Now that you’ve seen the Toyota Priuses that will be present at this year’s SEMA, how about something from rival Mazda who has a spot at the show in Las Vegas, too. The Japanese manufacturer came up with two tuning ideas based on the Mazda3 and the MazdaSpeed3. They’re both covered in a Crystal White Pearl base coat with soft grey tone graphics with blackened front grille inserts, side mirrors, fog lamp bezels and roof panel. Of the two, the sedan now manages to put out a good 184kW (250hp) and comes with KW Suspension double-adjustable coil-overs and a Tri-Point adjustable rear stabiliser bar, while the MazdaSpeed3 only sports 20 more horsies but uses KW coil-overs, four-piston Stoptech calipers and modified top mounts. Rad!

We managed to got some pictures with the new Mazda 3 Hatchback that the company is going to release next week during the Bologna Motor Show. The five-door hatch is going to pack a 2.2 liter turbo diesel engine (Euro 5 diesel engine) under the hood, which comes in several tuned variations that will sport up to 182 hp. That’s not much news except for the pictures, but at least is a good thing that we’ll get to see it live next week. So what do you think? Is Mazda 3 Hatchback what you expected or what would you have changed? – via WCF

What’s the first thing in your mind when you hear Cervantes? Well today we’re going to talk about a different Cervantes, Michael Cervantes, who was on a vacation but got himself lucky to get on camera pictures with the all new 2010 Mazda 3. It’s the first time when it’s not heavily camouflaged and we can get a very good idea of what’s going to look like. At a first glance, it looks nice.

With Ford’s global C1 platform under, the new Mazda 3 is going to be much sportier, will have 6 gears and a small jump in power. I’m talking about 20-30 bhp for the current 2.3-litre motor that develops 156 bhp right now.

How do you find it? I like the new design. Really do!

via WCF