Mazda Motor Corporation recently confirmed that the much-awaited SCCA Mazda Cup will be sponsored by American men’s magazine Playboy. As part of Mazda’s marketing program, the 2008 SCCA Pro Racing Playboy Mazda MX-5 Cup will strive capture the interest of many male customers throughout the United States.

“We look forward to putting all of Playboy’s brand assets into high gear to leverage this initiative and reach racing enthusiasts and Playboy fans alike,” explained Playboy Vice President and Publisher Lou Mohn in a report.

The 2008 SCCA Pro Racing Playboy Mazda MX-5 Cup will begin with a bang through the Houston Frand Prix activity on April 25 to 27. It will end with the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca on October 17 to 19. The major prize for the champion of this event will obtain a Mazda slot in the 2009 SCCA SPEED World Challenge Touring Car Championship. This SCCA SPEED package will be worth 250,000 dollars.

In addition, Mazda declared that there will be new stuff that viewers can look forward to in the 2008 SSCA Racing Cup. One is the series of Skip Barber MX-5 Cup vehicles. These racing cars will be shipped out of schools at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca and Road Atlanta. “Additional locations are under study and will be added based upon customer demand,” said a representative from Mazda.

The special-edition of the Mazda Verisa model named “Stylish V” showed off its make-over package recently in Hiroshima, Japan.

This posh Mazda model wowed the crowd with features that are quite similar to the standard Verisa but are definitely given jazzed up quality. This special-edition package includes a cabin dressed in black leather and red fabric, black leather steering wheel with red stitching, exhaust pipe finisher, front fog lights, and fine exterior touches with elegant molding.

Another fantastic thing about this smartened up Mazda model is its “audio-less” feature.  “To best match each driver’s needs the Stylish V is equipped with two speakers and a space for a head unit in the center panel,” the Japanese auto company said.” The steering wheel is also free of remote control switches.” This new feature will definitely offer the vehicle owner more freedom to select options when it comes to installing audio. 

Furnished with1.5-liter DOHC engine and a four-speed automatic transmission, this refurbished compact Mazda vehicle based on the Verisa C model definitely won the hearts of many who saw its amazing makeover.  The automobile is sold at $14,795 for the front-wheel-drive version and at $16,500 for the four-wheel-drive version.

Details from Edmunds.com

Every Mazda vehicle takes pride in its precision-engineered Mazda Parts. These well thought of components for the automobile promotes the safety of the users as well as other motorists. Aside from the safety features, proper knowledge about driving is also a key element for an accident-free drive. For this reason, the Mazda North America and Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca have joined forces to work with the Skip Barber Racing School and the Monterey County Parks Department in order to educate young drivers in Monterey, California.

This Saturday, December 8, Mazda, along with the other groups, is slated to conduct a rare and affordable safe-driving clinic for the Monterey, Santa Cruz, and San Benito-based license holder teenagers, whose ages range from 17 to 21, at the established Mazda Raceway Laguna in Monterey.

“This program is a great example of the private sector and the public sector working together to benefit the local community” said John Pinio, who is Monterey County Parks Department’s director of parks.

Each interested participant only has to pay $199 compared to the established Skip Barber Racing School’s regular rate of $795. Students will be taught the necessary things to remember when driving, such as defensive dsriving, street awareness, and road etiquettes, among others. All these hands-on driving activities will be done at the infield paddock of the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

This program is designed to expose new drivers to the techniques critical to true defensive driving, including emergency braking and emergency lane changes, car control skills practiced on the autocross, slide recovery skills practiced on the wet skid pad, and enhanced street awareness & road etiquette. All these activities are taught within the safe confines of the infield paddock of the world-famous Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, CA.

Information source is the PR Domain.

Mazda CX-9, which is the latest crossover utility vehicle from the Japanese automaker Mazda, has already established a decent number of followers in the United States as well as in Canada.

In spite of the burning $40, 000-tag price of the Mazda CX-9, more and more motorists in North America are still clamoring for this vehicle. To date, the economical SUV has already accumulated a total of 19, 630 units, where 3,000 were purchased last month, since its first appearance in the US market last March. With only a month left before the year closes, the automobile has successfully exceeded the company’s set goals.

Aside from being a hit for automobile owners, the Mazda CX-9, equipped with well-crafted Mazda Parts, was even recently hailed as the SUV of the year by the Motor Trend Magazine. Such recognition further placed this vehicle, which is laden with precision-engineered Mazda Parts, on the pedestal.

