Mazda took the wraps off the all-new 2019 Mazda3 this week at the LA Auto Show, but if you’re hoping that Mazda will finally enter the hot hatch segment again, you’re going to be disappointed. Mazda has confirmed that it has no plans to create a new Mazdaspeed3. Boo!
Speaking to Australia’s Drive about a possible Mazdaspeed3 revival, Mazda’s new global boss Akira Marumoto stated “Mazda is a small player and if [you are asking whether] that segment has a high particular priority for Mazda my answer would be no. Therefore we not planning for MPS in the future.”
Such sad news. But maybe there’s hope that one day Mazda will offer its new 2.5L turbocharged four-cylinder in the Mazda3. Marumoto also dropped some other bad news about the idea of a new rotary powered sports car. There were reports that the RX Vision concept would enter production, but now Marumoto has confirmed that the concept was only intended to preview the evolution of its Kodo design language.
“[The] RX Vision is a vision model for design development so we didn’t plan for production or commercialization of this model.” He continued, “I am receiving this question [whether we can make a rotary engined sports car] maybe 100 times, and I will not commit. That is a dream for all the Mazda executives and employees and it is my job to make employees dream come true.” Although it doesn’t look like a new Mazda sports car is going to happen anytime soon, Marumoto also stated that “Nothing has been decided.”
Source: Drive
