Filed under: Sedan, Mazda, First Drives, Design/Style
Mazda Makes a Marvelous Mid-Sizer



It's well known that Mazda is working through some corporate challenges at the moment, but the company's second-half news has been, in general, far better than the headlines from the first half. Global sales are up 12 percent, the CX-5 has sold 200,000 units worldwide and U.S. dealers are begging for more inventory. There's also a new factory on the way in Mexico that will assuage the profit-killing exchange-rate woes of building cars in Japan, and the next-generation MX-5 Miata - whenever it arrives - is going to bring an Alfa Romeo roadster with it.

Still, at the moment, it's probably true that there is more love for Mazda - or perhaps there's actually more nostalgia - than sales traction.

The company would like its brand new midsize segment competitor to change that.

So in one corner we have the 2014 Mazda6. In the other corner we have the Toyota Camry, Honda Accord, Nissan Altima, Ford Fusion, Hyundai Sonata, Kia Optima, Volkswagen Passat and Chevrolet Malibu. That is not an exciting list for a car enthusiast, but arrayed en masse it's like Neo taking on the endless Agent Smiths in the playground scene in The Matrix: Reloaded - what the other cars lack in individual character they more than make up for in suffocating, sledgehammer numbers. Example: Mazda's entire export production - that's every one of its models that it sells in every other landmass besides Japan - in August 2012 was 44,495. That same month there were 36,270 Camrys sold in the United States alone.Continue reading 2014 Mazda6
2014 Mazda6 originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 05 Oct 2012 11:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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