We have an idea of what the next Mazda3 will look like based on some trademark renderings that Mazda supplied the European Union Office of Harmonization for the Internal Market; basically what they amount to are patent drawings. Based on these very rough outlines, somebody named Pascal Boissé from Auto-Motive D&C has created a rendering that gives us a slightly better idea of what the new compact car will look like. The results are a bit mixed, with the fenders and greenhouse meeting our expectations, but that happy-go-lucky front end may be a bit off. Recent spy shots don’t show the snout protruding out quite that far. We may see character lines along the door’s bottom edge, leading up to the rear arches as the rendering clearly shows. What we know for sure is that Mazda has been getting more expressive with its styling, as the revised 6 and recent concepts prove. We’ll see the Mazda3 in person at the upcoming LA Auto Show and here’s hoping that it’s a bit more refined than the rendering above.

At the Paris Motor Show that will be held from Thursday, October 2 through Sunday, October 19, 2008 Mazda will reveal its latest concept to feature the Nagare design language, the Kiyora. The small city car is based on an all-new platform designed to maximize weight reduction and at the same time, offer high levels of safety. Mazda says that the Kiyora, which by the way means ‘clean and pure’ in Japanese, is equipped with a next generation 4 cylinder direct injection engine and it features the company’s Smart Idle Stop System helping reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions.

The current styling of the Mazda MX-5 could well be described as just a bit boring with very round corners that play it safe. Mazda would like to change the image of its iconic little roadster and revised styling is certainly on the way. We have an early shot of the changes courtesy of the interwebs and, while they are a welcome refresher, the design team didn’t quite go far enough. The only real changes visible to the naked eye are in the front fascia, which sports styling inspired by tweaks made to the latest rotary-powered RX-8. Front and center is a gaping grill that features five distinct corners instead of the old oval opening. Flanking that new mug are angled fog light surrounds and swept-back headlights above. The changes are mostly design elements seen on Mazda’s latest batch of concept cars, though overall it’s a safe update for an already safe design – and very close to what we were expecting – but we’re still hoping for more from the next-gen MX-5.

Mazda has confirmed its Paris Motor Show lineup, which will be led by the Kiyora concept, a water-themed, Nagare-styled city car built on a new platform that features a “next generation” direct-injected four-banger. No additional details have been relayed at this time, other than it’s supposed to be lightweight and efficient, in keeping with Mazda’s “Sustainable Zoom-Zoom” approach. (As an aside, you should know that it’s quite amusing to watch grown adults actually say this stuff with a straight face at press conferences.) Also officially confirmed now is the updated MX-5, complete with the new happy face that hit the web on Wednesday. It’s joined by the Mazda6 MZR-CD 2.2L diesel and the Mazda2 MZ-CD 1.6L diesel, both of which are also world premieres. As always, we’ll be in Paris to bring it to you live next month.

From afar, our first reaction was: what’s a Matrix doing at the Mazda booth? Upon closer inspection, the dumped wagon you see above revealed itself as a tuned Mazda CX-7. Unfortunately, our Russian is about as good as our Swahili, so we weren’t able to get any definitive details on what exactly has been done to Mazda’s mid-level CUV. But the upgraded intercooler, ultra-low stance, gaudy body kit, stripped interior and six-point roll cage is proof that Russia’s Kesselman tuning excels at answering questions that no one asked.

Mazda pulled out all the awkwardly executed stops for the reveal of the Kazamai concept, including four sets of dancers, guys in neon-pink shorts on roller skates and a 40-man Russian singing troop in Soviet-style dress. We couldn’t make this stuff up if we tried, but what better way to kick off our coverage of the Moscow International Auto Salon.

Despite the strange theatrics, the Kazamai is one of our favorite Nagare-themed concepts since the Furai and Kabura. Then again, we’re suckers for two-door crossovers. The Kazamai blends the “flow” theme we’ve seen on several other concepts with a more aerodynamic body and a slightly toned-down demeanor. Could this be a hint at the future of the CX-7? Don’t count it out. But if it does head to production, we’ll take it in a three-door package equipped with the MS3’s drivetrain… and all-wheel-drive.

The rotary engine is world-renowned for a large amount of things, but fuel-efficiency is not one of them. Mazda wants to require Wankel’s masterpiece the poster child for its hydrogen-powered endeavors, so it is getting ready to suggesting a dual-fuel version of the engine in its consequently RX-badged offering.

According to AutoExpress, Mazda’s RX-8 Hydrogen RE car should evolve to a new model, labeled the RX-9, and is mythical to be motivated by a hydrogen-gasoline powertrain so are able to forward 20 per cent higher electricity sector and emissions through a traditional gasoline-powered Rotary. The rear-wheel-drive coupe can take styling cues according to the Taiki thinking and a dash-mounted switch gives drivers to toggle between gasoline and hydrogen power systems. For city driving, the hydrogen setting will be able to be employed, that can harm energy consumption (at the prices of a 20 per cent dwindle in power), additonally the gasoline method can be employed when drivers would like other performance.

Mazda’s duty is to compose the rotary engine’s performance, electricity business and emissions up the quality of gasoline-electric hybrids, and if AE’s resources are to be believed, the hydrogen-powered RX-9 serves to appear in 2012.

We’ve merely was given confirmation based on information from Tesla Motors the the upstart electric car association has somehow head to snag Mazda’s top designer to become its new Design Director and do our utmost up a cluster of in-house designers at a new studio. Franz von Holzhausen is the the most recent rock star of the vehicle design world, in posession of been heard the creative drive behind the the previous few year’s cost of Mazda concepts the present add the Nagare and Furai, as enormously as overseeing the design of all Mazda generation vehicles in North America as of February 2005. von Holzhausen has moreover carried on a designer at both General Motors and Volkswagen.

This is a necessary dede for Tesla, as its up to date Roadster was constructued fully by Lotus. The company’s chairman, Elon Musk, reportedly hand-picked von Holzhausen to design the rest of Tesla’s electric car duration too am able to input both a mainstream sedan and sport compact.

A push release is on its way based on Tesla Motors and ought to be added to their produce when it arrives.

Ford’s 33.9-percent stake in Mazda, a sufficient amount of to extend the Blue Oval control of the Japanese automaker, could easily arrive up for grabs if Ford is not able to turn its dire interest position accessible in very brief order, according to BusinessWeek. Such a move might probable force grim difficulties at both automakers, as the two jointly grow a good number of of the packages and aggregate inspection and development price between themselves. In fact, a good number of of Ford’s top and a large number of essential cars in the U.S. are constructed atop Mazda’s midsize sedan platform. What’s more, the finances infusion of Mazda’s sell ought to just net Ford throughout $2.5 billion, barely larger amount of as opposed to how the automaker earned for its stake in Jaguar and Land Rover. That extent can just let Ford to stretch a tiny amount of additonally longer without coming back to profitability. In a multitude of words, it could certainly not be market values the tribulations and is therefore, we are hoping, quite unlikely.