2012 Mazda Mx-5 Miata, 3k Miles!! As New!!, Flawless Convertible Fun! 5 Speed!! on 2040-cars

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Mazda delays US launch of Skyactiv-D engine

Japanese automakers haven't lead the charge towards diesel power in the same way as, say, the Germans have. But Mazda is out to change that. It has been following Audi's lead on the racetrack with oil-burning racecars right here in America, and will soon translate that excitement to the road by introducing its Skyactiv-D engine in North America. It just won't happen as soon as we expected.
Mazda announced today that, while its diesel engine meets current emissions requirements, the company has decided once again to push back an introduction originally slated to kick off in the Spring. According to the brief statement below, Mazda wants to take more time to find "the right balance between fuel economy and Mazda-appropriate driving performance."
In other words, the Zoom-Zoom brand apparently thinks its diesel engine doesn't deliver the zoom-zoom American drivers would expect, so we'll have to wait just a little bit longer. Details to follow closer to launch, whenever that will ultimately take place.

Mazda's new Mexican plant capacity rises to 230,000

After the turmoil of last year, 2013 is getting off to a much better start for Mazda. The company has issued a release indicating that the forthcoming plant in Salamanca, Mexico has had its production capacity raised even though it isn't scheduled to go online until March 2014. The original plans called for a 140,000-unit capacity, 90,000 of that allotted for the Mazda2 and Mazda3, the remaining 50,000 for a small car Mazda would build for Toyota that would be based on the Mazda2. The new plans call for raising that by 90,000 units to a total of 230,000 units within two years, by the end of March 2016, and it looks like it will all go toward Mazda production to satisfy growing demand for Skyactiv vehciles. The Mexican plant's opening will be the return of Mazda manufacturing to North America, after Mazda6 production was moved back to Japan last year.
More good news for the company is that it projects 10 billion yen ($114 million) in net income for the financial year that will end in March. That would be a welcome turnaround from the 100-billion-yen loss in the previous financial year, part of a series of three annual losses in a four-year span.
You'll find the press release with the factory update below.

44 Miatas engaged to spell happiness from above

We've seen all manner of ways to propose marriage, from the usual candlelit dinner to the Jumbotron at the big game. A friend of ours recently proposed with his a barbershop quartet singing backup. But this has to be a new one - and one that automotive enthusiasts would probably find even more touching than a sky-writing biplane.
A member of the Miata.net forum recently asked other MX-5 enthusiasts to help him pop the big question to his bride-to-be. He got 31 Miatas together and needed just four more, but after appealing to his fellow roadster fans, over 40 turned up in the parking lot at the local high school.
The groom-to-be runs an aerial photography business and used an unmanned drone which his girlfriend thought would be shooting some local real estate properties when it flew over the parking lot and captured the image you see above with 44 little roadsters spelling out "Marry Me?" The answer, in case you were wondering, was a resounding "Yes!" How could she not, after all, when those Mazda convertibles are just so darn adorable? Now they'll just need to figure out what they'll be driving to the chapel on the big day.