I am putting this hear as we don't have a general general chat and the CX-5 is most active and where, IMHO, this is most obvious anyway.
There seems to be a lot of discussion about how Mazda has changed from being a sporty enthusiast company to a more premium company. Examples often cited are that Mazdaspeed is gone. While this article doesn't really talk about Mazdaspeed specifically it does I feel show that the desire to be a more premium brand has actually been there for decades. They are just trying again, albeit not quite as ambitiously, with their current push to be more premium.
Also if you look at Ford's ST brand I wonder if Mazdaspeed was more Ford culture than Mazda all along.
https://jalopnik.com/it-was-japan-s...&utm_source=jalopnik_copy&utm_campaign=bottom
Also interesting commentary on the Japanese car industry in general.
There seems to be a lot of discussion about how Mazda has changed from being a sporty enthusiast company to a more premium company. Examples often cited are that Mazdaspeed is gone. While this article doesn't really talk about Mazdaspeed specifically it does I feel show that the desire to be a more premium brand has actually been there for decades. They are just trying again, albeit not quite as ambitiously, with their current push to be more premium.
Also if you look at Ford's ST brand I wonder if Mazdaspeed was more Ford culture than Mazda all along.
https://jalopnik.com/it-was-japan-s...&utm_source=jalopnik_copy&utm_campaign=bottom
Also interesting commentary on the Japanese car industry in general.