Mazda 2 2007 News

The Australasian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has announced another set of national safety recalls, with models from Mazda, Tesla, Mitsubishi, Peugeot and Citroen impacted.

Mazda Australia has issued a national recall for 124,686 examples of its last-generation Mazda2, Mazda3 and Mazda6 models which were sold between September 2007 and March 2012.

A vote by 75 motoring journalists from 22 countries has awarded the compact prestige car the World Car of the Year award for 2015. It finished on top of a 24-car field and eventually beat the two other finalists, the Ford Mustang and Volkswagen Passat. The other big prizes for 2015, Green Car of the Year and Performance Car of the Year, went to the plug-in hybrid BMW i8 and the Mercedes-AMG GT coupe. The winners were announced at the New York Motor Show today at an event hosted by Bridgestone Corporation and Autoneum at the culmination of a six-month voting process. The C-Class delivers levels of refinement, luxury, safety, ride and handling that challenge best-in-class. The awards are in their 11th year and previous winners include the Audi A6, BMW 3 Series, Lexus LS460 and Volkswagen Golf, Polo and Up. To be eligible for the overall World Car award, candidate cars must have become available for sale on at least two continents between January 1, 2014 and May 31, 2015. The WCOTY wins by Mercedes-Benz follow its victories in the Green Car contest in 2007 with the E320 Bluetec and 2012 with the S 250 CDI BlueEFFICIENCY and its Luxury Car success with the S Class in 2014. “We are extremely delighted of winning the honour of World Car of the Year,” says the chairman of Daimler, Dr Dieter Zetsche. The WCOTY victory follows a similar success for the C-Class in the CarsGuide Car of the Year award. The WCOTY judging panel says: “Taking its design and technological cues from the S-Class, the C-Class employs an all-new aluminium/steel hybrid platform and updated rear-drive powertrains that delivers levels of refinement, luxury, safety, ride and handling that challenge best-in-class.”   WORLD CAR OF THE YEAR AWARDS 2015 Overall winner: Mercedes-Benz C-Class Green Car: BMW i8 Performance Car: Mercedes-AMG GT Luxury Car: Mercedes-Benz S Coupe Design: Citroen Cactus PREVIOUS WORLD COTY WINNERS: 2014: Audi A3 2013: Volkswagen Golf 2012: Volkswagen Up 2011: Nissan Leaf 2010: Volkswagen Polo 2009: Volkswagen Golf 2008: Mazda2 2007: Lexus LS460 2006: BMW 3 Series 2005: Audi A6

THE Audi A3 small car -- which owes much of its DNA to the Volkswagen Golf -- has won the 2014 World Car of the Year, as voted by 69 jurors from 22 countries. The luxury hatch toppled the widely-tipped favourite, the Mazda3 from Japan, in the awards announced at the New York motor show today. The Audi A3 was among five German cars that took out a cleansweep of the 2014 World Car of the Year categories, and it was Audi’s second win in 10 years, having won the inaugural award. Indeed, German cars have won seven of the past 10 World Car of the Year awards, Japanese brands have won the remaining three. Accepting the award on behalf of the company, Audi's North America president Scott Keogh said: “The Audi A3 has only been on sale three weeks and already it’s off to a flying start.” Rupert Stadler, Chairman of the Board of Management of Audi, said: “This major award win is an achievement that the whole company can celebrate.” The Audi A3 was among 24 finalists that included the BMW i3 electric car, which won the Green Car of the Year and the Car Design of the Year. The Mercedes-Benz S-Class was the Luxury Car of the Year while the Porsche 911 GT3 was awarded top performance car honours. But the Mazda3 had emerged as an early favourite for the outright World Car of the Year award following rave reviews globally since it went on sale late last year. The previous generation Mazda3 has been Australia’s top selling car for two of the past three years, and was the vehicle that ended the Holden Commodore’s record 15-years as the market leader, in 2011. The Mazda3 is returned to the top of the sales charts so far this year -- after being overtaken by the Toyota Corolla in 2013 -- and is likely to take out top-seller status this year buoyed by the new model which went on sale in January. World car of the year winners 2014 – Audi A3 2013 -- Volkswagen Golf Mk7 2012 -- Volkswagen Up 2011 -- Nissan Leaf 2010 -- Volkswagen Polo 2009 -- Volkswagen Golf Mk6 2008 -- Mazda2 2007 -- Lexus LS460 2006 -- BMW 3 Series 2005 -- Audi A6 2014 World Car of The Year category winners Green car of the Year -- BMW i3 electric car Car Design of the Year -- BMW i3 electric car Performance Car of the Year -- Porsche 911 GT3 Luxury Car of the Year – Mercedes-Benz S-Class This reporter is on Twitter: @JoshuaDowling  

Priced from $16,500, the Mazda2 has won concerted praise since the new model was launched in Australia last year.

As previewed here last month, the three-door version of the critically acclaimed and popularly successful hatch should arrive here in the second half of the year.