Conceptualized three years ago, the Mazda CX-9 was among the models that came from the company’s annual advancement activity program. Hiroshima (Japan), Frankfurt (Germany), and Irvine (California) are the research and development centers that are behind the program. The products of such program are geared toward particular markets, like the United States, for example.

“The CX-9 was originally supposed to be a minivan,” said Robert Davis, who is the Mazda North American Operations’ head of development and quality.

With such positive response for the Mazda CX-9 from its western market, the company is keen in coming out with more models that will only be available in the North America-based Mazda dealers.

Details from Auto Week and photos from Mazda USA.

Small or compact cars have established a good number of followers. Automakers, like Mazda, saw this as a good opportunity to increase sales. In fact, Mazda has already jumped into the booming market and has a new product to offer that is christened as the Mazda 2.

Mazda 2, which will only measure at 168-inch long and 67-inch wide, will surely boast of well-crafted Mazda Parts. This compact car from the Japanese automaker has the standard fog lamps for safety during foggy nights and sturdy fenders for those front and rear slow-speed collisions, among others. To complete this small car’s air and look of elegance, quality alloy wheels and leather upholstered seats are used.

Introduced in the media today at the 5th China (Guangzhou) International Automobile Exhibition, the Mazda 2 or Demio in Japan is set to be available first in China by the first quarter of 2008. This compact car, which will be assembled in the Nanjing Plant of Ford Mazda Automobile Company, is going to be one of the five models that the Japanese company is relying on to really boost its sales and market share worldwide.

Details from Auto123.

Carrying precision-engineered Mazda Parts, the Mazda 2 Supermini exceeded its Japanese automaker’s expectations as the new car hit it big in the United Kingdom.

According to Mazda UK, sales of the Mazda 2 Supermini shoot up the ceiling with a total of 1,600 vehicles that translates to more than a hundred percent from the company’s seen numbers.

During the media launch of the Mazda 6, James Hopkins, who is fleet and remarketing director of Mazda in the UK, revealed to Motor Trader that the Supermini has really went beyond what is expected from them in the United Kingdom. Moreover, Hopkins said that the car company no longer pushed through with the Mazda 2 Supermini’s fleet presence as it is not necessary anymore.

“Our order take is very strong and the future looks very rosy for this car,” said Hopkins.

At present, Mazda is prepping up for the unveiling of its Mazda 6, which is laden with high-end Mazda Parts, in time for the holidays.

Details from Motor Trader.

Mazda, which is one of the established automakers in Japan, is very keen in coming out with new products in China in the next few years as the company sees this as an opportunity for bigger earnings in the republic as well as globally.

Three years from now, Mazda, which is behind the Supermini and Mazda 3, aims to triple its sales to a whopping 300,000 cars from this year’s decent 100,000 units. Such goal has really to be realized as the Republic of China comprises almost a fifth of Mazda’s sales worldwide. If things go as planned, the Japanese car company is set to enjoy about $1.6 million from its worldwide profit in 2010.

“China plays a vital role in boosting Mazda’s global sales not only because of its huge market potential but also because big markets such as Japan, European and United States have matured,” said Ozaki Kiyoshi, who is Mazda’s director and senior executive officer for businesses in China.

To date, sales of Mazda vehicles in China is doing very well. In fact, for the first six months of this year, revenues went as high as 78 percent that translates to already 41,000 vehicles.

To further establish the company’s future goals, it just gave a sneak peek to the media its new offering dubbed as the Mazda 2 sedan at the 5th China (Guangzhou) International Automobile Exhibition this month. Mazda 2, which will be made at the Ford Mazda Automobile Company’s Nanjing plant, is slated to be officially introduced in the first quarter of 2008. Moreover, this latest sedan is going to be one of the five vehicles that are set to come out in the market by 2010.

“With the launch of Mazda 2 sedan, we have broadened our product mix with a strong presence covering China’s mid-to-high class, economy cars and compact car segments,” said Yamada Noriaki, who is Mazda’s president and chief operating officer for operations in China.

Details from Shanghai Daily.

Every designer dreams of having the freedom to fashion designs without having to think of so many factors such as economics, etc. This year, Mazda was able to pave the way for designers to do this with a contest tagged as the Mazda Design Challenge. The said contest is made possible with a partnership with Facebook, an online social networking giant. Participants of the Mazda Design Challenge get to pass their vision of how the 2018 Mazda 3 should or would look like. Every entry must come with a description of the design that won’t be less than 150 words. Aside from the description, participants may also include an illustration of their design but this is not a requirement.

There are many who joined the said contest and after so much deliberation and thinking, the engineers of Mazda and members of Facebook have agreed to declare Mallory McMorrow as the winner. McMorrow lives on the South Bend, IN. This lucky winner has already been paired with one of the top Mazda designer who is Jacques Flynn. Together, they drafted the ideas to reality and came up with an actual sketch of it. The design resembles the Mazda Ryuga concept in more ways than one. McMorrow’s 2018 vision of the Mazda 3 merges the recent Mazda styling cues with her own. When asked on it, Mallory says that her vision is a meeting between sports car qualities and everyday use, which is, in her belief what a Mazda vehicle of the future must be. In her words, “I was thrilled when I opened up the images of the final renderings. I’m proud to say that the end design was still definitely my car and I can’t wait to see it come to fruition on the show floor.”

As this competition is able to prove its success, Mazda has decided to take it a step further by having a prototype of McMorrow’s winning design and have it on display at the Los Angeles Auto Show. For the span of ten days, McMorrow will work with Franz von Holzhausen, the director of design at the Mazda North American Operations. Holzhausen’s team is the one tasked to put McMorrow’s design in tangible form. The sculpture of the vehicle will be available for viewing starting Nov. 24.

According to the statement made by Mazda Motor Corporation last November 2, 2007, the company was able to remain on track for yet another year. This is good news for Mazda. Word has it that the weakened yen has managed to lift the corporation’s net profit by around 6.8 percent. This is in lieu of six months to the month of September. Nowadays, the Mazda Motor Corporation is considered to be the fifth among the largest Japanese automakers.

Mazda is an affiliate of the Ford Motor and it also came as a good news for Ford that Mazda was able to post a net profit of 29.05 billion yen, which when converted amounts to 253 million dollars. This earning is despite the fact that Mazda suffered a 62.5 percent plunge on sales as far as the fiscal first quarter is concerned.

According to the Hiroshima-based group, as for Mazda’s first-half operating profit, it was able to gain around 4.8 percent last year to 73.08 billion yen. This is an “all-time high” as revenue continue to rise up to 8.9 percent to 1.66 trillion yen. Cheaper yen is profitable for those who are doing exports. Since Mazda is among those who do, they were able to profit from their export earnings. Apart from this, they were also able to employ their cost-cutting efforts that really came well to counter the heightened costs of raw materials.

According to reports, Mazda has a 0.9 percent increase in its global sales. In the 0.9 percent, 659,000 vehicles were sold in the first half. This was considerably dragged down when there was an overall decline in Japan’s auto market by 5.8 percent. Afterwards, the sales were able to pick up again as it rose to 7.1 percent increase in the United States. At this time, Mazda vehicle sales in Europe remained flat and unfortunately, it dropped by 32.6 percent in China. This is primarily caused by the termination in the production of two Mazda models.

If one can recall, Mazda has forecasted that it will yet have another year of record earnings. According to their forecast, they will have a 15.3 percent increase in terms of net profit. This roughly translates to about 85 billion yen. Recently, Mazda has been experiencing an operating profit increase of 0.9 percent to 160 billion yen. On their record revenue, 3.32 trillion yen is up by 2.2 percent.

The automobile craftsmanship of Japanese is evident in the variety of concept cars currently displayed at the ongoing Tokyo Motor Show. The Mazda Premacy Hydrogen RE Hybrid is among the numerous latest finds in the event, which officially opened last October 24 at Chiba City’s Makuhari Messe.

Among the high-end Mazda parts the Premacy has, the hydrogen rotary engine stands out. Almost similar to a hybrid vehicle, this four-wheel machine from Mazda is powered by two sources. Instead of just running on gasoline, a special kind of water is also utilized for this vehicle to work. With these two sources working together, the production of that much needed horsepower is achieved efficiently. The electricity produced from the hydrogen combustion is the one used to make the motor parts of the engine work.

According to Mazda, the Premacy Hydrogen RE Hybrid is more efficient in terms of speeding up as well as burning the mixture inside the engine compared with the Mazda RX-8 Hydrogen. Aside from all those inner workings of the vehicle, the Premacy is more spacious and is capable of having as much as five people plus some cargos.

The Tokyo Motor Show, which is now on its 40th year, is not just a display of various concept vehicles as it also allow guests to have the first-hand driving experience with some selected cars, like the Mazda RX-8 Hydrogen RE. The event will be open until the 11th of November.