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Mazda's first profit in five years in sight due to weak yen

Automotive News reports Mazda is set to turn a profit for the first time in five years. The automaker is more dependent on exports from Japan than other automakers based in that country, and as a result, it has long suffered at the hands of a strong yen. But the currency has declined in value by some 16 percent over the past six months and Mazda's shares have tripled in value to their highest level since 2008. Contrast this situation to a year ago when Mazda printed 1.22 billion new shares to raise cash. The move was equivalent to 70 percent of the company's then-outstanding stock, and values tumbled to record lows as a result.
Now that the yen has fallen to a value of around 96 per dollar, Mazda operations in the US are more profitable and the company now projects it will earn around $279 million for the next fiscal year. Automotive News says a one yen change against the dollar can have a 9.1 percent impact on Mazda operating profit compared to 4.7 percent at Subaru parent Fuji Heavy Industries or 3.1 percent at Toyota. Those automakers better insulate themselves from currency fluctuations with overseas manufacturing facilities.

NFL player Alfred Morris receives his thoroughly restored 1991 Mazda 626

Washington Redskins starting running back Alfred Morris might not drive a flashy sports car or SUV, but after today, he'll be driving the nicest 1991 Mazda 626 on the planet.
Back in July, Morris temporarily traded in his 626 - cheekily named Bentley - for a 2014 Mazda6 loaner courtesy of Mazda, and today the sedan was presented back to him after the ultimate PR stunt: a reported 275-man-hour restoration that left this 22-year-old daily driver looking like it just rolled off the assembly line.
Not everything was brought back to original condition, though. The expired sticker from Morris' final year at Florida Atlantic University was left on the windshield, but to fit the car's nickname, a few high-end touches were added to the interior. This includes the quilted, cross-stitched leather seats (just like a real Bentley) and the touchscreen Pioneer audio system. There's also a plaque under the hood marking this car as the "Alfred Morris Project."

Next-gen Mazda6 reportedly getting RWD, straight-six it shares with Toyota

Last June, Japan's Best Car magazine laid out what we considered a whopper series of rumors about future Mazda developments. The mag said it had been speaking to a Toyota source on an unrelated matter, and found out that Mazda's work on a straight-six Skyactiv engine was predicated on that engine's use in Toyota Group vehicles, including Lexus models. Car and Driver has apparently consulted its own sources, and in a new report utters many of the same pronouncements as Best Car. The next-generation Mazda6, due around 2022, will molt out of its transverse engines on a front-driver platform, and be the first home for the longitudinally-mounted straight-six on the automaker's new rear-wheel drive "Large Architecture."  The gas-powered Skyactiv-X six-cylinder, a shade under 3 liters of displacement, will get help from a 48-volt hybrid system, and top output could hit 350 horsepower. A second straight-six will come in an oil-burning Skyactiv-D flavor, and PHEVs are certain to eventually factor into the equations. The sheetmetal around the bodywork will draw inspiration from the four-door Mazda Vision Coupe concept that debuted at the 2017 Tokyo Motor Show. Describing a scenario we can only cross our fingers for, C/D writes "there's a chance Mazda will mimic Lexus and put inline-six into both four- and two-door bodies," grabbing another unused concept as a design guide for the latter, the two-door RX Vision concept from the 2015 Tokyo Motor Show. C/D suspects the increasing cooperation between Mazda and Toyota will not only pay the bills for Mazda's sports sedan, but compel the Large Architecture to take a couple of side jobs in Toyota City. C/D writes, "Toyota may adopt the six-cylinder Skyactiv-X for the next-generation Lexus IS and RC." According to the recently leaked dealer report, the next-gen IS could be with us in 2021 as a 2022MY offering. Betting money seems to be on the sedan sticking with Toyota's TNGA platform and Lexus engines until a brand new model shows around 2026, though.