Name game: Mazda6, 2 and now 3

The upcoming Mazda3, the replacement for the long-time 323, will offer buyers in the sedan/hatch segment a blend of driving dynamics with interior packaging, says the carmaker.

The new model will be unveiled at the 60th Frankfurt motor show in September and go on sale in Europe in October and Japan in November.

It is expected to be launched in New Zealand early next year.

It is the fourth all-new Mazda in 18 months, following the Mazda6, Mazda2 and four-door RX-8 sports car.

It will be called the Mazda3 in New Zealand, Australia, North America and Europe.

In its home market Japan, it will be sold as the Axela, a combination of the words "accelerate" and "excellent".

Mazda says the name was created to communicate the youthful exhilaration of fun driving - acceleration - with infinite possibilities, as represented in "X".

The five-door hatchback pictured here is said to be substantially different from the sedan.

The new model combines far more adventurous styling with a new 2.0-litre engine, in keeping with the brand's strong drive to be seen once again as a maker of desirable cars.

The Mazda3 hatchback was first shown as the MX Sportif concept at the Geneva motor show in March.

It presents the latest iteration of the company's styling theme, with corporate grille, chiselled bonnet and a pronounced step running back through the side of the car.

"The MX Sportif clearly shows the direction our fourth all-new product will take," said Mazda Motor Corporation president and CEO Lewis Booth at Geneva.

"Our pace of product introductions since last year has been relentless and quick, and we have no intention of slowing down."

Booth said that once the four product lines were in production, Mazda would "quickly proliferate" the lines with a succession of variations. The MX Sportif was intended to blur conventional product lines, with its rakish five-door bodywork encompassing people mover and sporty hatchback attributes.

"This vehicle is the next chapter in the story we have been writing," design director Moray Callum said.

"We see it as agile, dynamic and athletic.

"The overall proportions are unique as they allow us to deliver exceptional interior space while retaining the compactness and manoeuvrability customers are seeking."

The engineering underpinning in the Mazda3 will be shared with the next generation Ford Focus, due in 2004, and the forthcoming Volvo S40 and V50 small cars.

The platform is all-wheel drive capable, although initially Mazda will concentrate on front-wheel drive.

The next derivative to spin from it for Mazda is tipped to be a replacement for the Premacy compact people-mover, possibly called Mazda4.

Standard equipment for this part of the world is expected to be a 104kW 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine, with 1.8 and 1.4-litre engines also on offer around the globe.

A sporty version to replace the SP20 should also be on sale soon after launch, possibly fitted with the four-cylinder 2.3-litre unit from the Mazda6. The engine in the Mazda6 produces 122kW at 6500rpm and 207Nm at 4000rpm. More than 90 per cent of its torque is available from 1750rpm.

In the Mazda3, it would compete with the Toyota Corolla GT and ST170 Ford Focus, among others.

Suspension is expected to be by MacPherson struts up-front and a development of Ford's control blade rear-end.

The Mazda3 is likely to be equipped with dual-stage front airbags, anti-lock brakes and dynamic stability control.

It is about 100mm longer overall than the present 323.