbol of a brand going premium. It's the icon of a brand," says Julien Montousse, Mazda North America's director of design. "It tells that Mazda is becoming serious in reaching that goal." Breaking even more conventions, while Mazdas generally are cohesive and well-rendered in their design, you would be hard-pressed to find one quite this sensuous. The Vision Coupe looks like an Aston Martin Rapide that has been placed in a sauna until its body-mass index has whittled down to marathoner levels, and then scalloped and stripped of any unnecessary ornamentation, save for a kind of fingerprinted whorl in its side cove. It is elemental, at once planar and burnished, with the lovely long-hood/short-deck proportions of a classic front-engine, rear-wheel-drive grand tourer. Its interior is similarly edited, doing away with the proliferating screens of other vehicles in the category, utilizing instead a digital analog instrument panel and a sophisticated heads-up display that keeps a driver focused on the road and shows just what is deemed necessary, and nothing else.