Here She Is, America's Sweetheart: Paris 2012 Live Shots

Derek Kreindler
by Derek Kreindler

The 2014 Mazda6 wagon was shown in the buff today, causing the American contingent of journalists to spontaneously ejaculate in their pleated Wal-Mart trousers. Meanwhile, Europeans yawned with the sort of withering ennui that would have made Derrida blush. Predictions of the Mazda6 Skyactiv-D wagon 6MT selling 400,000 units have been running rampant today, mostly from “Top Auto Writers” who don’t own cars – let alone new cars.



Derek Kreindler
Derek Kreindler

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  • 200k-min 200k-min on Sep 27, 2012

    At first blush I'm not in love with the thing. The grill & front end just don't appeal to my tastes. The styling while similar to the new Fusion just doesn't look as clean. More curves and organic flow, which isn't my cup of tea. Then again, I liked the angular design of the 1990's. Love the idea of a wagon but the raked back screams form over function. I want a wago for utility without having the penalty box of driving an SUV/CUV. Give me a volvo wagon with a 90 degree vertical back window. Lastly, my biggest concern with Mazda is past experience of them being just not very well put together. The sheet metal was like rice paper, or at least felt that way. My Accord by comparison felt like a tank, yet gets better MPG's. What gives Mazda? Make a class leading interior, which all your recent stuff isn't even at Hyundai standards and Ford easily beats you.

  • Otaku Otaku on Sep 28, 2012

    I honestly can't remember the last time I looked at the front end of any Mazda product and didn't think to myself: "What a stupid looking car! Who the hell designs these things?" Nice to know some things never change.

  • Kjhkjlhkjhkljh kljhjkhjklhkjh A prelude is a bad idea. There is already Acura with all the weird sport trims. This will not make back it's R&D money.
  • Analoggrotto I don't see a red car here, how blazing stupid are you people?
  • Redapple2 Love the wheels
  • Redapple2 Good luck to them. They used to make great cars. 510. 240Z, Sentra SE-R. Maxima. Frontier.
  • Joe65688619 Under Ghosn they went through the same short-term bottom-line thinking that GM did in the 80s/90s, and they have not recovered say, to their heyday in the 50s and 60s in terms of market share and innovation. Poor design decisions (a CVT in their front-wheel drive "4-Door Sports Car", model overlap in a poorly performing segment (they never needed the Altima AND the Maxima...what they needed was one vehicle with different drivetrain, including hybrid, to compete with the Accord/Camry, and decontenting their vehicles: My 2012 QX56 (I know, not a Nissan, but the same holds for the Armada) had power rear windows in the cargo area that could vent, a glass hatch on the back door that could be opened separate from the whole liftgate (in such a tall vehicle, kinda essential if you have it in a garage and want to load the trunk without having to open the garage door to make room for the lift gate), a nice driver's side folding armrest, and a few other quality-of-life details absent from my 2018 QX80. In a competitive market this attention to detai is can be the differentiator that sell cars. Now they are caught in the middle of the market, competing more with Hyundai and Kia and selling discounted vehicles near the same price points, but losing money on them. They invested also invested a lot in niche platforms. The Leaf was one of the first full EVs, but never really evolved. They misjudged the market - luxury EVs are selling, small budget models not so much. Variable compression engines offering little in terms of real-world power or tech, let a lot of complexity that is leading to higher failure rates. Aside from the Z and GT-R (low volume models), not much forced induction (whether your a fan or not, look at what Honda did with the CR-V and Acura RDX - same chassis, slap a turbo on it, make it nicer inside, and now you can sell it as a semi-premium brand with higher markup). That said, I do believe they retain the technical and engineering capability to do far better. About time management realized they need to make smarter investments and understand their markets better.
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