News/Events

There is always something exciting to talk about when it comes to Mazda vehicles and Roger Beasley Mazda. We want to keep you updated on the latest news and events.

Latest Release: MAZDA CX-9 NAMED MOTOR TREND 2008 SPORT/UTILITY OF THE YEAR

IRVINE, Calif., October 15, 2007 – MOTOR TREND today named the Mazda CX-9 crossover SUV its 2008 Sport/Utility of the Year™. Beating one of the toughest fields in recent memory, the CX-9 was, according to MOTOR TREND editor in chief, Angus MacKenzie, the judges’ unanimous decision. It topped 11 other contenders.

“What a thrill, and what an honor, to receive such an award,” said Jim O’Sullivan, President and CEO, Mazda North American Operations. “Since CX-9 launched in January, it’s won the hearts and checkbooks of customers, the hearts and minds of journalists, and now the greatest of honors MOTOR TREND can bestow on a crossover SUV. I’m just so proud of everyone at Mazda, both here in the US and in Japan.”

The Mazda CX-9 was designed and engineered specifically for the North American market and consumer. It is powered by a 273-hp 3.7-liter V6 engine and a six-speed Sport AT automatic transmission with manual-shift mode. Priced from $29,430, the CX-9 is available in three trim levels – Sport, Touring and Grand Touring – and in either front- or all-wheel drive. The vehicle seats up to seven passengers in three rows, and offers cutting-edge safety technology, including front, side and three-row side-curtain airbags, ABS, dynamic stability control, traction control and roll-stability control, all as standard equipment.

The Mazda CX-9 is one of the safest vehicles on the road, too, having recently received the highest possible ratings in frontal and side impact crashes by the governments’ National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). In addition to receiving a five-star frontal and side impact crash-test rating, the CX-9 received four-star rollover resistance ratings. No other SUV on the market today has received ratings that are superior to the CX-9.

To judge contenders for the award, MOTOR TREND’s editorial staff conducted exhaustive off-road, street and track testing, and carefully considered essentials such as driving performance, safety and features. Sport/Utility of the Year is not a comparison test. Each contender was evaluated against three simple criteria: superiority (engineering, design, utilization of resources); significance (its impact on the market), and value (what buyers get for their money versus the competition).
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Latest Release: Wards announces "Ten Best Engines" list for 2007

NEW YORK--Penton Media's Ward's AutoWorld® magazine has named the winners of its annual listing of North America's "Ten Best Engines." Amid high-profile national debate over automotive fuel-efficiency, these engines reflect the automobile industry's success at improving fuel economy without compromising performance. The awards will be presented at a January 16, 2008 ceremony in Detroit during the North American International Auto Show. Details on Ward's "Ten Best Engines" will be featured in Ward's AutoWorld magazine and on www.wardsauto.com in January 2008.

Selected by Ward's AutoWorld editors, the 2008 list is the magazine's 14th annual ranking; the list is North America's only awards program honoring powertrain excellence.

The 2008 winners are:

• Mazda Motor Corp.: 2.3L DISI turbocharged DOHC I-4 (Mazdaspeed3)

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Latest Release: Mazda Furai Concept and New Mazda RX-8 to Make World Debut at 2008 North American International Auto Show

HIROSHIMA, Japan, December 12, 2007—Mazda Motor Corporation will showcase the world premieres of the Mazda Furai concept vehicle and the heavily revised new Mazda RX-8 sports car at the 2008 North American International Auto Show (NAIAS), to be held in Detroit from Sunday, January 13 through Sunday, January 27, 2008. On the heels of its show-stopping debut at the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show in October, the Mazda Taiki concept vehicle also will make its North American debut, the first time it has been shown outside Japan. Additionally, Mazda will have a special display of racecars on its stand during the press days, and the full lineup of production cars for consumers to sample on the public days.

Mazda Furai –‘Sound of the wind’
Inspired by the fact that, on any given weekend, there are more Mazdas and Mazda-powered cars road-raced in the United States than any other brand, the Mazda Furai is the sort of car that could only come from a company that incorporates the “Soul of a Sports Car” into everything it builds, but with an eye toward the future and the environment through the use of ethanol (E100) produced by British Petroleum (BP).

