First look: Mazda hots up the 3

MAZDA has revealed a hotted up Mazda3 it will put on show in Tokyo in Janaury, giving us a clue to the looks of a future MPS model.

There will actually be four versions of Axela - as 3 is known in Japan - on display at the Salon, which is a major tuning and aftermarket show.

All are dressed up with Mazdaspeed bodykits and parts, and have sports suspensions as well and mufflers.

But there is no sign of the hotted up engines that are expected to form a key part of Mazda’s MPS package.

MPS stands for Mazda Performance Series and is the company’s high performance namenclature, last used on a turbo all-wheel drive Mazda6 concept revealed at the Paris show in 2002.

The company has made no secret of the fact that it intends to bring an MPS Mazda6 to production as soon as 2004, followed by MPS versions of others cars in the range including 3, 2 and even RX-8.

In fact various versions of the exciting rotary sports four-door already exist, and Mazda is showing three versions at the Salon including a full-blown racer. In total, Mazda will have 18 cars on show, including two MPV people-movers.

The Mazda3 range will be launched in Australia in January.

To be available in 2.0-litre Neo, Maxx and flagship 2.3-litre SP23 variants, the sedan and hatch range is expected to start at $22,500 for the 2.0-litre Neo manual with air-conditioning, rising to $27,000 for the Maxx and $30,000 for the SP23.

Mazda has confirmed the 2.0-litre engine’s class-leading 105kW (ECE) power output rises still higher on a premium unleaded diet, as will the range-topping SP23’s engine, which on standard ULP produces 115kW (ECE) at 6500rpm – enough for 8.5-second 0-100km/h sprinting.

Mazda has also confirmed the SP23 sedan and hatch will sport 17-inch alloy wheels, a sports bodykit, foglights, six airbags, ABS with EBD.