Frankfurt Motor Show 2005 - Mazda

What's the star of the stand?
A couple of concepts. First up is the Sassou, which hints at the company's intentions for the Mazda 2. The Sassou is a funky three-door hatchback, with a host of style features aimed at the youth market.

Translucent plastics hide the front and rear lamps until the car is unlocked, while the car's key doubles up as a USB computer memory stick so you can transfer your favourite tracks from your iPod digital music player to your car.

Also on the stand is the MX-Crossport, a strange blend of 4x4-cum-sports coupe.

They say
'The Mazda Sassou design concept is based in part on the 'shoji' principle. Shoji screens are thin Japanese sliding doors that partially hide what is behind them. Opening them for the first time can reveal something surprising, which is also true of a first encounter with Mazda Sassou.'

We say
Anything is better than the current Mazda 2. It's decent enough product, it just doesn’t fit in with Mazda's sporty image.

Anything else?
A face-lifted Mazda 2, the brand new MX-5, which goes on sale at the end of this year, and a new high-powered Mazda 6 – the MPS.