Most of our readers have likely read about the 2014 Mazda3-debacle (if you haven’t, please do so here), which had our original (and may we say quite accurate) rendering being picked up without credits and without watermarks by several sites and blogs after it appeared in the Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s annual “Car Wars” analysis.

Anyway, it would appear that AutoTribune, one of the sites that hosts our rendering, in its vandalized state, posted a photo with a realistic-looking 2014 Mazda3 hatch sourced from an unnamed Japanese magazine.

If any of our Japanese readers can help out with the translation of the short piece accompanying the 2014 Mazda3 (called Axela in its home market) photos, we’d appreciate it. For what it’s worth, we aren’t convinced yet that these images are real, but we’ll stop here.

What we will do is stick to what we know – Mazda will be placing the emphasis on efficiency and economy with its VW Golf challenger, and like they have done with the 6, they will also infuse it with a bit of sporting spirit which should set it apart in the increasingly crowded and competitive market sector it is aiming at.

By Andrei Nedelea

PHOTO GALLERY

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