High-performance brands have become more popular these days as existing brands have begun fortifying their lineups just as upstart brands are getting into the picture. In Mazda’s case, it already has the MPS brand to call its own. Sadly, that sub-brand has been dormant for too long. But all that could change if Mazda finally decides to brush off the cobwebs off of MPS and bring it back to prominence.
Yuji Nakamine, Mazda’s global director and senior managing executive officer recently spoke with Motoring Australia to discuss the possibility of seeing the MPS performance make a return. While he stopped short of actually confirming the long-awaited comeback of MPS, he did say that it was something that management has been looking into it.
Nakamine’s comments don’t necessarily deviate from the company’s previous stance that bringing back the MPS is not a priority at the moment, but in the wake of rival automakers pushing for their own performance sub-brands, there appears to have renewed interest in the idea of seeing MPS return to prominence. The question at this point is how committed Mazda is to it knowing that bringing MPS back could cut some time and resources away from expanding its own SUV lineup.
For his part, Nakamine doesn’t see it as a shift in focus but more about “deploying our engineering resources for the best interests of our customers in the market.” It’s a smart stance to take, knowing that if MPS is revived, Mazda will need to be fully invested to the cause. If anything, the exec coyly dodged questions on a possible timetable, opting only to say that it could happen before the Japanese automaker’s 100th anniversary in 2020.
Continue after the jump to read the full story.
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