I really think Mazda has a good thing going with their new transmissions. I'm sure they'll need to be strengthened to handle the extra power, but they can do it. One of the reasons I love Mazda so much is because they won't exclude manual transmissions in most of their lineup either...at least not for awhile. I know there's no manual at the moment in the CX-3 or the CX-9, but they at least offer it in their volume sellers. If there's one thing Mazda has almost always done well, it's manual gearboxes. As long as they don't forget that going forward, I'm good with an auto in the new Speed3/MPS and MS MX-5.
Edit: A couple other points I was thinking of after writing this. I think Ford's reliability issue is all the more reason for Mazda to pounce and bring out the next-gen Mazdaspeed cars. Mainly because people who took notice of the Fiesta/Focus ST's poor reliability and lack of automatic transmissions sacrificed the few extra G's to get the Golf GTI instead. This is a prime opportunity for Mazda to bring in cars priced competitively with Fords that will not only drive as well (if not better) than the Fords, but also be more reliable.
I know Mazda has racing heritage in the current generation with the it's diesel 6 Grand-Am racer. Mazda has great track racing heritage period (Who could forget the 787B?). I'd really like to see Mazda turn its attention toward rallying with an AWD MS3. Ford did it with the Focus, VW does it with the Polo, and Subaru and Mitsubishi have been doing it for years. If the 3 ever got some rally cred, it would be much more impressive in my book. Mazda hasn't been rallying in any official capacity for many years...am I the only one who would like to see a Mazdaspeed rally car?