New Car 2010 Mazda3 U.S. launch scheduled for March

Mazda used last year’s Los Angeles Auto Show to debut the new 2010 Mazda3 Sedan, and then followed it with the reveal of the Hatchback model at the Bologna Motor Show just one month later. The carmaker’s North American chief Jim O'Sullivan has now revealed that the car’s U.S. launch is “on track” for March this year.

Mazda plans to launch both the Sedan and Hatchback models simultaneously but isn’t predicting sales to top last year’s levels, which peaked at 100,000 units. Canada and Mexico will see the cars arrive in dealerships next month.

“Obviously, we're going to be down with the industry,” O'Sullivan told Ward’s Auto. “We're going to be down a little bit year-on-year, but we'll see what happens.”

There is one more variant of the new Mazda3 that is yet to be revealed. The car is the high-performance Mazdaspeed (MPS) model, which is expected to make its world debut at March’s Geneva Motor Show. However, O'Sullivan didn’t reveal any details about it or when it will reach U.S. shores.

As for the standard Sedan and Hatchback models, both cars will come with two different engine options: a 148hp (110kW) 2.0L four-cylinder with 135lb-ft (183Nm) of torque and a 167hp (124kW) 2.5L unit with 168lb-ft (227Nm) of torque.

For European markets, a newly developed 2.2L turbodiesel engine will also be available. This engine, which was just launched in the Mazda6 overseas, will output 182hp (136kW) and 295lb-ft (400Nm) of torque while delivering fuel economy figures of around 42mpg (5.6L/100km).

2010 Mazda3 Sedan Wallpaper

2010 Mazda3 smiles back

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.