Mazda's upcoming plant in Salamanca, Mexico, is still under construction with a launch date set for March of 2014, yet the Japanese carmaker has already made plans to increase its initial annual capacity from 140,000 units to 230,000 units by March of 2016.

According to the company, the reason why it decided to boost capacity is to accommodate the additional annual production of approximately 50,000 Toyota-branded vehicles built under contract, beginning in the summer of 2015, as well as to cater to the worldwide demand of its new SKYACTIV vehicles.

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German tuning and styling house MR Car Design has announced the arrival of a new performance package for the European market Mazda3 MPS hatchback, which is known as the MazdaSpeed3 in North America. Read more »

If we are to believe a report from UK magazine Autoexpress, this is what the next generations of the Mazda3 four-door sedan and five-door hatchback may look like when the compact model is presented in the summer of 2013.

Before we move onto the details, here's little bit of background on how the images came to be and what Mazda had to say.

The publication claims it received the pictures in an unmarked envelope and then asked Mazda UK about them. A company spokesperson said that they are "digital renderings" made to display how the new Kodo design language could be applied on the next "3", rather than a real car.

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The fact that Ford did not have an available 2013 Focus ST press car didn't discourage Edmunds' InsideLine from testing the hot hatch in the U.S., as the online magazine went ahead and spent $29,185 to buy a Tangerine Scream example from a local dealer to add to its long-term fleet.

After completing a quick break-in to settle in the mechanical components of the car, InsideLine then took Ford's 252-horsepower hatch to the track.

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Mazda has released pricing information for the 2013 model year Mazda3 MPS (known as the MazdaSpeed3 in North America) in Britain.

The performance version of the series skips on most of the cosmetic upgrades found on the rest of the range. The only changes made to the MPS are the new graphics on the tail lamps, plus a new gunmetal finish for the 18-inch alloy wheels, and a Black Mica finish for the inner roof spoiler (beneath the wing), door mirror housings and lower rear bumper trim.

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