The design of the new Mazda3 is very fresh, and brings something a little new to the market. Of course this will not appeal to more conservative buyers, but that’s the point!

The Hatchback option, known in Thailand as the Mazda3 Sport, has proved particularly popular for Mazda, and since neither Toyota or Honda have anything to compare, they have enjoyed some modest success in that segment. With good build quality, and a sporty ride, those looking for something a little less stodgy than the ubiquitous Toyota Corolla Altis, could find something to like in the Mazda3 Sport. The outgoing model was also class-leading in terms of safety specification with side and curtain air bags available long before others in this segment.

The system maintains a stable vehicle attitude by ascertaining the absolute roll angle at any given moment through a combination of information on the vehicle’s roll movements provided by the roll rate sensor, and data on steering angle, lateral G-force, yaw rate and vehicle speed from the DSC (Dynamic Stability Control) system.” - Installed in Mazda CX-9 for North America.

Driving assistance technology coordinating with transport infrastructure

“Mazda is participating in an ITS public road test to be held in Hiroshima under the auspices of an organisation made up of government, business and academic institutions. The test is scheduled to begin in the fall this year. We are in charge of developing a navigation system that supports ITS in this test on public roads and we will collect and analyse data from systems installed in several dozen Mazda vehicles. We are also developing an infrastructure-cooperative driver support system that will allow the driver to receive relevant information from sensors, beacons and other devices installed on the road. The support system includes a right-turn collision prevention support system, a blind corner collision prevention support system, and a system to support the prevention of rear-end collisions when waiting at traffic signals. Mazda is actively promoting this kind of road-human-vehicle interface and control technology approach.”- 2008 Hiroshima district public road ITS verification test.

While we’re all patiently waiting to see what’s going to happen to the successor of the Mazda6 MazdaSpeed or as it’s called in Europe and other markets, the MPS, the Japanese firm decided to join forces with Troy Lee Designs and introduce a beefed-up variant of the latest generation ‘6′ at the SEMA show. The Troy Lee Mazda6 features the usual visual upgrades that you see on most SEMA show vehicles including a custom paint job, peripheral spoilers and larger 18-inch Momo alloy wheels in Hoosier tires.