Is this the new Mazda 3?

THE Mazda 3 is only a year old, but already the firm is showing us what the next version of its VW Golf and Ford Focus rival could look like.

Compared to today’s happy-faced model, the new car is more dynamic. The body is heavily sculpted, with arching sills and the sharp creases of the firm’s new Kodo design direction.

The computer graphics were part of a video released by the Mazda Design Centre in Frankfurt and show a sportier car with a ‘ready-to-pounce look’ that is a hallmark of the Kodo theme. The video shows the car in a range of colours and body treatments. Mazda says it doesn’t pre-empt a concept, but with all the firm’s new models set to adopt the Kodo look, it will be in the running when the next 3 arrives in 2013.

First to benefit from the look will be the new 6, due in 2012. It takes its cues from the Shinari concept, expected to debut at the 2011 Geneva Motor Show. Mazda has dropped its Nagare design theme, with only the new 5 MPV using the signature flowing lines.

source: auto express