Mazda is replacing one of its smallest models. We descend to Mazda’s home country of Japan, where the Carol is being helped to a whole new generation. Like the previous generation Carol and various other little ones from Mazda, the Carol is actually not a Mazda at all.
Suzuki and Mazda are absolutely no strangers to each other. In 1987, the two manufacturers entered into a partnership that made it possible for Mazda, among other things, to add Suzuki kei cars to its portfolio. In 1989 Mazda’s then-existing sub-brand Autozam launched the Carol based on the then current third-generation Suzuki Alto, complete with its own body. Its successor, launched in 1995, was also carried under the Mazda’s Autozam flag and was also given its own design. From 1998 Mazda carries the Carol simply as Mazda because of the disappearance of the Autozam sub-brand in that year and since then the model has also been much easier to recognize as a brother of the Japanese Alto. Suzuki recently launched an all-new Alto and now it’s Mazda’s turn to take the new Carol onto the digital stage.
Autozam Carol
Like its recent predecessors, the new Mazda Carol is just another Suzuki Alto with Mazda logos. This means that the Carol, with its car length of just under 3.4 meters and a 658 cc three-cylinder petrol engine, is again a genuine kei car. Just like its Alto brother, the friendly-looking model is available with mild-hybrid technology and comes with both front and four-wheel drive. The cheapest variant is the front-wheel drive conventional petrol version, which costs €7,759 in Japan. For the most expensive variant – the four-wheel drive Carol with mild-hybrid three-cylinder – you have lost €9,995. This makes it by far the cheapest Mazda you can find in Japan.
From 1998 the Carol and Mazda became and was hardly distinguishable from the Alto.
Incidentally, all Mazda kei cars are actually a Suzuki. Mazda also offers the Flair based on this Suzuki Wagon R, the Flair Wagon based on this Suzuki Spacia, the Flair Crossover based on the Suzuki Hustler and the Scrum Wagon (Carry). Another funny twin of Suzuki and Mazda, or actually Autozam, is the AZ-1. That small coupé with gull-wing doors was produced by Mazda, but had a Suzuki machine behind the front seats. Suzuki sold its own version of this small fun machine in the form of the Cara.
Autozam AZ-1
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl