The Mazda2 (Demio) has won the 2008 World Car Of The Year prize. How was the diminutive Demio chosen for this honor? According to the WCOTY press release "Rather than being just a popularity contest, the objective was to ensure that the World Car of the Year would be the product of a fair and thorough assessment process that considered the needs and wants of consumers the world over. The process began with individual jurors evaluating and rating the candidates using a variety of standardized parameters – everything from styling and quality, to performance and safety." Hmm, somehow we have a hard time believing that "standardized parameters" can objectively measure things like "styling," but whatever. The Mazda, which beat out the Ford Mondeo and Mercedes C Class for the award, had previously won national Car Of The Year awards in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Greece, New Zealand, and Japan. You should be able to buy one in this country sometime in 2009 as the Ford Fiesta, but as Frank Williams pointed out, nobody should buys cars just because they win ridiculous awards.
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If anything, international awards and accolades just ensure that any car thus nominated will never see our shores.
Yay!
It looks like a great car. I really like Mazda’s habit to make their cars lighter and smaller as opposed to bigger and fatter.
I’d be more in the market for a 3, but it’d make a perfect commuting car.
It really does look like a great car. Can it really be any smaller than an equivalent Mazda hatchback from the ’80’s (the 323)?
I wouldn’t mind driving it. Being a Mazda it’ll probably be a fun car to toss around. I can only hope the Ford Fiesta can compare.
I don’t want to drive it as a Ford Fiesta, I want to drive it as a damned Mazda2! Stupid FoZda!
I’ve been a Mazda fan for many years and have owned a lot of them. My “fleet” currently includes a Mazdaspeed6 and a Miata. I have often said that Mazda was the best-kept secret in the auto industry but with the awards they have been winning over the last few years, the secret is out! Good for Mazda!
I also own a Mazda, and I am happy to see a light manueverable car like the Mazda2 get this award. However, why can’t it just come to America as a Mazda2? It seems to me that the Ford Fiesta name doesn’t have a lot of good will and cache attached to it, so why ressurect it?
P.S. The 3 door hatch that they make for the rest of the world and won’t sell here looks even better than the 5 door in the picture.
Umm…who decided that the Mazda2 shouldn’t come here, and have they been arrested for possession yet?
Urgh! The idea of this car not making it state side makes me so mad! Seriously Mazda (or the controlling hand of FoMoCo), my wife and I would love to have this car. I’ve owned 3 Miatas (one of which was the awesome Mazdaspeed) and we currently have a Mazdaspeed 3. My wife’s 10 year old Protege is showing its age and it looks like a Fit is in our future. However, I would get the 2 in a heartbeat. But I will NOT get the Fiesta!
I am waiting for Fiesta and 09 Mazda3.
This is like euro focus finally showing up but with US identity applied. What we have all been hoping for except for US identity thing. At silly low US giveaway price. Thank god for US market share imperative.
They wont spec softer steel and less of it for unibody, or anything like that, right?
What is breakeven $ point for re-engineering to make a cheap nice car even cheaper.
What makes the Mazda2 even more maddening for those in the states who love it is that Canada will be getting it, but we won’t.