Mazda3 to Deliver New Year Treat to Company Car Drivers

LEVERKUSEN, DEUTSCHLAND – November 23, 2010: Mazda is giving its popular lower medium sector car a New Year boost with power, emission and fuel economy improvements to the 1.6 diesel model that are expected to further boost fleet sales.

The current 109ps 1.6D is already the best-selling Mazda3 in the fleet sector, particularly with user-chooser drivers and contract hire and leasing companies, and the model now receives an additional 6ps taking it to 115ps.

From January 2011, the updated model will be available with a Euro5 compliant engine, which is now mated to a new six-speed manual transmission and also comes with a 12 percent hike in torque to 270Nm at 1750rpm.

Available as a five-door hatchback in TS and TS2 trim levels, CO2 emissions have been cut from 119g/km to 117g/km meaning all models remain in the 13 percent company car tax bracket. Combined cycle MPG is improved from 62.8 to 64.2. The TS2 five-door is anticipated to be the most popular model.

Both TS models have a P11d value of £16,450, while the TS2 has a P11d value of £17,650 meaning that company car benefit-in-kind tax bills for a basic rate taxpayer are £35.64 a month on TS models and £38.24 a month on the TS2 model. For higher rate taxpayers the monthly tax bills are £71.28 and £76.48 respectively.

Mazda Fleet and Remarketing Director Peter Allibon said: “We are winning significant conquest business with Mazda3 as company car drivers switch from other brands.

“Having a sub 120g/km car in the range delivering low benefit-in-kind tax bills, strong residual values and first class fuel economy has been crucial to building Mazda3 demand. With the improvements as a result of the imminent launch of the Euro5-compliant version I am confident that demand will increase further, particularly among user-choosers and employees who are opting for increasingly popular salary sacrifice schemes.

Direct competitors to the Mazda3, which is also available with a 2.2-litre diesel engine (150ps and 185ps power outputs) and 1.6-litre 105ps, 2.0-litre Automatic 150ps, 2.0-litre DISI 151ps and 2.3 turbocharged 260ps petrol engines, include the Renault Megane, Vauxhall Astra and Volkswagen Golf.

Residual value experts at CAP predict that after three-years/60,000 miles the TS 1.6 diesel five-door will be worth £5,200 (32%) and the TS2 £5,550 (31%).

A combination of the high P11d values and lower residual values of key rivals means that the Mazda 1.6D is the cost-effective operational choice for fleet managers when compared with the opposition. For example, the Renault Megane 1.5 dCi 110 Dynamique TomTom five-door has a P11d value of £19,060 and a predicted three-year/60,000 mile value from CAP of £4,925 (26%). while, the Vauxhall Astra 1.7 CDTi ecoFLEX SE five-door has a P11d value of £20,720 and a predicted residual value of £5,350 (26%).

It means that while the Mazda3 1.6D TS2 five-door will depreciate by £12,100 over the benchmark replacement cycle, the more expensive Megane will lose £14,135 of its new value and the even higher priced Astra £15,370.

Pence per mile operating cost figures over the benchmark period are, according to CAP, 28.34 for the Mazda3 1.6D TS five-door and 29.76 for the TS2 hatchback putting the model ahead of rivals.

Jeff Knight, Monitor Editor at CAP, said: “Rather than offering a radical alteration, Mazda has chosen to ‘tweak’ what is already a strong offering on the basis of the adage ‘don’t fix what isn’t broken’. With the introduction of a slightly cleaner and more powerful 1.6D engine the Mazda3 can be expected to maintain its already competitive position within this key sub-120g/km area of the C sector. We have no doubt that the well-specified TS2 variant will prove to be the volume seller in a sector which is always crying out for strong diesel contenders. “

Steve Paterson, Head of Data and Whole Life Costs Products at International Decision Systems, has driven the 1.6D TS. He said: “The car is stylish in a subtle way, with the now standard 'smiley' front end and still unmistakably a '3' from the rear view. The seats are comfortable with positive steering and handling which makes the car enjoyable to drive.

“With low emissions, which means the car is zero rated for first year Vehicle Excise Duty, and good MPG the model will be a popular choice. We have set the residual values for the 1.6D TS at £6,512 (39.6%) which should put it near the top of choice lists. We calculate the whole life cost figure on the model to be 29.3 ppm.”