Ford's Next U.S. Subcompact Based on Mazda2

The eagerly awaited redesigned Mazda2 subcompact will debut in Geneva next week, but Ford told its employees yesterday that it would build a version of the small car with a Blue Oval badge for the U.S. market. Ford owns a controlling stake in Mazda.

There’s still no word on whether or not the new Mazda2 will come stateside — the current version is sold in Europe and other parts of the world — but because speculation has the Ford version taking another two years to arrive, we’d lean toward the Mazda2 joining the U.S. lineup before then so the company doesn’t give up market share to Nissan, Toyota, Honda, Suzuki and Hyundai. All of those companies already offer new models in the rapidly expanding subcompact category.

[New Subcompact Coming to U.S., The Detroit News]