click above to see the original rendering
If there's anything that Vince Burlapp of Hollywood Extra fame is good for, it's random sketches with no attribution and even less information. This newest pic appears to be a possible concept for a Mazda6-based coupe, sporting many of the design elements already seen in the newly redesigned Atenza.Shifting into speculation mode, a Mazda6 coupe (or return of the MX6) seems like a great way to expand the range of Mazda's two-door offerings, while providing some competition for buyers looking at the Nissan Altima and Honda Accord coupes. We'll take that a step further and use our powers of prognostication to equip the coupe with both the 2.5-liter four and possibly the 3.7-liter V6, along with offering a Mazdaspeed version sporting the MS3's turbocharged 2.3-liter mill. We're smelling a winner, but it's all a pipedream until we hear something from Mazda.
UPDATE: As per usual, this image has turned out to be much ado about nothing. It's an official rendering from Mazda that was released when the new Mazda6 was first unveiled in Europe, and was released again today with the unveiling of the new JDM Mazda Atenza,. It has been flipped 180-degrees horizontally and had its color reduced. Thanks to Matthijs from Mazda-Madness for clearing this up!
[Source: The Hollywood Extra]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
rndmnme @ Jan 30th 2008 10:08AM
TT-V6 M3 Killer please sans BMW reliability.
John R @ Jan 30th 2008 10:12AM
Would be interesting. I see alot of those Altima coupes around. Can't let Honda and Nissan have all the fun.
memo80 @ Jan 30th 2008 10:36AM
i guess why toyota cut solara and donna wanna make a new generation from it
J M C 3 @ Jan 30th 2008 10:27AM
As people migrate back to sedans from SUV's 2 door coupes will grow as a segment.An expressive car for singles and individual types.
voodoobru @ Jan 30th 2008 10:48AM
bloated fwd behemoths with mass market design that offer neither sport nor utility nor looks. i can understand the 350z, s2k, etc. seeing as how 2 seats = 2 doors. but why is there even a market for these vehicles family sedans with chopped off doors. seriously?
psarhjinian @ Jan 30th 2008 11:19AM
I don't know if I'd call the 6 bloated or unsporting, but I agree with the general idea: why chop two doors of an otherwise lready sporty and perfectly usable vehicle.
It seems like the coupe is more and more an older person's car anyways. Most of the youth-market sporty cars are breathed-on sedans and hatchbacks. The coupes (excluding roadsters and actual sportscars) that do sell are either sporty (in the "sport coat"
sense of the word) cars like the Altima, Accord and Solara, or 50-Year-Old-Senior-Partner-At-A-Major-Law-Firm cars like the CL or 6-Series.
Dan Parmelee @ Jan 30th 2008 11:05AM
I say make the coupe the new Mazdaspeed 6 and call it a day. 4WD + turbo 4 = 335 & G37 fighter.
Michael @ Jan 30th 2008 4:27PM
exactly Dan!!
psarhjinian @ Jan 30th 2008 11:10AM
Thanks, but no. The regular sedan is (was? will be?) sporty enough without the pretense of a coupe...
...and I'll be annoyed if a two-coor supplants the hatchback. I mean, the 6 Sport is more than slick enough. It bugs me that sporty has to mean impractical, because those of us who want practical and sporty get stiffed.
Kevin White @ Jan 30th 2008 12:29PM
The pretense of a coupe? Huh? Some of us don't need four doors or back seats. It would be more pretensious for me to purchase some four or five door vehicle with a whole backseat area than to drive something that gets me where I'm going and once in a while carries a passenger too. Practical to me is small, light, easy to park, quick-steering, with good visibility, and course competent acceleration/braking/handling. It doesn't mean a second cabin area I'll never use. Different strokes...
psarhjinian @ Jan 30th 2008 4:24PM
The issue I have isn't that coupes exist--people can buy what they like--it's that the sporty trims of certain models can _only_ be had with two doors.
