2009 Mazda Rx-8 Grand Touring Coupe 4-door 1.3l on 2040-cars

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Mazda6 GX Grand-Am racer goes where no diesel sedan has gone before

There has never been a four-door diesel sedan in the Grand-Am series, until now: The blunt, bewinged grille of the Mazda6 GX has blown right through that wall. It's said that racing improves the breed, but usually the breed has gone on sale when the racing begins. One of the unusual aspects of the Mazda6 GX, on the other hand, is that while the diesel won't go on sale to the public until later this year, it will already have tasted racing blood by the end of the day. That kind of reversal is more likely found with super coupes like the Lexus LFA and Honda NSX.
Mazda has taken class wins at Daytona's 24-hour race a whopping 23 times since 1975, most recently in 2010 with the RX-8 in the GT class. This year the Hiroshima company decided to show off its SkyActiv technology, then turned things up to eleven by opting for its SkyActiv-D instead of the more conventional SkyActiv-G gas engine to run in the new GX class. It will be joined by competitors like the Lotus Evora and Porsche Cayman in the class, nevertheless, at 2.4 liters, it's the smallest engine on the grid.
Time has not been a friend, either - Mazda said that the first five SkyActiv-D engines off the production line went to Speed Source in Coral Springs, Florida, the company that preps Mazda's race vehicles. Still, race driver Jonathan Baumarito on the #70 car said that although the engine's been on the dyno since February of last year, it's only been in the car for about a month and there have been only a couple of test days.

Mazda3 celebrates 10 happy years

Mazda is on the cusp of unveiling an all-new Mazda3, but the compact will mark an important milestone before that happens. The very first Mazda3 rolled off of the assembly line on June 25, 2003. A decade later, the little car has snagged some 136 awards. The first generation sold 2.2 million units over the span of six years, and the second has smiled its way into the hearts of 1.4 million buyers since 2009. Mazda notes the machine even took the honor of being the top-selling passenger car in Australia in 2011 and 2012.
So, what will the future bring? The Japanese automaker is keeping the details to itself for the moment. From the spy photos we've seen, it looks as if the new design will fall under the company's new Kodo design philosophy. That same language brought us the perilously sexy Mazda6, and the new Mazda3 should be no less attractive. You can check out those photos here.
You can also read the full press release on the compact's 10-year anniversary below.

Why we can't have better headlights here in the U.S.

It wouldn't be a European auto show if we weren't teased with at least one mainstream vehicle we can't have here. At the Geneva Motor Show last week, the small but vocal contingent of shooting-brake buffs lamented that the Mazda6 wagon won't be coming to our shores, although they can take comfort in the fact that the vehicle won't get the torquey 250-horsepower 2.5-liter turbocharged gasoline engine we'll get here. Mercedes-Benz also announced a new headlight technology in Geneva that likely won't be available here anytime soon. It's just the latest in a long line of innovative and potentially lifesaving front-lighting solutions that the federal government doesn't allow in this country due to outdated standards — and a current lack of leadership at the U.S. Department of Transportation. Mercedes-Benz's new Digital Light system that debuted in Geneva uses a computer chip to activate more than a million micro-reflectors to better illuminate the road ahead. The Digital Light headlamps works with the vehicle's cameras, sensors and navigation mapping to adjust lighting for the given location and situation and to detect other road users. The Digital Light technology also serves as an extended head-up display of sorts by projecting symbols on the pavement ahead to alert drivers to, say, slippery conditions or pedestrians in the road. And it can even project lines on the road in a construction zone or through tight curves to show the driver the correct path. Digital Light will be available on Mercedes-Maybach vehicles later this year, although like any technology it's bound to trickle down to less expensive vehicles. That is, if we ever get it here in the U.S. Audi, a leader in automotive lighting, has repeatedly run into snags trying to bring state-of-the-art car headlights to the U.S. The German luxury automaker's recently introduced matrix laser headlight system, which performs many of the same trick as Mercedes-Benz's Digital Light, also isn't legal on U.S. roads. And five years after the introduction of its matrix-beam LED lighting, which illuminates more of the road without blinding oncoming motorists with brights by simultaneously operating high and low beams, Audi still can't bring that technology to the U.S. either.