Mazda Bullish on CX-3 - Ward's Auto (subscription)
O’Sullivan says the primary driver behind growth in the segment will be C-car owners going through a lifestyle change that calls for a vehicle with space, style and AWD. 1 outflow out of C-cars now is into small CUVs, and in the U. S. car parc C-cars are the biggest,” he says. If Mazda didn’t have the CX-3, due to go on sale in the second half of this year, it ran the risk of losing customers to automakers that did offer a subcompact CUV, O’Sullivan says. Additionally, the new model will strengthen Mazda customer loyalty, which has been running below the industry average, he says. “The owner loyalty of this brand has been relatively low, and the reason is we had Mazda3, Protege and Protege5, but there wasn’t anywhere for them to go onto the next steps,” O’Sullivan says, noting owner loyalty began to improve with the... The Mazda CX-3 will be powered by the automaker’s Skyactiv 2. 0L gas engine mated to a 6-speed Skyactiv. Source: wardsauto.com
