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August 9, 2002 - Earlier this year Mazda launched the 6, the first of a new generation of Ford management influenced cars designed to deliver a more relevant car for European tastes. Now, with the Mazda 2, they are building on this intent to be taken seriously and sell more cars in the European market.
The 2 is a B-sector sized car that just sits inside a 4 metre length and has a height of 1530mm, dimensions just up on its predecessor, the Demio, (still the car’s name in its home market) that has sold well in Japan since its launch in 1996, but never made much impression in Europe. Six years ago this slightly tall, 'MPVesque' small car was a 'niche type' unique to Mazda, bigger than the Suzuki Wagon R and its clones, smaller than the C-sector sized Japanese and European mini MPVs (such as the Mitsubishi Space Star and Renault Scenic), and distinctly taller and more spacious than European B-sector cars.
But since then the B-sector has reinvented itself taller, with cars such as the Fiesta and Polo now only marginally lower than the Mazda, and the Honda Jazz and Citroen C3 being just as tall. Cars such as the Toyota Yaris Verso, Ford Fusion, Opel Meriva and forthcoming products from Renault, Nissan and Fiat, are moving this niche of tall, B-sector based cars ever skyward. As such the new Mazda 2 in Europe is more of a ‘normal’ B-sector car than its predecessor was and will directly compete with the Polo, Fiesta and Corsa.
As well as moving away from a niche position in the market, the 2 also eschews its predecessors SUV styling cues for a more sleek and subtle exterior aesthetic that is instrumental to Mazda’s strategy to be more successful in Europe.
Starting at the front, the 2 embraces the new Mazda corporate face with its 5 point grille, prominent Mazda logo and pointy, rhomboidal headlamps. The hood, wing and bumper surfaces seamlessly integrate to emphasis the package’s relatively rounded plan shape and fit in with the new surface language introduced on the 6. The front wings flare to draw attention to a wide track, and build into a soft but strong shoulder (reminiscent of European designs such as the Audi A3) that runs through the doors to the shallow rear lamps that wrap around the corner of the car and further ‘soften the box’.
The side DLO is unusual in having body colour B and D pillars but a blacked out C pillar, and features a rearmost kink in the D-pillar that is inherits from its predecessor. At the rear, the tailgate opens exceptionally low affording a very deep rear boot aperture, but otherwise has overtones of Alfa Romeo and Peugeot with its shallow, pointy rear lamps.
The car has 1.3 and 1.5 litre high output (91 and 113ps) variable valve timing engines that produce low emissions, and is well equipped with ABS, EBD and brake assist standard on all models. It also has a variety of practical features; a split level boot option (aka Audi A2 and Citroen C3), a glove box with removable, washable compartment – a bin in layman’s terms, and an optional full length translucent white sunroof made from woven polyester laminated with durable fluorocarbon resin which adds to the sense of interior space with a soft, ambient light source during daylight.
The Mazda 2 could have built on its Demio predecessor’s taller, more practical and slightly SUV identity relative to the mainstream B-sector, to compete directly with Ford’s Fusion. Instead it has closely aligned itself to the standard European B-sector cars in proportion, surface language and practical features. Whilst not a daring strategy or design it is Mazda delivering a more relevant car for European tastes and can only help the brand to be taken more seriously and sell more cars in Europe.
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