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Mazda planning not one but two new crossovers for U.S.

Mazda has already announced plans to unveil a brand new crossover at the Geneva Motor Show, but it turns out there's another one in the pipeline set to satiate the appetites of a crossover-mad U.S. market. Speaking at the Chicago Auto Show, Mazda North America CEO Masahiro Moro told reporters the brand has another model planned for production at the $1.6 billion plant under construction with joint-venture partner Toyota in Huntsville, Ala. It'll be "a new crossover SUV which is exclusively designed for the North American market," Automotive News quoted Moro as saying. While it'll be a different product from the one debuting next month in Geneva, the two vehicles will share some architecture. The company is reportedly still finalizing the concept for it. Currently, Mazda sells three crossovers in the U.S.: the subcompact CX-3, the compact CX-5 and the larger CX-9. Together, the three vehicles, which constitute half of the tiny automaker's vehicle lineup, posted sales of 195,778 for 2018, up 15.8 percent from 2017. They accounted for nearly two-thirds of the brand's total vehicle sales of 300,325. Production is expected to start at the new Alabama plant in mid-2021, Moro said, and add capacity for 150,000 units of crossovers. The plant is expected to employ up to 4,000 workers with a total capacity of 300,000 vehicles a year. Toyota plans to build the Corolla there alongside Mazda's crossovers. Mazda last week released the teaser pic shown above of its forthcoming new crossover headed for Geneva. It could be the next and slightly larger version of the CX-3, which will use the Skyactiv Vehicle Architecture that also supports the new Mazda3. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

2019 Mazda3 AWD First Drive Review | Unconventionally incredible

Here's some quick consumer advice: If you were considering buying one of those "premium" AWD compact sedans like the Audi A3 Quattro or the Mercedes CLA250 4Matic, don't you dare, because the 2019 Mazda3 AWD is a far better car than either. And you can have one for under $25,000. Not only does the little Mazda have an interior far nicer than any of its actual competitors, it also drives better than almost all of them, and it's prettier than any car at this segment has a right to be. (I'm talking about the sedan here, not the Mazda3 Hunchback Hatchback.) In short, if you need all-wheel drive but hate the idea of a wasteful, copycat SUV, or if you want a compact sedan and don't want your friends to think you're in a rental car, buy a new Mazda3. Got it? Good. That was easy. But for those of you who want to know how the Mazda3 AWD became so special, I need to give you some background information. Specifically, I need to tell you about my friend John, because we all have a friend like John, and Mazda is like John. John is a genius. Like, a certified, bona-fide human supercomputer. He understands more about most subjects than experts on those subjects. And he walks straight into a wall three times a day. Mazda and John have a lot in common. You might look at some of the things they do and think they're not paying attention. But if you take the time to dig deeper, you learn that there's amazing stuff going on beneath the surface. For example, you might wonder why the Mazda3 has two fuel gauges, one analog and the other a digital facsimile of that analog gauge, four inches apart. Or you may scratch your head that Mazda finally installed Apple CarPlay and Android Auto functionality, only to get rid of the touchscreen those systems are designed to use. You might wonder why a powertrain designed from stem to stern in the name of efficiency — we're talking cylinder-deactivation on a four-cylinder! — can't match the fuel economy of most of its more traditionally engineered competitors. And then you walk towards this car and momentarily forget all of this. The Mazda3 sedan oozes sex appeal. Open the door, get in, and you'll plunk yourself into a seat that's positioned like it's in a sports car: your hips are low, the steering wheel is squarely in front of you, and your legs aren't bunched against a firewall that's a foot too close.

Mazda3 successor due in dealers this fall

Following exciting new models like the 2013 CX-5 and 2014 Mazda6, Mazda is getting ready to introduce the next generation of its high-volume compact, the Mazda3. After talking to several of Mazda's dealers, Automotive News is reporting that the automaker is planning to introduce its new compact this fall, which is earlier than what was originally reported.
Aside from what we've seen in recent spy shots and what appeared to be a full-scale design mockup back in October, there is little information about the third-generation 3, but we can see that the car will get plenty of cues from Mazda's stylish Kodo design language, and we expect even more technologies from the company's SkyActiv efficiency program to come to bear. AN says that Mazda is hoping to top 300,000 sales this year in the US, and the sooner Mazda can replace the current aging 3, the better chances it has at reaching that goal.