Mazda will add a mini-minivan to its stable of cars next year when it launches the Mazda5.
Mazda5 will seat seven (2-3-2), says the Ford-controlled Japanese firm, though at least three of them will have to be children since it's the same width as the firm's Mazda3 compact station wagon, though taller and longer.
Putting the best possible spin on the fact that the people will be sitting in close quarters, Mazda says ''the ambience throughout the cabin encourages open communication among its occupants.''
The Mazda5 mini-minivan would also seem to be a significant departure from Mazda's ''Zoom-Zoom'' marketing message, and the company does allow as how ''overall, it reflects the personality of a vehicle that is more clearly focused on utility and passenger communication compared with other models released since Mazda adopted the Zoom-Zoom brand strategy.''
Overall, the Mazda5 is supposed to ''combine cabin comfort, outstanding functionality and true driving pleasure with a clean and stylish design.''
It has the sliding doors that are standard issue for a minivan, but it's narrower than anything else in the segment. Mazda5 is 4,505-mm long on a wheelbase of 2,750 mm, it's 1,620-mm high, and 1,755-mm wide. This means it's 85-mm longer and 155-mm higher than the Mazda3, and of course the same width.
Mazda points out that, despite the long wheelbase, the Mazda5 features an ''excellent minimum turning radius of just 5.3 metres, making it remarkably easy for any driver to manoeuvre in tight situations.''
The sliding doors make it easy to get to the second row of seats of course, but Mazda points out that a ''one-touch third row walk-in mechanism lightens the burden of storing shopping and transporting children.''
The second row of seats contains what might be the Mazda5's most unique feature -- a ''Karakuri'' seat that folds out from beneath the cushion of the left-hand second row seat to provide space for a passenger between the second row seats.
Mazda says ''particular effort went to ensuring maximum headroom and legroom while providing a comfortably high seating position for friends or family seated in the third row.''
The second and third row seats can be easily arranged in a number of flexible positions to allow maximum efficiency in the use of space, Mazda points out, and in addition to their slide and recline functions, the second row seats each feature a double-fold mechanism.
To make this versatility possible, says Mazda, it had to ''overcome a number of challenges,'' including the development of a low-profile fuel tank to accommodate a low, flat cabin floor without sacrificing fuel tank capacity for long journeys.
Mazda5's program manager, Kenichi Fekunaga, Mazda5's program manager, says his main goal was to develop a ''communicative and dynamic'' mini-minivan with ''user-friendly practicality to encourage a relationship between the vehicle and its users. It enables passengers to interact with each other in comfort.''