2005 Mazda Rx-8. Grand Touring, Low Miles, Custom Mods! on 2040-cars

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Mazda builds 4-millionth Mazda3

To say that the Mazda3 is a vital product for Mazda would be one heck of an understatement. In fact, the model line accounts for about 30 percent of the manufacturer's sales. Fortunately for Mazda, they're selling well.
These days, the Japanese automaker is building the Mazda3 (known domestically as the Axela) in Japan, China, Thailand and, as of last month, in Mexico. The company's expanded global production capacity has helped Mazda reach four million units of the Mazda3 sold around the world since the first model was introduced over ten and a half years ago.
Over the course of that decade since its introduction in June 2003, Mazda has gone through three generations of Mazda3, the newest model benefiting from the company's Skyactiv technology and even encompassing a hybrid model in the Japanese Domestic Market.

Mazda ad showing Facebook updates while driving criticized by Senate committee [w/video]

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-WV, held an all-day summit on Thursday to discuss the dangers of using modern technology while driving, during which an ad that Mazda aired during the Super Bowl was used as an example of the worrisome future towards which we're headed. While seemingly innocuous at first glance, the ad, which can be seen below, shows a brief glimpse of a driver using the Mazda Connect infotainment system in a Mazda3 to check/update his Facebook page while driving down the road.
Officials from major communications companies like Samsung, Google and Apple attended the summit, as well as representatives from automakers including General Motors and Toyota. A representative from Mazda was not present despite the company's own currently available technology being used as the poster child for the issues being discussed.
According to Automotive News, Senator Rockefeller warned the automaker and communication execs on hand that he will propose legislation to regulate the use of technology while driving if they don't work together to implement their own standards more quickly. Michael Robinson, GM's vice president of sustainability and global regulatory affairs, argued that his company has had distracted driving guidelines in place for 15 years since the advent of its OnStar system, noting that the technology in question has also helped the automaker save lives through automatic crash detection and calls to 911.

Bighearted enthusiast rescues stranger's Mazda RX-7 from floods

With Tropical Storm Cristobal charting a path for the Gulf Coast, a Biloxi, Mississippi, local named Khuong Nguyen wanted to get his FD-series Mazda RX-7 out of the storm — the coupe had some bad seals that would let in rain. He parked the orange and black coupe in the bottom story of a parking garage at the city's Golden Nugget Casino, which kept the rain from getting in. But Cristobal came on stronger than expected, creating a new threat of water from below when the parking garage began to flood. Austin Owens, a Gulfport resident about 10 miles from Biloxi, saw photos of the RX-7 with water up to its rockers on a local Cars and Coffee page. As he would later tell Jalopnik, the RX-7 being one of Owens' dream cars, he decided he needed to rescue it. Just to make sure we're all on the same page, a young man braved a tropical storm in his own vehicle to save a stranger's RX-7 in another city. Owens dragooned a friend and hopped in a Ford Bronco, dodging closed roads and fording three or four feet of water on open roads. They drove to Home Depot to pick up cinder blocks, then headed to the Golden Nugget parking garage. As Owens and his friend arrived, they met Nguyen and a couple of his friends pulling Nguyen's second car, a Ferrari 360, out of the garage on a trailer. The RX-7 had already been set on wood blocks, thin bricks, and some orange wheel chocks, but the stilt job wasn't high enough in front; the water in parts of the garage was knee deep. Owens jacked up the RX-7 to get the cinder blocks under the front wheels; the rear end was fine, due to the slope of the garage floor. Success. As one of Nguyen's friends told Jalopnik, Owens' actions "did give us adequate time to combat the rising water." The success came at a cost, though, Owens reporting, "We actually killed the [BroncoÂ’s] transmission on the way out. We actually had to drive in second gear all the way home" due to floodwater seeping into the transmission. He has no regrets, explaining his derring-do with, “ItÂ’s a rare car ... I would hope somebody would do the same for me if I was in the situation with a car of that stature. I didnÂ’t have it in my heart to leave it there." With the story blowing up on Facebook, he told the legion of enthusiasts sending their respects, "Appreciate the love, but IÂ’d expect the same for one of my cars," followed by, "Alright, whoÂ’s down for some Forza?" Save for the original seal issue, the RX-7 came out of the storm with no issues.