Furai takes Mazda’s unique Nagare (Japanese for “flow”) design language a step further as it is translated into a concept car based on an American Le Mans Series (ALMS) racing car. The car utilizes the Courage C65 chassis the company campaigned in the ALMS series only two seasons ago, and the 450-hp three-rotor rotary engine that distinguishes it from anything else on the track.
Says Franz von Holzhausen, Mazda’s North American director of design, “Furai purposely blurs boundaries that have traditionally distinguished street cars from track cars. Historically, there has been a gap between single-purpose racecars and street-legal models — commonly called supercars — that emulate the real racers on the road. Furai bridges that gap like no car has ever done before.”
Mazda’s critically acclaimed Nagare design language describes the flow of water, air, people or things moving in one direction. Mazda Nagare is flow, with an insightful and spirited styling, which, in Mazda Furai, invokes a raw, unfettered desire to possess everything this car represents.

Latest Release: Mazda Completes New Test Courses at Mine Proving Ground

HIROSHIMA, Japan—Mazda Motor Corporation today held a ceremony to mark the expansion of its Mine Proving Ground in Mine City, Yamaguchi Prefecture, in western Japan. In addition to the existing circuit, the proving ground now has a skid pad to test vehicles’ ability to turn sharply at high speed, a ‘free flat course’ to evaluate high-speed slalom performance, and a winding track to assess high-speed vehicle handling.

Distinguished guests from local government authorities, including the Mayor of Mine (pronounced ‘me-nay’) City, Nobuo Kotake, attended the ceremony together with Mazda’s senior executive officer in charge of R&D, Seita Kanai, and other senior Mazda executives. A tape cutting ceremony was held to celebrate the completion of the new test courses and a prayer for safety was offered.

Mazda’s Seita Kanai addressed the attendees, saying, “By completing these enhancements to the Mine Proving Ground we are now able to conduct more comprehensive testing to further improve the performance and safety levels of our vehicles. I am confident this will help us to enhance the desirability of Mazda’s cars. As we move forward, Mazda aims to harmonize driving pleasure with environmental and safety features and develop Zoom-Zoom car manufacturing as part of our efforts for a sustainable future. We will continue to offer cars that excite the senses and embody Mazda’s Zoom-Zoom promise that our vehicles ‘look inviting to drive, are fun to drive, and make you want to drive them again’.”

Latest Release: 2009 Mazda3 design to influence Mazda's entire lineup

It's no surprise that Mazda's looking to radically revamp its entire product portfolio in the coming years, and the cohesive style set by the Nagare line of concepts will bring Mazda's design chief, Laurens van den Acker's vision to the road in the next few years.

The first model to benefit from this new design direction will be the 2009 Mazda3, which will sport a trio of new elements that we've seen in concept form over the last year. The five-point gaping grin that's been showcased on everything from the Kabura to the Taiki will find its way onto all of Mazda's products, along with flowing creases embedded into the side panels. Like many automakers, longer wheelbases and shorter front and rear overhangs, with the wheels pushed to the outer edges of the body, will be adopted, and the Dutch designer is intent on making all of Mazda's products appear more sporting, with a low-slung style that mimics the shape of rear-drivers.
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Latest Release: MAZDA CX-9 NAMED SEAMO 2008 FAMILY CAR OF THE YEAR

Charlotte, NC — The South East Automotive Media Organization (SEAMO) recently honored the 2008 Mazda CX-9 with the inaugural “Family Car of the Year Award” during the group’s sixth annual media ride and drive event, held at Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain, Georgia.

“We are honored to receive this inaugural award from journalists in the southeast,” says Dave Sweet, group manager, Product Strategies, Mazda North American Operations. “The CX-9 3.7L is our newest and most exciting vehicle that combines the utility of a family vehicle with seating for seven, and the power and ‘zoom-zoom’ of a sports car. With a new blind spot monitoring system for 2008, we know that families and fun seekers will enjoy the ride while benefiting from the many safety features. Family cars should be a joy to drive and this award demonstrates that fun and functionality make a winning combination.”

