![]() ![]() Referred to as the "quintessential Mazda" by company spokespeople, the Mazdaspeed Protegé combines a look, feel and overall balance that targets the ever-expanding "pocket rocket" market segment. And let's not forget the upcoming line of Mazdaspeed-tuned production cars, starting with the Spicy Orange Mica example shown before you. That's going to change in the coming months as the name appears on everything from dealer-supplied street performance parts to billboards at Laguna Seca to shirts and hats. Now Mazdaspeed is the company's official in-house tuner, and although it's been supplying parts to dedicated racers for years, most Americans have never heard of it. By 1983, the team was known as "Mazdaspeed," and with help from Mazda Motor Corporation, it managed to score that overall Le Mans win (the first and only by a Japanese automaker). A team of hard-core Mazda racers established its spiritual beginnings in 1967 under the name "Mazda Sports Corner" in Tokyo. ![]() Not that the Mazdaspeed name is entirely new. Mazda clearly recognizes this, and despite an overall win at Le Mans in 1991 and the purchase of Laguna Seca Raceway in 2001, the company's most serious effort (since the 1993 RX-7) to establish its performance-car presence in America will begin this fall with the launch of the 2003 Mazdaspeed Protegé. In a world of AMGs, SVTs, TRDs and M cars, it's tough to be taken seriously as a performance car company if you don't have a dedicated performance division. ![]()
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