This year has seen the market share of Commodore, Falcon and the Mitsubishi 380 fall to 19 per cent of new passenger vehicles, with only Toyota's Camry more or less immune. And while it was the biggest sales October ever, the share enjoyed by big Australian cars was reduced to 17.2 per cent. The lighter fare from Thailand achieved a best-ever 15.4 per cent. The Vfacts monthly bulletin, released this week by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, recorded that 89,289 motor vehicles were sold in October; an increase of 9359 on the same month last year. It beats the previous record for October, set in 2004, by more than 8000 sales. Year-to-date the market is up by 70,000 vehicles as it continues its charge towards breaking the one million mark for the first time. Yet against this bumper backdrop, 15,382 Australian-made units were shifted last month, mostly to fleets. Japanese-made cars continued their dominance but Thailand is where Honda's CR-V, Civic and Accord sedans are made. These and others, including Ford's Courier, which accounted for 13,825 sales in October. In sharp contrast to ever-diminishing local sales, that Thai-built percentage has increased by almost 50 per cent so far in 2007. Petrol prices are blamed for the decline of the great Australian six-cylinder. But the fact four medium-sized SUVs sold more than 1000 units each last month gives the lie to that. Yes, light cars, spearheaded by 1193 sales of the new Mazda2, experienced a sales surge, but the truth for the big Aussies is grimmer than the rising cost of the stuff that makes them go. The fact is that given wealth of choice, fewer and fewer Australians want the types of cars made in Australia. FCAI chief executive Andrew McKellar says the locals have never had it tougher. “The intensely competitive situation in the motor-vehicle market is being driven to a significant degree by the ongoing strength of the Australian dollar,” he says. McKellar says 4400 Commodores (excluding utes) were moved last month, so with about 300 more sales than the Corolla, it is the nation's number-one seller. Toyota's eggs are in more than one basket with the ever-competitive Yaris, Camry, RAV4 and Prado prominent among its 20,212 October sales. Holden managed 11,415 and Ford 8206. It was the first time that Toyota had outsold the combined total of Holden and Ford in any single month. Year-to-date Toyota leads Holden by 71,360 with the launch of the new LandCruiser this month. If Toyota's lead is unassailable, surely the success story is Mazda. At number four, the leading full-imported marque sells not a single car to fleets or rental companies. They all go to private buyers. October's best-ever 7271 sales represented Mazda's 10th record month in a row. Mazda's year-to-date total of 64,929 already surpasses its 2006 full-year sales result of 63,664.     Snapshot     Country of origin Japan 31,838 Australia 15,382 Thailand 13,825 Korea 9830 Germany 3901 South Africa 2434 Belgium 1525 US 1448 Spain 1422 France 1206   The biggest sellers 1 Holden Commodore (Australia) 4440 2 Toyota Corolla (Japan) 4123 3 Mazda3 (Japan) 3125 4 Ford Falcon (Australia) 2439 5 Toyota Camry (Australia) 1994 6 Hyundai Getz (Korea) 1896 7 Toyota Aurion (Australia) 1831 8 Mitsubishi Lancer (Japan) 1446 9 Honda Civic (Thailand) 1409 10 Honda CR-V (Thailand) 1291 11 Toyota RAV4 (Japan) 1293 12 Toyota Prado (Japan) 1273 13 Suzuki Swift (Japan) 1197 14 Mazda2 (Japan) 1193 15 Ford Territory (Australia) 1190 16 Toyota Kluger and Subaru Forester (both Japan) 1173 17 Holden Astra (Belgium) 1118 18 Mitsubishi 380 (Australia) 1100 19 Holden Captiva (Korea) 1093 20 Nissan Tiida (Thailand) 1087  

The carsguide car of the year 2008 finalists have been announced.

Getting value for money and being able to keep their new car; and new-found freedom; on the road has proved to be the biggest factors for first time car buyers.

Concept cars are a fascinating window into the inner workings of makers, and can be a reliable barometer of health. When Mazda unveils a sportscar study at the Frankfurt Motor Show, it will be just the latest in an impressive series of concepts which demonstrate that design is alive and well at the Hiroshima-based company. Which is a reassuring sign as Mazda enters the second phase of a renaissance, which began seven years ago. With the launch this week of its new Mazda 2 light car, previewed as the Sassou concept at Frankfurt two years ago, its product overhaul has gone full circle. If visual appeal is anything to go by, the first of the new generation is encouraging, but few car companies can avoid the cyclical nature of the industry and many turnarounds, such as the one Carlos Ghosn managed at Nissan, soon suffering from fatigue. Mazda Australia managing director Doug Dickson believes the Japanese maker has left its troubles firmly behind. “Mazda was always known for innovation and design,” he said at the 2 launch in Queensland this week. “But in the late 1990s we lost our way in Japan when we went through a period of grow or die. Eunos was introduced and other things which didn't work because the Japanese bubble burst, and we didn't have the sales volumes to sustain all the different series we introduced.” That was when Ford stepped in, increasing its stake in Mazda to more than one-third and moving to restore financial stability. But it also meant throttling the product pipeline while balancing the books. “Provided we don't go through that exercise again, then what's really happening is just a continuation of a design and engineering-led ethos that's been around since the front-wheel drive 323,” Dickson said. The first signs of a turnaround appeared in 2000, when Ford put one of its executive high-fliers, Mark Fields, in charge of Mazda with a mandate to restore it to full bloom. Hero cars such as the RX-8 and MX-5 quickly followed but the return to form also turned mainstream models, such as the Mazda 3 and Mazda 6, into showroom hits. The strong product line-up has been supported by Mazda's distinctive 'zoom-zoom' marketing campaign, which aims to give zest to the whole range. Even people-movers such as the CX7 benefit from this feisty approach. Despite being one of the first products of this regime, the previous Mazda 2 took a low-risk approach to the light car segment, opting for a cube shape to maximise cabin space and appeal to the Japanese market. This time there's a single-minded focus on styling and Mazda Australia expects local sales to double to about 850 a month. If they do, Mazda will have yet another product to reinforce its position as Australia's leading vehicle importer and help it reach a 2010 target of 80,000 sales well ahead of schedule. This year, Mazda Australia expects to retail 75,000 cars for a market share above 7 per cent. Dickson believes the brand has returned to its glory days with distinctive design its drawcard. “We know that to succeed we have to be different — a little bit unique,” he said.