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Once fuel had reach $4.05 a gallon nationally, we watched as truck sales plummeted and small/compact car sales got a little boost. People in the industry began to say that compact cars were going to appeal to more Americans and make up a larger percentage of vehicles sold here in the United States. The trick is said to be selling these small/compact cars for a profit. Up until recently the major domestic automakers had been able to make up to $12,600 profit on Large Luxury SUVs, but selling a small/compact car only raked in about $2,400 bucks. Once you subtract anywhere from $3,000 to $5,000 for fixed costs you could actually end up with a negative number. Which means that a solid business case to produce small/compact cars here in the U.S. is not always an easy case to make; other than to help offset CAFE. Although, Mazda seems to be able to make a business case for them, and they sell tons of them!

Of course now there is talk of ‘premium small cars’ becoming popular with Generation Y and possibly becoming a more lucrative business venture. With fuel prices dropping again to around $2 a gallon only time will tell what the future of the small/compact car will be here in the United States. Still, injecting premium content into a small car may go a long way in appealing to an increasing number of people who don’t think small size should equal skimpy content.

The Mazda3 is a small/compact car and it has been a best selling vehicle for Mazda here in the States and around the world. In fact, one (1) out of every three (3) Mazda’s sold worldwide is a Mazda3. We can trace Mazda3 lineage back to the Protégé, 323, and GLC; which were all decent vehicles but never reached Honda Civic or Toyota Corolla status. Will the 2010 Mazda3 finally give prospective buyers a reason to purchase based on things other than price, sweet deals, or being able to say ‘zoom-zoom’?
If aesthetics are any indication we think not. We were there for the LA auto show debut and listened in disbelief as we were told the “designers wanted revolution”… and to us, it looks like they didn’t get their way. It looks as if they went with more of an evolutionary change… Make no mistake, it’s still a great looking small car and certainly one of the more emotionally styled in the segment, but you’ll have to squint to tell it apart from the last one.

Designers did redesign the car’s sheet metal front to back and top to bottom. The 2010 Mazda3 utilizes the same European Ford Focus platform with only minor changes to improve structural rigidity. It looks like the designers pulled some styling cues from the Nagare concept and current generation RX-8. In doing so, they lowered and enlarged the grille, redesigned the headlamps with new bi-xenon HIDs, integrated Mazda RX-8 front fenders and improved overall airflow. The engineers improved the powertrain and Mazda can now claim a 10% fuel efficiency improvement over the current generation Mazda3. The 2010 2.0L models (148HP) with an automatic transmission models claim 24/33 mpg and the 2.5L models (168HP) claim 22/29mpg.

Nagare Concept

Mazda RX-8

Mazda3 Reveal
Unfortunately, we don’t expect to see the five-door Mazda3 revealed until the 2009 Geneva show. Although, as cool as some of us think the five-door is, Mazda3 sedans sells more than double the volume of the hatchback here in the States.

Overall, this being an evolutionary change, we expect the new Mazda3 to take hold of a similar percentage of the market share. We hope that making the 2010 Mazda3 larger and more powerful with larger seat cushions and softer touch materials in the interior will help make the vehicle appealing. Despite the evolutionary change, the new 3 does remain one of the more visually interesting cars in the segment.