42-year-old Toshiaki Hikiji, who says he was fired by Mazda as a temporary worker, allegedly hit 11 Mazda employees with a Mazda Familia at Mazda’s plant in Hiroshima, Japan. Hiroshima Police says he managed to kill one. (Read More…)

John writes:

What do we know about the 1.8L V6 used in the 1990s’ Mazda MX-3 sport coupe? Why such a small engine and where did Mazda get it from/how did they design it and market it in the MX-3?

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Threesomes can get burdensome to keep together. Didn’t we report in January that Ford, Mazda, and China’s Changan want to end the ménage-a-la-trois and forge their individual joint ventures? It was quickly dismissed as “speculation.” Just because it’s a speculation doesn’t mean that it won’t come true. (Read More…)

With the Mazda RX-8 being pulled from the European market for its rotary engine’s inability to pass the new Euro-5 emissions standard, we should have guessed that its days were numbered in the US market as well. Perhaps the fact that the model is one of our favorite enthusiast options available in the US made us hope against hope that it would soldier on a bit longer. No such luck. According to Motor Trend‘s “well placed source at Mazda’s North American Operations,” the RX-8 will be phased out “most likely after the 2011 model year.” And probably not just for the obvious fuel economy or capacity-utilization reasons either: RX-8 sales peaked at 23,690 units in 2004, and have been in steady decline ever since, moving only 2,217 units last year.

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Thanks to its rev-happy rotary engine’s inability to pass the Euro-5 emissions standard, the Mazda RX-8 will be pulled from the European market, reports Auto Motor & Sport Sweden [via Google Translate]. A rotary-engined replacement will not arrive before the year 2013, as development of the unique engine is both costly and time-consuming. Like any good car with an environmental problem, the RX-8 is receiving a few tentative test upgrades. An E85 version is being raced at the Targa Tasmania, but likely won’t ever be available for sale. Meanwhile, Mazda’s RX-8 rehabilitation efforts likely come down to making a long-rumored hydrogen rotary engine version production-ready. And with nothing planned before 2013, it’s looking like Europe will have to do without the uniquely rev-happy, hard-handling, performance bargain that is the RX-8 for some time.

There is a new Japanese bride on the Match.com equivalent of the international auto business. It’s Mazda. Despite pronouncements that Mazda’s “strategic alliance with Ford will remain unshaken” (as uttered at a Monday press conference by Mazda Executive VP Masaharu Yamaki,) everybody who knows the business knows: The bloom is off the rose between Mazda and Ford. What’s more, Mazda is on the prowl to do some nampa with another potent partner. Who will it be? (Read More…)

If you, dear reader, had expected (or, perish the thought, hoped) that SUA hype and rapid fire recalls would bring Toyota down, then stop reading immediately. What follows will not be good for your circulatory system. (Read More…)

Despite their huge drive to wring every last drop of mileage out of the ICU, with new direct injection engines and idling stop function for all cars, Mazda will not stand around idle while the rest of the world is hyper to jump on the hybrid bandwagon. In 2013, Mazda wants to introduce a midsize hybrid. And out of what hat did they pull that Flemish Giant of a rabbit? As predicted by our resident sage Cammy Corrigan, the essential gadgetry comes courtesy of Toyota. (Read More…)

By 2015, no new car made by Mazda will stand around idle. By this year, Mazda plans to install its idling stop function on all of its new automobiles, says today’s Nikkei [sub]. Some domestic and European Mazda already have this feature. In a few years, it will be universal, including North America, where current EPA regulations discourage idle stop. (Read More…)

Japan’s auto industry is slowly putting its toes back into the Iraqi quicksand. Their stalking horse is Sumitomo, which established the first office of a Japanese company in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion of 2003, The Nikkei [sub] reports. The office is in the business center at Baghdad’s international airport, surrounded by American military facilities. They’ll build the world’s most heavily guarded workshop. (Read More…)

Mazda doesn’t want to get caught in a “what did you know and when did you know it” and has decided to put brake override systems into all models to be launched anywhere in the world from now on, reports The Nikkei [sub]. (Read More…)

The Mazda5 has long been an under-considered little MPV, competing in a niche that only the aging Kia Rondo dare set foot in. Mazda’s solution to weak sales: overwrought, tacked-on styling flair. But let’s face it: until a major brand brings competition into the compact MPV segment (which will likely first occur when Ford brings its C-Max stateside), the Mazda5 will continue to wander the deserts of weak consideration.

For a reviewer, getting handed a car with delivery miles on the odometer is an instant promotion to tribal shaman. You’re given a quick pat on the back before being shoved into a hut with the village’s prettiest virgin. Needless to say, this privilege comes with the sacred duty of keeping the virgin in tip-top shape, otherwise your term as high-muck-a-much will be pretty short-lived. Unfortunately for my political aspirations, the Mazda2 loves being ridden hard. It squeals through corners, snarling like a dog in heat. There’s a lot more fun to be had here than the tiny 185/55R15 Dunlop Sports suggest.
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The Mazda 6 is an enigma. It’s a fine automobile, at least the equal of any car in its segment, as close to a driver’s car as you’ll find in a midsize family sedan. Comfortable, not bad looking, nicely appointed, good fit and finish, great performance, decent economy. There is no question that the Mazda 6 stacks up well in phylum Camcordata yet it sits no higher than 10th place in the family sedan sales race, averaging about 2,400 units a month in the US since the all new 2010 model got up to speed last summer. The midsize segment in North America is the automotive big leagues. The 6 should be fighting for first place, not mired deep in the second division. Product may be everything, but sometimes it’s not enough.
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And the winner is (left.)

China’s 11th Five-Year Plan (they still have one of those) encourages industrial design as one of the six key modern service sectors that will receive priority support from the central government.

One of these support measures was the creation of a government-sponsored patent award, which “ aims to boost the nation’s intellectual property strategy and accelerate creation of proprietary intellectual property,” as Gasgoo put it.

FAW’s Besturn B70 was the only design patent to win a gold medal at the 11th China Patent Awards in Beijing. There is just a small niggling problem: (Read More…)