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2020 Mazda6 Signature Driveway Test | A luxury car interior with a non-luxury price

The 2020 Mazda6 Signature is pure luxury on the inside. If one were to remove the Mazda badges and replace them with Audi’s four rings, or LexusÂ’ stylized L, customers may not even bat an eye. Alas, that is the point of MazdaÂ’s range-topping Signature trim. Mazda fancies itself a “premium” car brand at this point, and the Mazda6Â’s cabin does an excellent job of selling that theme. A luxury interior starts with excellent and original design, and then itÂ’s finished with quality materials. Anybody can throw leather, suede and wood around, but if the design itself isnÂ’t moving, the fancy materials look tacked on. Mazda has managed to ace both the design and material quality sections of its test with the Mazda6 Signature. ThereÂ’s beauty in simplicity, and the Mazda6Â’s interior exemplifies that. A wide, sweeping dashboard dominates the view from the driverÂ’s seat. An endless swath of soft-touch UltraSuede is front and center, splitting the climate controls from the vents and infotainment screen above it. Mazda says itÂ’s “adorned with a subtle gold tint,” and itÂ’s made in a similar fashion as ornate kimonos. I found myself staring at the stitching running the full length of the dashboard. ItÂ’s topped by a silver strip that extends from one side of the cabin to the other into the side air vents. Interestingly, the side air vents extend beyond the rest of the dash into the door, so they look like silver metal wings sticking out with the doors open. Above the silver strip is something Mazda calls “Sen Wood.” It looks and feels like real wood, because it is — Mazda says Sen wood is used in taiko drums and Japanese furniture.   And then thereÂ’s the lovely continued presence of physical buttons for vital controls. All of the climate control options are integrated into a classy strip just below the suede in the center of the dash. The buttons themselves are high quality, easy to find and satisfying to use in their action. Same goes for the climate control temperature knobs. They turn with precision and give a clear indication of each degree of change. The ribbed faux metal (it's extremely convincing as real metal) surround on the dials makes it feel like youÂ’re changing the climate control on a car that costs twice as much as this Mazda does. Even some luxury cars donÂ’t offer the same level of tactility and satisfaction in their controls.

Next Mazda MX-5 Miata headed for 2015 Chicago debut

Twenty-six years after it was introduced at the 1989 Chicago Auto Show, the much anticipated fourth generation Mazda MX-5 Miata will meet the press at the 2015 Chicago show. A piece in Autocar refines some of the details on the larger, lighter Miata that a Mazda insider has said will be "our best-looking car ever."
The company has relented on the quest for the metric tonne, the 1000-kilogram (2,200-pound) target too difficult to achieve in light of cost constraints. You can still expect it to lose a generous dollop of weight - Autocar says a curb weight of 1,100 kg (2,420 pounds) will still make it the lightest in its class. And Mazda will be stressing a fun driving experience through light weight and a modest amount of naturally-aspirated horsepower. Engine capacities of 1.5 and 2.0 liters are expected. Sounds familiar (and good), right?
The Miata's interpretation of Kodo design will be veer from that found on the Mazda3 and Mazda6, with "very clean and simple" lines marking out "more muscular proportions" and elongated bodywork on a longer wheelbase. A stretched engine bay will make room for the current Skyactiv engine and perhaps the future Skyactiv 2 powerplants, initial reports suggesting there could be a 30-percent increase in fuel economy from the moment it arrives.

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.