Mini Minivan - Seating 6, Mazda5 vies for compact functionality

摘要

In name, minivans are dead, or at least that is what Mazda Motor Corp. thinks. In its ongoing marketing quest to boost its zoom-zoom image in North America, the auto maker has eschewed the word minivan and instead is calling its new 6-passenger Mazda5 an MAV, for multi-activity vehicle. Built on the Mazda3 small-car platform, the diminutive Mazda5 maximizes space, offering three rows of seating, two sliding doors, a rear lifthate and plenty of storage - all the functionality U.S. buyers have come to expect from a minivan, Still, Mazda hopes to avoid the un-hip image the vehicle carries as an American icon first marketed more than 20 years ago.