Engineered with Mazda’s “Soul of a Sports car” DNA, CX-9 deftly blends sporty driving spirit with seven-passenger sport-utility vehicle (SUV) practicality. For 2008, CX-9 reaches a higher level of performance with a new standard 3.7-liter DOHC V6 engine, resulting in 10 more horsepower (273) and 21 additional lb-ft of torque (270) compared to 2007.
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Latest Release: 2018 Mazda3 LA Show design winner completed

So after finally hoping on the Facebook-bandwagon, we decided to check up on how Mallory McMorrow's Mazda3 concept was coming along. After shaping and molding the clay on the LA show floor for over 10 days, the 2018 Mazda3 was finally displayed.

Overall, it's cues tie in nicely with the "flow" theme crafted by Franz von Holzhausen and his team who helped McMorrow hone her design. We think it's a step in the right direction, particularly from an undergrad, and we're hopeful that the 21-year old industrial design student hits the ground running once she has her degree in hand.
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Latest Release: Mazda to Reveal All-New Design Concept at 2007 Los Angeles International Auto Show

HIROSHIMA, Japan—Mazda Motor Corporation today announced the global reveal of an all-new concept car, Mazda Nagare (pronounced na-gah-reh), at the Greater Los Angeles International Auto Show, during a press conference at 4:05 PM on November 29, 2006. Following on the heels of three very successful and exploratory Mazda design concepts – Sassou, Senku, and Kabura – from last year's show season, Nagare is the first indication of Mazda's future design direction.

According to Mazda's newly appointed global design director, Laurens van den Acker, Nagare sums up the future of Mazda design in one deceptively simple word -Flow. “Nagare is a celebration of proportions and surface language that will evolve into subsequent designs planned for presentation at future international auto shows. Nagare examines light and shadow, and begins to reveal the global design cues for the next generation of Mazda vehicles.”

Franz Von Holzhausen, Director of Design for Mazda North American Operations, who headed the Nagare design team in Irvine, Calif., describes Nagare as an evolving expression of Zoom-Zoom: “Inspired by the movement of nature's elements, our designers have captured motion, energy and lightness, translating into a beautiful language of lines and forms that are powerful yet effortless, provocative yet strikingly seductive.”

And there's much more to come, too, as Mazda continues to evolve flow through future models. For now, Mazda enthusiasts can experience Nagare as an indication of Mazda Design's confident step in a new direction.

Other vehicles on display at the Show include the recently launched Mazda CX-7 crossover SUV, the Mazda CX-9 three-row, seven-passenger SUV, which arrives in North American Mazda dealerships in early 2007, and the brilliantly designed Mazda MX-5 Miata Power Retractable Hard Top.

Latest Release: U.S. NEWS AND WORLD REPORT RANKS THE MAZDA MX-5 MIATA AS THE #1 AFFORDABLE TWO SEAT CONVERTIBLE

Based on U.S. News editors' analysis of 40 leading automotive reviews and test drives, the 2007 Mazda MX-5 Miata ranks #1 of 10 in Affordable Sports Cars, and also ranks #1 of 4 in Affordable Two-Seat Convertibles.

Thanks to a 2006 redesign, the MX-5 Miata offers better-than-ever performance with tight, balanced handling and zippy acceleration -- all for a very affordable price.
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Release: MAZDA AUTO DEALER IS LANDMARK FIXTURE IN AUSTIN

Celebrating more than three decades in the automotive industry, Roger Beasley is the “King of the Road”

Austin, Texas — Mazda North American Operations (MNAO) today announced the 35 th anniversary of Roger Beasley Mazda. This milestone makes Austin home to the longest-standing and largest Mazda dealership in the Lone Star State.

As music legends Willie Nelson, Clifford Antone and Stevie Ray Vaughn were starting the live music scene in Austin, Texas-native and University of Texas graduate Roger Beasley began what has become a long and legendary career in the automotive industry. At the same time, Japanese automaker Mazda was beginning to capture attention in the United States. Intrigued by the company’s exciting car line, he opened Roger Beasley Mazda in March of 1972.

“I started out in the business with one goal in mind--to sell quality cars that are fun to drive,” said Beasley. “Today the Mazda line, with its zoom-zoom mantra and new retail philosophy, makes that an easy task.”
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