A new Mazda 2 is on the way and it’ll be a shot in the arm for the petrol supermini market
Mazda's next-gen 2 supermini could be an ideal small car for buyers not yet convinced by all-electric power
With its clean and classy bodywork, MINI cuteness and 7,700rpm redline, the concept hinting at a future Mazda 2 holds lots of promise for supermini buyers starved of fresh models.
Customers wanting affordable, petrol-powered small hatches have fewer options these days: Ford’s Fiesta has infamously ceased production, the Kia Rio has bowed out and Audi is discontinuing its baby A1.
“To be successful in the ‘B-car’ business, you either need local government support or you need global scale,” Ford CEO Jim Farley told us last year, explaining the Fiesta’s demise. “If you have global scale, the centre of the market is not Europe, it’s South America, Africa and the Middle East – where the cost base is half what it is in Europe.
“We put our heart and soul into Fiesta, Focus and Mondeo and they were loved by a lot of customers, but those products could never justify more capital allocation from a business return standpoint.”
Making a profit on superminis has long been notoriously difficult, even before the current era of rampant cost inflation. Manufacturers have partly blamed tougher European safety and emissions regulations: Renault reckons these have hiked new Clio prices by 40 per cent in 15 years. An all-new Clio, with hybrid and petrol power, is on the way but won’t hit the UK before 2027.
The electric transition has also choked off the number of combustion powered superminis. Engineering decisions to go EV-only were taken about three years ago, meaning some key superminis will arrive in the next few years without petrol power.
Opel’s boss has confirmed the Vauxhall Corsa is one such car, and Peugeot’s 208 – based on the same vehicle architecture – will likely be painted into the same corner. As a result the current hatchbacks, with exterior and interior upgrades, will remain on sale alongside the new EVs.
Volkswagen Group is pursuing this strategy, extending the life of the Seat Ibiza, Volkswagen Polo and Skoda Fabia, cars that might have been axed by the proposed Euro 7 emission standard. “In 2027 we planned to phase out [the Fabia and Kamiq] because we would bring in the [electric] Epiq,” explained Skoda boss Klaus Zellmer. “The theory was everybody who wants [a supermini] will have the opportunity to buy that. But it hasn’t worked out like that.”
Today’s Mazda 2 is a Toyota Yaris beneath the skin, with a strictly hybrid drivetrain. The Vision-X-Compact looks far more distinctive and compelling. If it makes production and arrives in Europe with petrol power, plenty of consumers will be very glad of the extra choice.
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