1990 Mazda Miata Base Convertible 2-door 1.6l on 2040-cars

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Dealers think Mazda's new Mexico plant will increase Mazda3 sales by 20%

Mazda3 sales in the US were down about 15 percent last year to a total of 104,713 units. According to a report from Automotive News, though, the slowdown in sales has been due more to production constraints than demand.
Good news for Mazda dealers, then, that a new plant in Salamanca, Mexico has just come online. Tom Carey, chairman of Mazda's national dealer council, told AN, "We're going to be in good shape because of that Mexico inventory." If estimates prove accurate, sales of the Mazda3 will increase by about 20 percent when the new plant begins production this month.
If those lofty projections come to pass, Mazda will reportedly be on track to exceed 300,000 total sales in the US in 2014, which would represent the brand's highest figures since its 375,000-unit peak in 1994. The brand hopes to sell more than 400,000 vehicles in the US by 2016, and with well-received products like the latest 3 and Mazda6 sedan, such expectations seem quite possible.

Our Mazda MX-5 Miata has the best engine bay in the business

One of the things that's really disappointing about modern cars is how they all hide their technology under a proverbial bushel. You pop the hood, and nine times out of 10, you're faced with some amount of black plastic hiding the functional bits. On some cars the plastic covers the bare minimum to have a "presentable" engine. Others have every tank, hose, wire and screw buried under a layer of smooth plastic. Few exemplify this practice better than engine bay of the current Lexus LS 460, seen below. If Lexus was this embarrassed about its engine, maybe it should have simply bolted the hood shut. However, like with weight gain and power creep, our fourth-generation Mazda MX-5 Miata bucks the plastic trend. Lift the aluminum hood of the little roadster, and you travel back in time more than a decade. (See the gallery up top.) Only one bit of decorative plastic is in sight, and it proclaims the car's Skyactiv technology and hides some of the wires leading to the ignition coils. Otherwise, nothing else is obscured. The shock tower braces, manifolds, battery terminals, the whole shebang is all right there for you to see. What's particularly amazing is that it all looks good. Even in some cars that eschew plastic covers, it's no guarantee of an attractive engine bay. We just had a new Honda Civic Sport hatchback (seen immediately above), and while it doesn't sport a plastic engine cover, you can see from the photo that it's not particularly attractive with tubes and cables snaking every which way. But in the Miata, the hoses and wires are kept to a minimum, and the ones that are there are arranged in a way that isn't haphazard or tangled. Then, in the middle, there's the clean, simple aluminum cam cover as the gleaming centerpiece, similar to those of the first- and second-generation cars. As the owner of a '99 Miata, this detail in particular gives me the warm fuzzies. The fully exposed engine bay fits with the Miata's personality. The car is very straightforward, it features just the absolute minimum of style and comfort additions, and is highly accessible. I would say the Miata's engine bay is the window to its soul, if driving it didn't offer a clearer picture. Related Video:

Recharge Wrap-up: Renault-Nissan hits 250,000 EVs, will the next Toyota Prius be an SUV?

Will the next Toyota Prius be an SUV? Mazda and Toyota recently reached an agreement to share powertrain technologies, which will help Mazda comply with California's tightening ZEV restrictions with a plug-in vehicle. On the flip side, Toyota will have access Mazda's Skyactiv diesel powertrain, which a source tells Motoring will be used in an SUV based on the Toyota Prius (and, as Hybrid Cars suggests, on the Toyota C-HR concept). Interestingly, the collaboration will also give Mazda access to Toyota's fuel cell technology, which could mean more hydrogen powered cars on the road and the subsequent expansion of hydrogen fueling infrastructure. Could it also make way for a long-awaited hydrogen powered rotary-engine sports car from Mazda? Read more at Motoring. Samsung SDI unveiled two new lithium-ion stationary batteries at Intersolar Europe. In doing so, Samsung throws its hat in the ring with the likes of automakers Tesla and Mercedes-Benz, using knowledge from electric vehicle batteries in the arena of home solar energy storage. In addition to its 3.6-kWh battery, its new 5.5-kWh and 8.0-kWh batteries offer storage solutions at a larger, more practical scale for solar customers. Called the All-in-One, the battery system, borrowed from electric vehicles, is made up of a photovoltaic inverter, battery PCS and lithium-ion battery, and promises efficiency, compactness, fast installation and an affordable price. Read more from Samsung SDI. The Renault-Nissan Alliance has sold its 250,000th electric vehicle. The quarter-millionth EV was a white Renault Zoe sold to a French computer engineer from Bordeaux named Yves Nivelle. While he credits a government program offering a ˆ10,000 rebate for EV buyers trading in an older diesel vehicle for helping him make the decision to pull the trigger on the new Zoe, "I have to say, I was convinced the first time I drove the car. It's a real pleasure to drive and it feels good to do my part for the environment," says Nivelle. The Alliance had sold around 31,600 EVs from January to May this year, up 15 percent from the first five months of 2014. See the video above, and read more in the press release below. Renault-Nissan Alliance sells its 250,000th electric vehicle • Historic EV milestone reached in early June • Alliance sells half of all EVs globally • EV sales up nearly 15 percent through May vs.