New Mazdaspeed6 (Mazda6 MPS) A No-Go?

The current sport version of the Mazda6, called Mazdaspeed6 in the U.S. and Mazda6 MPS in Europe, Australia and other markets, hasn’t been what you’d call a sales success. Don’t get us wrong; it’s a nice car all around, but it lacks that something special to draw buyers. Unfortunately, while Mazda could have got it right this time, the Japanese carmaker seems convinced that the market is too small for a sport version of the new “6” fitted with the same turbocharged 4-cylinder engine as the Mazdaspeed3. -Continued after the jump

Mazda6 program manager Ryuichi Umeshita, told the guys at GoAuto during the presentation of the mid-size sedan in France, “We will see if there is a big enough requirement in the market. We will seriously consider this, but honestly speaking we don’t see that. As the program manager of Mazda6, we don’t want to be overtaken by Mazda3. We need to have some differentiation. The Mazda3 MPS is a great vehicle, but the Mazda6 needs to be different.”

In other words, Mazda will either spend serious cash and time to develop a truly sport version of the “6”, or else, forget about the Mazdaspeed6 -at least for the current generation model.

Via: Autoblog.com , Source: GoAuto