[Hisakazu Imaki, President and CEO]

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I am Hisakazu Imaki at Mazda. I am deeply grateful for your coming to our publicity for the Mazda Axela today.

I was appointed President and CEO of Mazda Motor Corporation at the end of last August. Imagining Mazda employees working worldwide as well as in Japan, I am convinced afresh of excellence of Mazda Motor Corporation as a team. Leading such a wonderful team is my great pride and responsibility.

It is my pleasure to welcome so many journalists today. I am also proud of having this opportunity because today's publicity for the Axela marks a significant milestone of our Millennium Plan which all employees at Mazda have been aligned to promote.

Since spring of 2002, Mazda has introduced "Zoom-Zoom" or "Fun to Drive" next generation of vehicles into the market one after another. The ATENZA and the DEMIO, which were released last year, have gained extremely favorable reputation in the global market as well as in Japan. To top it off, the RX-8 launched this year is scheduled to be released in Europe soon, following its well-established reputation in Japan, North America and Australia. Like this, either of Mazda's next generation of vehicles based on the global brand strategy has achieved a great success.

And, the today-unveiled Axela is Mazda's fourth next generation vehicle. The Axela, developed thanks to efforts of each Mazda employee to make customers around the world Mazda fans, has arrived at the market with its unique characteristics beyond conventional definition of a new model. It is more like a new breed.

Here is a blue rose. Speaking of a rose, most of you would imagine a red one. But, what colors this venue today is a blue rose, as you can see. A blue rose never exists in nature. And every one tried to produce it and aspired to get it. The presence of this blue rose is a symbol of our passion in a bid to create a new and unconventional standard, breaking out of existing categories, and has a lot in common with this vehicle that is being launched today.

Now ladies and gentlemen, you are going to witness birth of the Mazda Axela. "Don't' call it a new car. It's a new breed." Here you go.

How do you like it? This Axela completes a lineup of four key models of our next generation vehicles developed based on our Millennium Plan.

"Axela" is a car that has further enhanced "Mazda"-ness, while at the same time meeting elements running through Mazda's next generation vehicles such as distinctive design, excellent dynamic performance and superb quality.

From the beginning, the "Axela" has been developed with an aim to win in the global C-car market. Taking over Mazda's exclusive driving superiority and perfect craftsmanship, the "Axela," I believe, is qualified enough to be a new global standard of the C-car segment, or a post-global car.

As shown at the beginning of the video, this vehicle has already been released in Europe as "MAZDA3" prior to its domestic launch, and highly acclaimed by journalists and other European people.

Axela's market is not limited to Europe and Japan. We position the "Axela" as the most mass-market model, setting annual target sales of 250,000 units for the global market.

Following Europe and Japan, the Axela is scheduled to be launched in 95 nations (TBC) around the world, including North America. The Axela is a product that should play a key role in penetration of the Mazda brand at a global level.

After introduction of the Axela, Mazda's four next generation vehicles occupy two-thirds of its global sales. This vehicle completes our flagship lineup that supports future Mazda.

Ladies and gentlemen, we would like you to see Mazda as a company making a great leap, backed by its powerful flagship models and its "indomitable challenging spirit." From now on, we intend to further accelerate growth of Mazda, driven by products including this lineup of next generation vehicles so that we can accomplish the Millennium Plan.

Well, let me introduce AXELA Program Manager Tanioka-san, who is going to brief on Axela's product features. Then, Managing Director in charge of domestic sales and marketing strategy Furuta-san will be with you.

Over to you, Tanioka-san.

[Akira Tanioka, Program Manager of Mazda Axcela]

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I'm Akira Tanioka, program manager of the all-new Mazda Axela.

I'm very proud and excited to introduce the all-new Mazda Axela today. The launch event makes me feel like a nervous father. I am recalling that I was watching my young daughter play the piano at the school art festival.

As you all may know, there are four steps in vehicle development process. They are "planning," "design," "testing," and finally "preparation for manufacturing."

Planning involves developing product strategy such as identifying markets and key competition in each market. The all-new Mazda Axela was developed to compete around the world. We decided to design and develop this vehicle against strong competition such as Volkswagen Golf, Peugeot 307 and Ford Focus.

For Mazda, the decision meant that a young up-and-coming sumo wrestler was to put up a fight against a seasoned and skilled champion. But the challenge did not scare us. A team of Mazda designers and engineers at R&D stood up to the challenge to produce the all-new Mazda Axela. We're fully confident that this fantastic product has a great potential and charm to compete and win in major markets around the world.

Let me highlight the Mazda Axela's charm with three key values. We've identified the three key values as DESIGN, CRAFTSMANSHIP, and DYNAMIC PERFORMANCE.

Firstly on DESIGN. Attractive design is something essential for a vehicle that customers die to show off to their friends.

We've kept our focus on two things when designing this product. First, we wanted to create a styling that immediately grabbed attention and emotions. Secondly, we wanted styling that never lost initial appeal, something that withstands the test of time. In other words, we wanted exciting design with everlasting appeal.

