The waiting game is finally over as Mazda Philippines officially launched the highly anticipated Mazda 3.
With units arriving from Japan two weeks ago, the fourth-generation Mazda 3 in the Philippine market comes with Elite and Premium variants. The Elite iterations of the Sportback and Sedan have a 1.5-liter Skyactiv-G gasoline engine that produces 111ps at 6,000rpm along with 146Nm of torque at 3,500rpm.
On the other hand, under the hood of the Premium variants is a more powerful 2.0-liter engine churning out 154ps at 6,000rpm and 200Nm at 4,000 rpm. Either engine is mated to a six-speed Skyactiv-Drive automatic transmission with Sport Mode.
Sharing the DNA of the seventh-generation, so-called Evolved KODO Design, all Mazda 3 variants come with standard features like an 8.8-inch LCD monitor, seven-inch LCD display, dual-zone automatic climate control, and rear ventilation louvres.
Meanwhile, the higher-tier iterations come with a 12-speaker Bose sound system, 360-degree camera, 18-inch aluminum alloy wheels along with a plethora of safety features such as blind-spot monitoring, lane departure warning, smart brake support, and driver monitoring.
The top-of-the-line Speed variant comes with exclusive high-end red leather seats along with a Brilliant Black exterior.
The all-new Mazda 3 is priced as follows:
1.5-liter Sportback Elite: P1,320,000
1.5-liter Sedan Elite: P1,295,000
2.0-liter Sportback Premium: P1,510,000
2.0-liter Sedan Premium: P1,495,000
2.0-liter Speed: P1,590,000
Sharing the story behind the KODO design of the seventh generation, Mazda Philippines president Steven Tan said that Mazda Design Chief Ikuo Maeda once spoke to him saying most of the vehicles’ design nowadays may be impressive but has a short-term appeal.
“It’s impressive and wows you for like 30 seconds,” Tan recalled.
Tan said that unlike others, Mazda’s design has “timeless” appeal.
“This is an all new product. [It’s] amazing to drive, amazing to touch and see. We call it arousing your senses. So this is the first of those products and it is not linear in terms of development – it leafrogs [and] exhilarates,” Tan said.
“So, when you get a chance to see it, drive it and listen to the audio. You will find that it is so far different from the previous generation which is still very far ahead of others in my opinion,” Tan added.
