Autozam AZ-3 History

Introduced to the Japanese domestic market in the summer of 1991, the Autozam AZ-3 was the Autozam-badged version of the Mazda MX-3, which had debuted at the Geneva Motor Show earlier that year. Sharing the EC platform with the contemporary Familia/323, the AZ-3 was a compact 2+2-seat front-wheel-drive coupé with a Kammback roofline — a sleek, practical shape that combined coupe proportions with a practical rear window.

To position the AZ-3 as an entry-level Autozam offering, Mazda equipped the Japanese-market car exclusively with a 1.5-litre four-cylinder engine, rather than the 1.6-litre or notable 1.8-litre V6 (one of the smallest-displacement V6s ever fitted to a production car) found in export-market MX-3s. The result was a lighter, cheaper car aimed squarely at younger domestic buyers.

Though critically well-received, the AZ-3's sales were modest. As Autozam's dealer network consolidated in the mid-1990s, the car was also marketed as the Mazda AZ-3. Production continued until 1998 — matching the end of the broader MX-3 line — when both nameplates were retired.