Mazda isn't going to give us a new Mazdaspeed3, report says
It looks like Mazda's days of building silly, torque-steering hot hatches are over and that makes us sad.
It's been five years since
Mazda
sold a Mazdaspeed-branded car in the US and that kind of sucks. The last one, the 2013 Mazdaspeed3, was a ridiculous, torque-steering, old-school turbo hot hatch. Enthusiasts have been pining for a return of the Mazdaspeed badge since then, but according to a report from Friday by Aussie website Drive.com.au, it's just not in the cards.
See, the problem is resources. Mazda is a relatively small car company, and as such, it doesn't have as much cash to throw around as, say,
Honda
or
Toyota
. It has to build cars that will sell, and unfortunately, the Mazdaspeed cars were never huge sellers for the brand.
"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," said Akira Marumoto, president and CEO of Mazda, to Australia's Drive.com.au.
It's not all doom and gloom though, there is some performance light at the end of the tunnel. Mazda representatives told Drive.com.au that the company's new 250-horsepower turbocharged engine from the 2018 Mazda6 does
fit
into the new
Mazda3
. So, while there are no immediate plans to offer the car in that configuration, Mazda said it is monitoring buyer interest.
Fingers crossed.