Please take a look at the stage. The all-new Mazda Axela offers two body types – five-door and four-door. The five-door is characterized by edgy and distinctive styling, while four-door has a sporty coupe look. Both five-door and four-door share a sense of luxury, which is essential to the Axela's enduring design.

I'd like all of you to take a close look at rear design. The Axela's rear design, both five-door and four-door, commanded much attention and high acclaim at European drive appraisals. Totally new styling that's never offered by other manufacturers!

We did not forget to add "Sports Appearance Package" to the Mazda Axela line-up. The Sports Appearance Package gets special grille, bumpers, side skirts, rear spoiler and 17-inch tires to produce a sporty style for customers wanting something sportier and aggressive.

Let's move on to the interior. Again "sporty" look was created in the smallest detail. Sporty theme runs consistent inside for customers to feel just as excited as they first took a look at the vehicle, with three triple gauges and metallic parts.

The second key value is CRAFTSMANSHIP. Craftsmanship comes from works of great artisans and craftsmen, but again this is one of the essences of everlasting design. We wanted Mazda's craftsmanship translated to "kind to five human senses".

The Mazda Axela was built with a checklist of 1,500 items, and these are sound of door opening and closing, feel of driver's seat, look around instrument panel, grip on the steering wheel to name but a few.

In addition to quality fit and finish and functional beauty, we made sure that every detail of the Mazda Axela delighted our customers. Simply put, we wanted items that gave delightful surprise to customers.

Let's take an example. The triple gauges on some grades include black meter with blue indirect lighting with theater-dimming effect when turning on the ignition, for a sense of delightful surprise and luxury.

The third key value is DYNAMIC PERFORMANCE. Most of us think that dynamic performances mean "fun to drive", but we wanted to realize "safety speed" as a part of the DYNAMIC PERFORMANCE package.

You may be wondering what "safety speed" is, and I will explain in a minute.

When you drive a car and accelerate, you start to get a variety of danger signals, like engine note, wind noise, sound of tires, and body vibration when changing a lane. These "signals" make you feel the speed and you begin to feel tense.

With vehicles that are highly reputed in Europe, you only feel these signals when you drive at a very high speed. In other words, these vehicles offer wider range of speed at which you feel "safe." These vehicles have excellent "safety speed" range, meaning you feel just as comfortable and secure whether you drive at 140 kilometers per hour or at 100 kilometers per hour.

In order to achieve this, you need to enhance total performance including handling, steering and NVH and so on. "Safety speed" tested Mazda's technological and engineering standard, and we came up with a vehicle that's "fun to drive" without getting tense whenever you accelerate.

Body rigidity played particularly important role in achieving "safety speed." Let me give you an example. Think about two buildings, one built with concrete and another with wood. Compared to a wooden structure, a concrete structure is not only more rigid but better shuts off noise and vibration from outside.

For us to provide wider range of "safety speed," we needed to ensure exceptionally high body rigidity, like a concrete structure.

We've added reinforcements illustrated on the video to the body to improve flexural rigidity by 40 percent. Furthermore, stiffness of the root of suspension tower introduced from the Mazda Atenza had been greatly improved. Greatly improved rigidity of these parts are just like reinforcements on angles connecting pillars and beams of residential structure.

Next, we made sure that highly rigid body was combined with suspension possessing great potential.

Front suspension received sub frame and rubber mounts on four points that attach to the body. Lower arms were quipped with liquid-injected mount. This is an advanced technique to greatly reduce vibration caused by tires, normally found in CD cars.

Rear suspension is multi-link normally found in CD cars. Total of 22 links connected to bush dramatically suppressing vibration caused by tires.

Greatly improved dynamics require highly reliable brake, and we've up rated the Axela's brake size achieving responsive pedal feel and top of the class braking distance.

Mazda's next-generation MZR I-4 DOHC engine has been evolved to power the all-new Mazda Axela. In addition to 1.5-liter and 2.0-liter commonly featured in compact vehicles, 2.3-liter has been added to complete the Axela engine line-up.

All of the these three engines are U-LEV standard, and part of 1.5-liter and 2.0-liter engine line-up meet the green tax regulations.

I'm confident that everyone who sits behind the steering wheel of the all-new Mazda Axela enjoys torqueful driving and refreshingly fun acceleration.

I've secretly devised a special dynamics assessment modes to test the Mazda Axela. One is a mode set to drive a single lap on high-speed test circuit without your hands on the steering wheel. Another mode was set to testing a vehicle at 180 kilometers per hour on top of the bank at high-speed test course, then immediately decelerate to low-speed drive lane. You may call it a roller-coaster mode.

I remember testing a European luxury saloon that' felt so smooth you felt like gliding on a velvet carpet, and I am very proud to tell you that I had exactly the same drive feel with the all-new Mazda Axela. It proved that Mazda had achieved desirable "safety speed" in the Axela.

So far I've outlined the product with three key values – DESIGN, CRAFTSMANSHIP, and DYNAMIC PERFORMANCE. I know that Mazda achieved a great success with the all-new Axela and I would personally like to congratulate and thank every member of our R&D team who gave 100 plus percent of dedication and commitment to the Axela's success.

