About Mazda Flair
The kei-cars never caught in Europe and they were far too small for the U.S. market. But in Asian countries, it is a trend that keeps going strong.
Suzuki is one of the biggest car-manufacturer of small vehicles and its expertise was used for badge engineering. It was the same case with the Opel Agila/Suzuki Wagon R in Europe for the second generation of the Japanese car and, on the fifth generation for the same lineup, it was also built for Mazda as the Mazda Flair.
The small, tall, boxy vehicles are known in Japan as kei cars and it is a part of the Japanese car culture. The Flair had a short front end and a cube-like cabin with a vertical end. Its big headlights started from the front bumper and were stretched almost up to the A-pillars. In the rear, the taillights were mounted on the pillars since it was cheaper than to install a part of them on the tailgate too. When compared to a Suzuki Wagon R, the only different part was the grille front bumper, which included the grille with the Mazda logo on it.
Mazda Flair was offered in two trim levels, but both had a CVT fitted as standard. The upper trim, named Flair XT, had a nice infotainment system installed on top of the center console. Only one engine was offered, with a mild-hybrid system.