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Mazda planning 'aggressive' dealer shakeup

Mazda has set an ambitious goal of selling 400,000 units by the end of the 2015 Japanese fiscal year in March 2016, and to do that, it's going to need to take some aggressive action. That means that underperforming members of its 637-showroom strong dealer network are about to get the axe.
The purge won't just be limited to dealers that aren't performing, though. Mazda will seek to consolidate poorly located dealers and build new showrooms in better locations. It still isn't clear how many dealers are being targeted or at what point Mazda would end its cull.
This consolidation of dealers is all part of a one-two punch for the Japanese brand, that will also see increased marketing efforts in 35 key areas. Of those markets, Mazda is placing a special emphasis on New York and LA, although there's not much mention of what other regions are being looked at.

Mazda officially hints MX-30 could get a rotary range-extender

Mazda recently penned a paean to itself celebrating 100 years in business. This, naturally, meant the document also served as a love letter to the rotary engine, since, "The joy of driving, lightweight design and the rotary engine [are] three elements that define Mazda’s DNA." One of those elements has been AWOL for eight years, since the end of RX-8 production. After years of rumor feverish enough to impress Slenderman, two years ago Mazda announced it was prepping a rotary range-extender engine for a model to debut in 2020. Here we are in the anticipated year, and we still don't know anything else about that vehicle — or perhaps we do. When Mazda debuted the MX-30 battery-electric crossover in Tokyo last year, it bore an e-SkyActive powertrain with a 35.5-kWh battery sending current to an e-motor on the front axle producing 141 horsepower and 195 pound-feet of torque. With a range of around 130 miles on the European cycle, even though the crossover was meant for markets like Europe and Japan, almost everyone chimed, "This would be perfect for that range-extender engine." The automaker has hinted at that very thing for its centenary celebration. In a paragraph touching on alt-fuel RX-7 variants, the Mazda press department wrote, "Later, the company developed a prototype Mazda2 EV with a small single-rotor engine used as a range extender. A similar system could find its way onto the Mazda MX-30, a brand new battery electric crossover SUV arriving at dealerships this year." The word "could" didn't make the leap from the printed page into the video translation of the presser, a Mazda video on "The Dream Engine" ending with footage of the MX-30 rolling under the caption, "Mazda MX-30 with rotary range extender." When asked, Mazda's head of R&D in Europe explained the battery size and resultant range with wheel-to-well considerations that factored energy input and emissions output from making the battery to exchanging the battery after 100,000 miles of driving. Since the carmaker doesn't deem the pure-electric MX-30 suited to the U.S., the question bubbling beneath the latest news is whether this revised model with more range could make it here. Given a suitably sized fuel tank that could power the little people mover beyond 150 miles on U.S. roads, and a fair price, we suspect there'd be a great deal of interest. Now, Mazda, about that rotary-powered RX-7 ... Related Video:    

2021 Mazda3 Turbo vs. VW GTI | How the hot(ish) hatches compare

For the first time since 2013, Mazda is offering a hopped-up version of its compact hatchback and sedan, the Mazda3. But instead of the rip-snorting “wild child” of yore, this new 2021 Mazda3 Turbo is designed to provide impressive performance while being mature and livable. That sounds rather like the philosophy behind the ur-hot hatch, the 2021 Volkswagen GTI. Not only that, but they have similar performance at similar prices. And having driven both fairly recently, we figured there was no better time to have a look at their specs, talk about our impressions, and show you how they compare. Performance and Driving Impressions Both the Mazda and the VW come packing turbocharged four-cylinder engines, but going deeper reveals quite a few differences. The Mazda, with an extra 500 cc of displacement, makes the most power, and far and away the most torque. Its engine has a very different character to the VWÂ’s, though. The Mazda builds boost and power in an incredibly smooth and linear manner, so much so that it almost feels like a naturally aspirated engine. ItÂ’s precise and predictable, though it does lack a certain exhilaration. The GTI has that missing exhilaration thanks to a more noticeable rush of boost once the turbo is spooled up. ItÂ’s a stronger-feeling engine than the numbers suggest, too. If you donÂ’t keep the revs up, though, youÂ’ll find the GTI feeling a little slow at first until you have full boost. Both cars have very different drivetrains. The Volkswagen has the transmission advantage with your choice of either a six-speed manual or seven-speed dual-clutch automatic. The manual is one of the better VW units with solid, snickety gates and reasonably short throws. The dual-clutch transmission offers incredibly smooth and wickedly quick shifts, but there's obviously less driver involvement. Both are a step up from the MazdaÂ’s more conventional six-speed automatic, the only option available. While it has decent shift logic, itÂ’s sluggish, particularly compared with the VW automatic. The advantage shifts when getting to the drive wheels. The Mazda features all-wheel drive, and it actively changes its torque split. It makes it easy for all that torque to get to the ground, mitigates torque steer, and helps give the car a neutral balance even under hard throttle. The GTI is only available with front-wheel drive.