Sayonara to MPS as Mazda officially confirms the end of performance moniker

Mazda has officially confirmed that its hardscore MPS moniker, or Mazdaspeed in the United States, has run its course and won’t form part of its future plans.

In spite of the introduction of the 3 Turbo four months ago, which rumours alleged would have revived the MPS moniker last used in 2013, an unnamed Mazda representative told CNET’s Road Show at a media briefing last week that luxury has taken preference over outright performance.

“Mazda is focused on becoming more mature and upscale. It is our priority to continue to evolve the next generation of Skyactiv Technologies. As part of this evolution, we are refining and applying our turbocharged engines to more models to provide better, stronger performance with engaging driving dynamics,” the spokesperson said.

As is well-known though, Hiroshima will not depart from performance models altogether as evident by the showing of the new straight-six turbocharged engine destined for the next generation 6 in 2022 last week, as well as ongoing rumours of the much speculated RX-9.

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