New Mazda 2 Won’t Be Offered To American Buyers, At Least Not As A Mazda

Looking forward to that redesigned 2016 Mazda 2 in an American showroom? Unfortunately, the only place to get one will be from the Scion dealer.

Mazda’s U.S. product planners have decided not to offer the Mexico-built 2 hatchback in the States, according to Autonews. Company executive Robert Davis said the back-and-forth decision on whether or not to offer the subcompact hatch in the U.S. was rejected because it would take resources away from more profitable models.

The previous Mazda 2 was sold in the U.S. from fall 2010. Its best year in the country was 2012, when 19,315 were sold, but fell to less than 14,000 in 2014. By contrast, the Ford Fiesta sold more than 63,000 units in the U.S. last year. Sales of many subcompact cars haven’t been helped by a drop in gas prices over the last few months.

Still, Davis said the Mazda 2 will “always be there if we need it,” because it’s sourced from Mexico and was even certified by the EPA. Weridly, the car will still be sold in Puerto Rico.

The sedan-version of the 2016 Mazda 2 serves as the basis for the 2016 Scion iA, shown in April at the New York Auto Show. The iA is a 2 sedan with a new nose, but everything about that car screams modern Mazda. Frankly, the Scion iA is just a Mazda 2 made uglier and less practical, so it’s disappointing Mazda won’t be offering its really attractive hatchback at its own dealers.

But given that the 2 was likely to be a small seller again and a Mazda 3 starts at a subcompact-like $18,000 with a still-impressive 34 combined MPG estimate, I can see how things didn’t exactly pencil out.