New Mazda 5 Set for World Debut at 2010 Geneva Auto Show

GENEVA — The redesigned Mazda 5, which will go on sale in Europe later this year, will make its world debut in March at the 2010 Geneva Auto Show. Mazda North American Operations told Inside Line that the car will be shown in the U.S. at the 2010 Los Angeles Auto Show and will go on sale here at an unspecified date in 2011.

"There is no firm date as to when it will go on sale in the U.S., but it will be sometime in 2011," Jeremy Barnes, Mazda's U.S. spokesman, told Inside Line in a telephone conversation on Wednesday. "And there is nothing at all I can tell you about the U.S.-spec car [such as pricing or engine choices]. We're a long way from all of that information."

The Mazda 5 bound for Geneva is being described as a 2010 model, according to Mazda's U.K. operations. The Euro-spec model gets a newly developed 2.0-liter direct-injection gasoline engine linked to a six-speed manual transmission. The lineup also includes a 1.8-liter gasoline engine linked to a six-speed manual transmission. The Mazda 5 also features an i-stop idling system that saves fuel.

Mazda's home office said the new Mazda 5 "will be the first Mazda production model to fully adopt Mazda's Nagare design language, which finds inspiration in the beauty of flows found in nature."

It pointed out that the new Mazda 5 gets multiple seat arrangements, including a second-row center seat that can be converted to storage space. Ride has also been improved, the Japanese automaker said.

Inside Line says: We get a sense of how the new Mazda 5 will look, but no details on how the U.S. version will be equipped at this point. — Anita Lienert, Correspondent