Mazda CX-3 :: Baby SUV “fully feasible”
A leading Mazda executive has admitted a sub-compact SUV, set to be called the Mazda CX-3, is "fully feasible" within the brand's current development and technology cycle.
The admission from Mazda representative director and vice chairman of the board Seita Kanai is the latest strong hint that the baby SUV is nearing production.
Mazda is still yet to officially confirm the existence of the CX-3 (rendered above), despite CarAdvice exclusively confirming its development more than two years ago, though Kanai today admitted such a vehicle was well within the ability of the brand's current line-up.
“Yes, of course,” Kanai said in response to whether Mazda was capable of building an SUV based on the soon-to-be released Mazda 2. “It’s within our scope. It’s fully feasible.”
Rumours surrounding the launch of the Mazda CX-3 have intensified over the past few months with a Japanese newspaper report claiming in February that the CX-3 would go on sale before the end of 2014.
Mazda claimed the report was purely speculative at the time, though in March CarAdvice asked Mazda general manager of design Maeda Ikuo whether he had penned the new model and he confirmed that plans were well advanced.
“I have to say yes,” he said of designing a B-segment SUV with the brand’s Kodo design language. “I can say it looks good; it looks great.”
The CX-3 will go head to head with the ever-expanding range of city SUVs which currently includes the Holden Trax, Peugeot 2008, Ford EcoSport and Nissan Juke.
Mazda’s bundled development philosophy, which is pre-determined both at an R&D and factory level for a wide variety of models well before production, would have seen the Japanese company already prepared for CX-3 production, alongside Mazda 2 (pictured above in concept form), for a number of years.
Kanai confirmed Mazda’s bundled planning for its current range of models which sees the brand support a far more flexible production line capable of supporting multiple models that share the same architecture without extensive retooling.
It’s more than likely the Mazda CX-3 will follow soon after the launch of it base car, the Mazda2, and head to Australia sometime in 2015.