Mid-range Mazda coupe

Newswheel staff :: 07 November 2005 :: Filed under Coupe, Mazda, Europe & UK, US

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Detroit concept to preview 2008 model

The Japanese automaker will display a new coupe concept positioned between the RX-8 and MX-5 models at the Detroit show in January. Though pitched as a show car, a full production version is expected to follow in 2008.

Speaking to The CarConnection,  Franz von Holzhausen, head of Mazda’s Irvine, California design centre, suggested the car will be more mini RX-8 than new age MX-3, though the latter has influenced the design. “It’s an exciting continuation of the Mazda DNA. We will offer a product that’s relevant to what people want, and enters us into an arena that we have not been in before,” Holzhausen said.

And when he says “relevant to what people want,” he means US customers. Apparently the car is being designed expressly with American preferences in mind.  However, Holzhausen did reveal that right-hand drive models for the UK and Japan were "conceptually possible."

Linkage:
TheCarConnection