HIROSHIMA, Japan—Mazda Motor Corporation has announced that total orders in Japan for the all-new Demio (known overseas as the all-new Mazda2) reached 15,000 units during the first month of sales since its domestic launch on July 5, 2007. This result is triple the monthly target sales volume, demonstrating a positive reception by Japanese consumers, thanks to the Demio’s stylish exterior, highly competitive cost of ownership and top class fuel efficiency.

To date, approximately 60 percent of the orders are for the 1.3-liter 13C core grade together with the 13C-V grade, which achieves class leading 10-15 mode fuel economy of 23 km/L. Additionally, orders for the SPORT grade are more than double initial expectations.

The all-new Demio is the first car produced by Mazda to feature a continuously variable transmission (CVT), and models equipped with the CVT account for over half of the orders. Sunlight Silver Metallic, Metropolitan Grey Mica and Icy Blue Metallic have been the three most popular body colors, with the recommended Spirited Green Metallic also among the top five. The largest customer group has been single people in their 20s and 30s, followed by married women. The most preferred factory installed option has been fully automatic air conditioning with a new built-in Allergy Buster filter, with orders more than double the expected rate.

The all-new Demio website (http://www.demio.mazda.co.jp/, in Japanese only) has attracted an extremely large numbers of visitors, recording over 13 million hits, indicating that potential customers have a high degree of interest in the new model. In comparison, Mazda’s websites for its other models have been accessed on average one hundred thousand times a month. Mazda launched the New Mazda Demio teaser website in May 2007 and, in June, the special website (www.new-target.jp, in Japanese only) with user-generated created content under the theme of “people who pursue new and individual lifestyles.” Eleven Japanese celebrities -- including the stars of Mazda’s television advertisements, Hiroshi Tamaki, Rinko Kikuji and Ai Tominaga -- describe their individual lifestyles on the website, which has also attracted a great many visitors.