posted by RiveraNotario
As is my custom once a day or so, I cruised over to the Cohort to see what was new. Not only did I find myself in the very scenic town of Puerta Natales, Chile, but also looking at a car I did not recognize. Let’s take a closer look.
As you know, I’m inherently attracted to tallish but compact cars, so this was intriguing. Not surprisingly, it’s from Japan, where those qualities have made tiny kei vans the best selling cars in the land. This is Mazda Verisa, bigger than a kei; it’s built on the Mazda DY platform, which was co-developed with Ford, which used it for their B-platform Fiesta (5th generation).
The Verisa was built between 2004-2015, and only sold on the Japanese market. But like so mnay Japanese used cars, they’re popping up all over the world, including Chile. Rivero says that they’re converted to LHD. I guess they don’t allow RHD cars there? I wonder how they do that conversion.
Here’s another on the go passing a Mazda Demio/Mazda2. This is a bit confusing, as these two seem to be built on the same platform at the same time, and both are tall hatchbacks. The Demio was exported unlike the Verisa. Presumably the Verisa was sold at a different sales channel in Japan.
Cute. it just needs to be a couple of inches taller, for my taste.
The Demio’s hatch is going much lower than the Verisa’s. That should change the cargo area’s dimensions. Could that explain why they made two very similar cars on the same platform? Where they trading some safety for practicality?
I assume this is related (at least via its platform) to the European Ford Fusion, the tall Fiesta variant.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Fusion_(Europe)
It would have been so much better if we had received this in Europe rather than the over dull Ford Fusion Similar in concept but doomed to be just a tool for pensioners to potter to the garden centre in. The Mazda looks a little cooler, and a little more youthful. This could be said a the equivalent Mazda 2 or 121 compared to the Fiesta.
I do not closely follow EPA news but it seems that there are some rules in place that favor vehicles with larger footprints over smaller vehicles. While a small group of Americans might appreciate a smallish MPV like this, it’s not something the manufacturers want to go through the trouble to import into the US.
It does look better with more greenhouse height, approximately 4 inches here, and I’ve added a slight Fiat 500-style forward rake. Has a more ‘jaunty’ appearance. I definitely think it is improved!
Lots of South American countries restrict RHD vehicles as a protectionist measure against cheap used cars from Japan. Some LHD conversions may be properly executed, others involve a V-belt running across the front of the car from a pulley in place of the original steering wheel to a crudely bolted on LHD wheel and similarly hacked up pedal assemblies.
I find the architecture in the lead photos equally interesting, especially the brown building in the lead that looks both Scandinavian and Craftsman so both familiar and unfamiliar especially with commercial space under what you would expect to be a bungalow.
I believe the Verisa was sold/pitched as a more upscale alternative (better trimmed and equipped especially on higher models), and bridged the price gap between the Demio and the Axela and Premacy of the time. The Verisa stuck around so long probably because it occupied a niche Mazda couldn’t really afford to fill with a new model, and it was still a steady albeit slow seller, and had met development costs already so cost very little to keep around. I don’t know why they didn’t export it, but I guess many of its rivals of the time (2nd Nissan Cube, 1st Toyota Ractis, etc.) weren’t exported either.