This doesn't happen nearly as often as it used to. I think the success of the WRX and its sucessors have gone a long way in breaking this trend, but there's still a few holdouts, Honda would be the big, annoying one in that they've only reluctantly offered the Accord or Civic sedans in the same trims as their respective coupes, but the North American domestics (Cobalt, G6) do this, too.
I haven't got an issues with two-door, two-seaters--that makes perfect sense--and I don't begrude coupe lovers (much). I'm just annoyed that I can't buy, say, a Accord V6 sedan with a six-speed, or a BMW 135i hatchback.
Nick @ Jan 30th 2008 11:28AM
Make it RWD with the Mazdaspeed 3's turbo-4 and finally get rid of the ridiculous RX-8 and its massive amounts of fail. Once that's done, get a proper full-blown sports car back into the line-up with a fourth-generation RX-7.
Jason @ Jan 30th 2008 12:02PM
I own a Solara, these cars are targetted at people like me. Want a 2-door that is 95% driven by just me, but has the room for family if necessary.
It's not a sporty car when compared to a 350Z, RX-8 or compact coupes (SI, G5 etc) but it's comfy, roomy and sporty enough.
While the Solara is simply a 2-door Camry, it's definitely not the box-on-wheels the Camry is.
Bill @ Jan 30th 2008 12:17PM
I was anti-coupe, but I'm changing.
Was at the Washington Auto Show last weekend, and of all the "realistic" cars there (i.e. ones I could afford), I must say I was impressed with the Accord and Altima coupes. I'm not saying I'd buy one, but for the general public it makes more sense for a one-passenger commuter to drive a coupe to work than an SUV. The Accord couple is a very nice package, even in it's cheapest configuration.
Maybe coupes will make a comeback?
I know lots of single people who drive 7-passenger SUVs. By comparison a couple isn't all that impractical.
Xcountryflyer @ Jan 30th 2008 12:44PM
Please bring back the MX-6! The last generation still looks great a decade after it was last around. Guaranteed that the Mazda won't have the fade happy brakes of the Honda.
Gooch @ Jan 30th 2008 12:52PM
I always wonder why people post about turning something that's obviously FWD into RWD. If you want a RWD coupe, buy one! Several are available, from BMW, Ford and soon Hyundai. Mazda makes one too -- the RX-8. Why would they go through the complexity of turning this FWD platform into a RWD?
Coupes have their place and purpose. I've had several and enjoyed them all.
Nick @ Jan 30th 2008 1:45PM
Because the RX8 is crap? The chassis is the only thing that's good about it. The aesthetics, the fuel consumption, the lack of power, the sound, it's all rather sub-par. A RWD Mazda coupe with a body style like the one in the sketch, on a chassis similar to that of the RX-8, with the engine from the MS3, would be a -massively- superior car to the RX-8.
As for the other RWD coupes on the market, maybe, just maybe, they either don't appeal to the individual, don't offer what they need or want (the Mustang is hardly something I want), or are simply too expensive for what you get (ie. BMW).
Ahura @ Jan 30th 2008 12:55PM
Why is my post removed..? Because I'm telling the truth?
Again; this is NOT a sketch of a Mazda6 Coupé. Its a sketsh of the normal Mazda6. This is no leak or something; this image can be found on the press website of Mazda allong with other Mazda6 sketches..!!
Damon Lavrinc @ Jan 30th 2008 1:06PM
No, because after searching all of Mazda's press archives last night we were unable to find the shot. And after contacting Mazda, we didn't get a response either way. We do our due diligence. Give me a link and I'll check it out.
Ahura @ Jan 30th 2008 1:31PM
www.mazda-press.com
> Photo library
> Mazda6
> Design Sketches
And there you find several sketches:
http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii131/awforumpics/Mazda6_sketch3__jpg72.jpg
http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii131/awforumpics/Mazda6_sketch2__jpg72.jpg
And the one where its about:
http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii131/awforumpics/Mazda6_sketch5__jpg72.jpg
You can find it here too:
http://media.mazda.ch/main/indexD.htm