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Just as the Paris Motor Show is about to start and Mazda will flaunt its Kiyora, I got thinking about two other cars from the Japanese auto-maker more seriously than any of its concepts. I confess that I have a personal liking towards Mazda. The RX8 is one sports car that I would love to own, primarily because it does not have any of the regular sports car drawbacks. And then is the engine – a rotary. It is merely a 1.3L unit but has 232 manic horses waiting angrily to unleash their power. Nothing gets better than owning a hyper-performance car that is endowed with the goodies and does well to endorse a mad-hat character.

But true-blue, track-focused, yet affordable sports cars are still quite some way off and Mazda would do well to enter the Indian market with products that will give a ‘teaser’ experience of things to come in future. A few products carrying the Mazda badge that will make perfect sense for India are Mazda 2, 3 and 6. And, trust you me, the Mazda 2 and 6 may very well go on to become class leaders. If not that, they will make sure of inducing life-threatening heartaches in their rivals, at least. Mazda 6 is a rival to the likes of Honda Accord, Toyota Camry and Hyundai Sonata while Mazda 2 fights it out in the small-car segment. Mazda 3 is positioned against Honda’s Civic and Toyota Corolla but owing to its toned-down looks vis-à-vis Civic, the 3 might not find many takers in the entry level D segment.

First, the car that makes perfect sense to make the small car segment boil with excitement – Mazda 2. When you look at it, she exudes a certain naughty character, just like a little brat going about his antics as usual. The front end is lively and the smiling grille section only adds to the cuteness while the rear is quite attractive too and looks enticingly voluptuous. Mazda 2 has a five-star Euro NCAP safety rating which should make it one of the safest cars in its segment. In the international market, Mazda 2 comes with a choice of three engines. But we are interested in the 1.4L common rail diesel engine which is good for 67bhp and the 1.3L petrol engine that puts out a strong 74bhp. There is also a 1.5L, 102bhp engine on offer, but bringing this engine in India would not make sense, owing to obvious reasons.

The second car that would sell like hot cakes if marketed well here is Mazda 6. It looks more delicious than a sizzling brownie, has enough poke to make Honda Accord sweat and interiors that would appeal to the driver inside you. Mazda has many engines, which could be perfect for India but we are primarily interested in two of them. There’s a 2.5L petrol engine that wakes up to 168 horses and 226Nm of torque that can keep the petrol-head satisfied while a 2.2L, 182bhp diesel engine that promises to be quite hot on performance. The Mazda 6 promises to be the mechanical equivalent of Demi Moore in visual appeal and Oksana Baiul for agility. What more could one ask for!

If only this Japanese auto-maker could understand the potential of Indian automotive market, we would have already had the cars mentioned zipping around on our roads. Also, Ford has controlling stake in Mazda, but the American giant failed miserably with its Mondeo in the D segment. Mazda 6 could change that forever… anyone listening?