Every vehicle is built with 25,000 to 35,000 parts, and the fact shows that building a car requires just as many numbers of experts and professionals. My responsibility was to maximize our engineer's skills and motivation, and I believe that they did an excellent job. My belief as a leader is that success is only possible by a strong team and the team's efforts.

You're looking at photos of members of the Axela R&D team. Every member put 100 plus percent in his or her specialized area to build the Mazda Axela. They all look proud and happy, aren't they? A great sense of achievement and confidence in this product shines through their faces.

I'd personally like to invite you to take a close look at the all-new Mazda Axela after the presentations. I challenge you to tell us what you think about this great new product, and I'm looking forward to having a big celebration with the team tonight with glasses of chilled beer!

With that I'd like to conclude my speech. Thank you all for your attention, and I'd like to hand the stage over to Masao Furuta who will talk about domestic sales and marketing strategy.

Furuta-san,

[Masao Furuta, Managing Executive Officer in charge of Domestic Sales, Marketing and Customer Services]

Hello ladies and gentlemen. I'm Masao Furuta, managing director in charge of domestic sales. Thank you all for coming to the all-new Mazda Axela press launch today, and for your continuous support of Mazda and our vehicles.

You've just heard Mr. Tanioka talk about the product concept, development and outline. Now I'd like to take time to talk about our sales strategy and marketing.

The all-new Mazda Axela is built upon an all-new platform based on our Millennium Plan.

For Mazda, the all-new Mazda Axela was developed to complete and offer the product line-up catering most of today's diversified customer needs.

In Mazda's Millennium Plan, we've decided to completely refresh our passenger car platforms to support the next-generation products. An array of new products launched last year – Mazda Atenza, Demio and RX-8, were all developed based on new concept. This year, Mazda launches the all-new Mazda Axela to complete our new B, C, C/D FF and FR sports car platforms, achieving our initial development objective.

I'm proud to say that thanks to your enthusiasm and support, all of our next-generation products to date achieved sales objectives to prove excellence of our all-new engines and platforms. The sales success of our next-generation products also proved that our new product line-up dictated by the Millennium Plan was heading to the right direction. We're ready to produce derivatives to further address customers and their needs based on our new platforms.

For Mazda to take full advantage of the new platforms, we must achieve sales success of the all-new Mazda Axela. We know that our customers wanted a product that connects a gap between Demio and Atenza, and we're fully confident that the Mazda Axela will deliver as Japan's best C-class vehicle.

Mazda's sales and marketing strategy for the all-new Axela aims to develop the product as one of Mazda's core mass production vehicles backed by wide range of grades and price points.

Our short-term sales objectives are 30,000 units for Japan, 70,000 units for Europe, 100,000 units for North America, 50,000 units for Asia and Oceania, totaling 250,000 units around the world.

In Japan, we wanted to make a statement that this product is ahead of the league with its fantastic driving dynamics, improved safety thanks to its rigid structure body, and voluminous design, we decided to renew the nomenclature to Axela. We wanted the name Mazda Axela to be associated with a new category proposed by Mazda.

The engine line-up was set to address different markets and needs around the world to achieve our global sales objective of 250,000 units.

Japan gets three grades for both four-door and five-door – 1.5, 2.0 and 2.3-liters with wide yet affordable price points ranging from 1.395 million yen for 1.5-liter to 1.95 million yen for 2.3-liter 23S which is the highest grade. I'm sure that Japanese customers are lured by distinctive and innovative design offered at prices customers are happy to pay.

TRY & JUDGE CAMPAIGN LAUNCH

When you drive the all-new Mazda Axela, you feel "complete harmony between rider and horse" you typically enjoy with the Mazda Roadster when you accelerate and turn corners. We heard customers who test drove the Mazda Atenza at last year's launch that they could not believe that this product was offered by a Japanese manufacturer. I'm confident that these customers will be even more surprised when they sit behind the steering wheel of the all-new Mazda Axela.

We wanted to bring this exciting driving experience to as many customers as we can, so we designed our marketing campaign around "TRY & JUDGE" test drive campaign. We'll be offering test drives at European locations such as the Alps Mountains and suburbs of Paris for customers to best appreciate the product design. A special test drive event will be hosted in Makuhari during the 2003 Tokyo Motor Show for customers visiting the Mazda stand to get the Mazda Axela product experience. The voices of customers who experience the Axela will be featured in advertising and on the website.

WEB-TUNE FACTORY SITE: AXELA LAUNCH

Mazda web-tune factory has been supported by enthusiastic Mazda customers wanting to personalize the Roadster. The all-new Mazda Axela will be available on Mazda's web-tune factory website and orders will be taken starting October 24.

Web-tune factory offers 700 combinations of doors, engine, mission, interior, options and paint for customers. Mix and match process is kept simple and fun, to encourage customers to produce their personalized Mazda Axela.

Web-tune factory is Mazda's unique way of evolving online product personalization. I personally invite every one of you to access our site to see how it's all done.

I'd like to conclude my speech by showing you the all-new Mazda Axela TV commercial.

Thank you for your attention, and please enjoy.

(Showing the Japan-domestic TV commercial film of Mazda Axela.)