13 February 2011 - Mazda 3 has a new facelift for the year 2012. The New Mazda 3 will be reveal to the world in 2011 Canadian International AutoShow starting from today( 18 February 2011). Mazda has give a light tweak on the front bumper on the fog lights area. A slight redesign front grille and rear bumper. The headlights are also update to more futuristic feel. New redesigned 16″ or 17″ wheels will be fitted in as well.

The Mazda 3 will be powered by the new Mazda gasoline engine, name as the Skyactiv-G mated with the Skyactiv-Drive automatic transmission. Interesting bit of the engine is the 2.0L version able to produce 163hp as compare to the current Mazda 3 2.0L engine of 145hp –  18hp more.  The torque with this new engine is 210Nm as compare to current 182Nm. That’s a significant increase of torque. The recipe behind this is a direct-injection technology with high compression ratio as for the gearbox is said to be light in weight and small in size both are able to bring fuel efficiency ( 12.75km/L) and CO2 emissions to a better level.

Mazda will badge all the vehicles with SKYACTIV technologies with a badge behind the car. It is also said that 2012 Mazda 3 will be the 1st production car to adapt SKYACTIV technologies.This new facelift Mazda 3 will be on sale in 3rd quarter this year itself in the U.S.