Mazda3 MPS/Mazdaspeed3 rumored to appear at Geneva Motor Show

We've already seen the 2010 Mazda3 in sedan and five-door form, but as much as we love the standard model in all of its guises, there's one variant we're anxiously awaiting. The 2010 Mazdaspeed3 (or MPS to our friends abroad) is on the way, and according to our sources, it's coming to the Geneva Motor Show in March.

The 2010 MS3 has some huge shoes to fill after we fell in love with the current model during its time in the Autoblog Garage. We've gotten confirmation that the prototype spied at the Nurburging in October is, in fact, the new Mazdaspeed variant, although it's still unclear what turbocharged engine is being fed by that massive hoodscoop.

Early reports indicated that Mazda's boffins were hard at work retuning the current turbo'd 2.3-liter four-cylinder for duty in the 2010 model, but why invest the time in an upgrade when there's a perfectly suitable – and hugely powerful – 2.5-liter five-cylinder available from the Ford parts bin? The turbocharged Duratec fitted to the 2010 Focus RS seems like the obvious choice, with 295 hp and 302 lb-ft of torque being channeled to the front wheels through a six-speed manual and limited slip differential. We can hope – no, pray – this is Mazda's plan. And we're going to find out in just over two months time.