This is the all-new Mazda 2 city car, which will be revealed at the Paris motor show in September prior to going on sale in Australia late in 2014.
The new model â€" presaged by the heavily-styled Hazumi concept car shown at the Geneva motor show in March â€" has been caught by CarAdvice’s spy photographers testing in Germany, and its design appears to have stayed quite true to the dramatic show car’s swooping lines.
The front-end shows a set of small, shapely headlights that are bridged by a bold grille design similar to that seen on the 2′s big brother, the Mazda 3 small car. Similar to that model, the new Mazda 2‘s snout will see a numberplate sit front and centre while a lower air-dam will ensure enough air gets into the engine bay.
At the side, the new model’s window/belt line appears more raked than on the current car, which in production guise will give the car a swept appearance. The rear-end will see a more pronounced tailgate angle that will also help the car’s kerb appeal, with newly designed tail-lights sprouting from the tops of the rear flanks.
The car seen here appears to be fitted with the brand’s latest batch of safety technologies, including a smart city braking system that is operated from a forward-facing camera mounted alongside the rear-view mirror. It is expected that a reverse-view camera and blind-spot monitoring systems may be offered on some models.
Mazda has already confirmed to CarAdvice that the new 2 will be offered only as a five-door hatchback, but that a four-door sedan will follow. It’s not yet clear when that car will debut, nor whether it will be considered for Australia. The new model is expected to drop weight over the current car, which weighs 1010 kilograms in entry-level Neo Sport manual guise and 1032kg in top-spec Maxx Sport auto spec.
Mazda is expected to offer the new Mazda 2 with a 1.5-litre SkyActiv petrol four-cylinder engine that is seen in the current Mazda 3 in Europe, rather than the ultra-efficient 1.3-litre Skyactiv four-cylinder currently found in the Japanese-market Mazda 2. The 1.5-litre powerplant produces 75kW and 150Nm, and has claimed consumption of 5.1L/100km in the 3, while the 1.3-litre unit has 62kW/112Nm and uses just 3.3L/100km.
A 1.5-litre Skyactiv-D diesel engine that sips about 3.3L/100km is also expected to be offered in some markets, but Mazda Australia told CarAdvice at the Geneva show that the diesel version is not under consideration for the local market due to high premiums and low demand for the technology in the city car segment.
Expect the new Mazda 2 to be on sale locally by year’s end. Stay tuned for official images of the new 2 as they come to hand.
Click the Photos tab above for more images of the spied Mazda 2.
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