In less than two weeks time, on the eve of the 2008 Bologna Motorshow in Italy on 2 December, Mazda will proceed to the unveiling of the new Mazda3 Sedan's sportier sibling, the 5-door hatchback. But until then, Mazda decided to amuse us with the release of a large image gallery with photos of camouflaged Mazda3 hatchbacks that were shot somewhere in Europe during the development phase of the vehicle. The amount of black cladding does leave a lot to the imagination but it's apparent that the new Mazda3 hatchback will feature the same happy -sorry Jenny- face as the Sedan which was recently unveiled at the LA Auto Show.

It is also expected that Mazda's new proposal in the subcomapct segment will grow in length maintaining roughly the same width and height as before. In America the new '3' saloon will be launched with two four-cylinder petrol engines, a 2.0-liter unit with 148HP and a new 2.5-liter producing 167HP. In Europe, both the hacthback and sedan will be offered with smaller displacement petrol and diesel four pot units including Mazda's 140HP 2.0-liter and 170HP 2.2-liter turbo diesels.