Mazda 2 out of the box

It helped to drive a design and engineering change that has spawned the Mazda 6 and Mazda 3 along the way to the born-again RX-8.

The Mazda2 will be unveiled in just over two weeks at the Geneva Motor Show, and will be on the road in Australia by September.

It is much the same size as the current car, and will still have a 1.5-litre engine. But it's far more stylish than the boxy Mazda2 that took the place of the 121 as the starter car in the line-up.

"This car is much more global in its design and looks very much like the Sassou concept from the Frankfurt Motor Show in 2005," Mazda Australia spokesman Alastair Doak says.

Mazda has released only a single picture ahead of the Geneva preview, but it shows the change from a boxy outline to a more curved style.

It is also likely to introduce a new front-end treatment picked up from the CX-7 family wagon.

The original Mazda2, launched in November 2002, was aimed at Japanese needs for a multi-purpose cabin inside a body that maximised the space between the wheels.

Even so, it has worked well in dozens of countries and sales have topped 410,000.

The newcomer should have similar cabin space, but the wheels have been pushed farther to the corners and the body is wider and lower.

The new Mazda2 is expected to be lighter than the outgoing car, which will bring advantages in performance and fuel economy.

The arrival of the Mazda2 moves the baby car to the top of the renew-and-refresh program at Mazda. It originally trailed the Mazda6 in the new-model batting order.

"There is no particular reason for moving the Mazda2 ahead of the Mazda6," Doak says.