Redesigned Mazda2 hatchback sits out U.S.

LOS ANGELES -- Cheap gasoline and tight supplies from a new factory in Salamanca, Mexico, have persuaded Mazda Motor Corp. to forgo selling the redesigned Mazda2 in the U.S., a top executive said.

Last year, as Mazda's international sales offices jostled for allocation of the fuel-sipping subcompact hatchback, U.S. executives decided it wasn't a priority, Rob-ert Davis, senior vice president of U.S. operations at Mazda, said in an interview.

"We could have had it, but we would have had a number that didn't make much sense with 600 dealers and with the marketing it takes to launch a new car," he said. "I wanted to allocate resources to those products that make us and our dealers considerably more profit than a Mazda2 does."

The outgoing Mazda2, which started at about $15,000 and competed against the Toyota Yaris and Ford Fiesta, was never a big seller in the U.S. Mazda moved 13,615 units of the Mazda2 in 2014, a 14 percent increase, and supplies are now gone; Mazda sold just 21 units of the Mazda2 in April. 

"It'll always be there if we need it," Davis said, but for now, low gasoline prices and an increasing American affinity for crossovers make the Mazda2 expendable. 

One version of the Mazda2 will appear stateside. Toyota Motor Corp., which announced a technical-development "marriage" with Mazda this month, plans to sell a Mazda2-based sedan in the U.S. as the Scion iA. It will be built at Mazda's Salamanca plant. 

That deal, combined with the fact that the Mazda2 will be sold in Puerto Rico, meant Mazda had to test the car to U.S. safety and environmental standards. 

The 2016 Mazda2 gets 37 mpg combined with an automatic transmission and 35 mpg combined with a manual, according to the EPA's fueleconomy.gov website.