Next fall, Mazda will enter a new segment in the United States with the Mazda5, a crossover between a wagon and a small minivan.

Though a perfect fit for Europe and Japan, the Mazda5 is a risk for the United States because of its small size. Although Mazda says the vehicle will seat six adults, the Mazda5 wheelbase is just 108 inches, and the overall length is 177 inches. That's even smaller than the Mazda MPV, which has a 111.8-inch wheelbase and 187.8-inch length.

The U.S. version will use the Mazda3's optional 2.3-liter inline-four engine, which makes 160 hp. Europe gets a choice of a 1.8-liter or 2.0-liter gasoline engine or a 2.0-liter diesel engine.

The Mazda5 will share much of its architecture with the Europe-market Ford Focus C-Max, said Joe Bakaj, Mazda Motor Corp. executive officer in charge of design and product development. Doing that gave Mazda the starting points for the suspension settings and the basis for its crash testing.

But Mazda made the suspension sportier than that of the Focus C-Max. And while the C-Max has swing-open doors, the Mazda5 has sliding rear doors.

Mazda chose to use sliders because of its market research of U.S. buyers. They said they didn't like their children swinging their doors into neighboring cars. They also disliked loading a child seat through the narrow opening of a swing-open door, Bakaj said.

Although Mazda will sell a seven-seat version of the car in Europe, the United States will get only the six-seater initially, in three rows of two seats. Bakaj said market research responses dictated the choice to go with six seats and a second-row step-through.

Mazda figures that adding cool features will attract young buyers starting families. The second- and third-row seats fold flat, and the second-row seat bottoms flip away to expose storage areas underneath. Seventeen-inch wheels are standard.

Mazda expects to sell about 20,000 units annually. Bakaj said the Mazda5 will be priced starting around $18,000.

http://www.autoweek.com/news.cms?newsId=100895

Interestingly enough, this is the production version of the MX-Flexa concept mentioned in this thread. It's certainly more of a European type vehicle but maybe, just maybe, people over here will go for it if it's done right. Oh and in Europe they call cars like this, "space wagons."

And technically this is not a new segment for the US market; cars like the Nissan Axxess and Mitsubishi Expo (a.k.a. Plymouth Colt Vista and Eagle Summit Wagon) are essentially the same form factor, but those haven't been sold for about 10 years.

 

my mom used to have a colt vista. very similar car in size and concept. we loved it cause it got decent mileage, and it was easy for her to drive and park, which is an issue for her since shes only 5' tall. this sounds like a really great car, considering the seats fold flat, and it has two sliding doors. sounds more like a minivan than a car, whereas the colt vista was more of a car than a minivan. id rock one if i had kids.

 

I'd say it's more car-sized. Length is only 1 inch more than the Mazda6 sedan but still less than a Toyota Camry.

 

cool. I love it when I hear people complain about cars like this... Like their just going to go away or something! I'd have to be a family person to want one though.

 

This is one "mini-van" I would actually drive. Mazda has managed to blend sport and functionality into one vehicle in probably the best execution I've seen to date. The sliding doors are a bit of a downer to me, as it definately screams "soccer mom". Not sure how cool that will look to all the yuppies who will buy this.

 

A few more pictures:



Not sure if the red or clear taillight housings will make it over here. I like the red ones better.

 

Major JDM invasion here in that these kinds of vehicles are the Japan market's bread and butter.

Mazda isn't big enough to develop just for the US market outside of using the Ford Ranger or Ford V6 engines. So they have to sell the same products on a worldwide scale. Not bad for enthusiasts. A Mazda enthusiast can have almost any Mazda anywhere now. Toyota ... well, they save the good stuff for those that live in Aichi.

 

Wonder which grill is the production one?

 

It looks like the grille with the bar goes with the clear taillights, and the grille with the chrome frame goes with the red taillights.

 

The folks at Mazda have been busy. Under what it calls the Mazda Millennium Plan, the company says that between 2000 and 2004 it “rebalanced” production capacity, reorganized its subsidiaries, slashed costs by 25 percent and overhauled 70 percent of its product line. Net result: surging interest in the brand across Asia and Europe and record profits for fiscal 2004, with Mazda raking in 78 billion yen ($740 million) compared to the 14.9 billion yen ($143 million) it lost in 2000.

Little of that effort has paid off in the United States, however. Sales have remained essentially flat here the last four years, despite the launch of several exciting models like the Mazda 3, Mazda 6 and MazdaSpeed versions of the Miata and RX-8. So the automaker has pinned its hopes on a more conventional vehicle to try to change that trend— conventional with a twist, that is.

The new Mazda 5 is a sort of baby minivan, a C-class vehicle uncommon on these shores but highly popular in Europe, represented by models such as the Renault Megane Scenic and Opel Zafira. The 5 offers seating for six while providing plenty of room for cargo—and packages it all in a modified Mazda 3 platform stretched by just 4.3 inches.

The Mazda 5 has sliding rear doors like a traditional minivan, which may turn off some U.S. buyers, but overall it’s a handsome vehicle with plenty of family-friendly features. Those doors open wide to provide easy access to the third row, and seats in the second and third rows each fold flat independently, allowing for a variety of cargo options.

Second-row passengers also benefit from seats that recline as well as slide fore and aft, and between the second-row seats Mazda engineers have designed a nifty little storage bin that folds out from beneath the right seat and sets up in the aisle-way. And of course there is the ubiquitous entertainment system available for the Mazda 5.

Power for U.S.-spec Mazda 5s will come from the same 2.3-liter inline four found in the Mazda 3, rated at 157 hp and mated to either a four-speed automatic or five-speed manual. Mazda says the vehicle will weigh in at just less than 3200 pounds and will get the full airbag treatment, with front, side and full-length curtain bags standard.

The Mazda 5 will join its big-brother MPV on showroom floors sometime this summer.

http://www.autoweek.com/news.cms?newsId=101506