Mazda's Answer to Troubled Times

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For Mazda and other car companies, this turnabout in economic fortunes has caused a turnabout in production plans. Most have canceled or scaled back truck production. Plans for models with V-6 and V-8 engines have been shelved or otherwise diminished. In early planning for what is now the 2009 Mazda 6 sedan, Mazda officials initially thought V-6 models would account for at least 50 percent of 6 sales. Now, instead, the company is ramping up production of its more fuel-economical, inline four-cylinder models.

That's okay.

The Mazda 6i Sport sedan worked just fine. It was powerful enough to enter local freeways with authority. It handled quite well on twists and turns. Its cabin was an attractive, comfortable place to sit during periods of incarceration in urban traffic congestion. And at the end of the day, I could smile at a fuel gauge that showed I had consumed barely a quarter of a tank of the recommended unleaded gasoline.

Yeah, I think the four-cylinder models will sell quite well.

ON WHEELS WITH WARREN BROWN Listen from noon to 1 p.m. Tuesdays on WMET World Radio (1160 AM) or http://www.wmet1160.com.