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Mazda begins building Mazda3 in Mexico for US

With fluctuations in international currencies and rising shipping costs to take into account, foreign automakers can't get away with building cars overseas and selling them in North America as easily as they used to. Particularly with inexpensive mainstream models. And given the benefits of cheaper labor and free trade under NAFTA, many have opted to assemble their cars for the North American market in Mexico. That's why the likes of Toyota, Mercedes and BMW have all opened plants in Mexico. And now Mazda has followed suit.
Ground was initially broken for Mazda de Mexico Vehicle Operations at Salamanca in the state of Gunajuato back in 2011, but production has just now gotten under way. The first vehicle to roll off the line? A Mazda3 sedan destined for the United States. Soon, the plant will begin production of the next Mazda2 as well, selling it alongside its larger counterpart across the Americas and in Europe as production expands to 230,000 units annually. For more information, see the official press release below.

2019 Mazda3 First Drive Review | Defining the term 'fun to drive'

Fun to drive. The phrase gets blasted from seemingly every car commercial, magazine ad, and influencer account – overused that it has lost all meaning. So when Mazda, a small firm that actually does make cars that are fun to drive, talks about their most compelling trait it gets lost in the cacophony of ad spends. However, we're here to tell you that yes, while it's difficult to quantify, some cars are objectively more fun to drive than others, and the all-new 2019 Mazda3 is — and this is a very technical term — a freakin' blast. At Mazda's behest, we took a 2019 sedan up Angeles Crest Highway just outside of L.A. With plenty of yellow signs, tight sequences of banked curves and elevation changes, it's the platonic ideal of those serpentine mountain roads you see in car commercials. The instant the Mazda3 reaches the windy roads, it glides in like an otter diving into the sea. Lively and graceful, it dances along a ribbon of asphalt more naturally than any compact sedan we've driven since the advent of drive-by-wire. The steering is not only direct and true, but possesses an extraordinary ability to maintain trajectory. From the moment you turn in, you never need to make adjustments to the steering wheel until the front tires are straight again. The car goes exactly where you intend, always. That's not hyperbole, but an amazing feat of engineering. In nearly every other vehicle, even those that purport to be sports cars, unless you're incredibly familiar with the machine and know the road like the back of your hand, minor mid-corner corrections are an inevitability. With the 3, you get it right on the first try. Now imagine you're on strip of canyon pavement with lots of short switchbacks in varying radii coming up fast, one right after another. The 3 links them all together with pure ease, and soon you're developing a rhythm through the curves. While other cars charge, the Mazda flows. The car's poise is particularly evident as momentum shifts from one direction to another, what Mazda chassis engineer Dave Coleman termed "transience." In most cars passengers are tossed around the cabin like mannequins, but the 3 cuts out the turbulence, its body engineered to move in a smooth undulation. At the midpoint of the transition, there's even a moment of weightlessness before the car tucks into the next turn and the seat seems to scoop you up and carry you onward.

2016 Mazda CX-3 is a 2 cute ute

One day removed from our latest round of spy photos, Mazda has finally lifted the veil on its 2016 CX-3 crossover, giving us our very first glimpse at the Mazda2-based entry into the rapidly expanding world of subcompact crossovers.
Mazda's KODO design language is once again on display, presenting some increasingly familiar styling touchstones including a five-point grille that integrates neatly with the front headlights to present an almost protruding snout that's both clean and complex. Like previous KODO designs, the CX-3's profile features swoopy character lines that highlight the wheel arches and a higher beltline. Mazda has cleverly chosen to black out the CX-3's D-pillar in favor of a floating roof look, a design decision that adds to the model's fashionable styling. It's the rear of the design that borrows most heavily from the Mazda2, largely in the shape of the headlights and rear hatch.
Globally, under that fashionable sheetmetal sits Mazda's 2.0-liter Skyactiv four-cylinder that can be mated to a six-speed manual or automatic. Unfortunately, in North America, it looks like we'll only get the automatic. Regardless of gearbox, power can be sent to an optional next-gen all-wheel-drive system that uses the active torque control system found on the Mazda CX-5. Like the Mazda2, front-drive is standard.