Mazda named 'The 2016 Best Car Brand'; Japanese automaker adds most efficient diesel engine for Mazda 3 [price, release date, review, features]

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Mazda is making quite a strong run as it tries to end the year in a good note. Their North American segment has recently announced that their sales for the month of September 2015 have gone up by close to seven percent as compared to last year. The number of units sold was 25,660, which was the highest number since 1994 when they sold 30,735 units in September of that year.

The Japanese automaker also made a good impression in the industry lately prompting the US News & World Report magazine to hand the company their 2016 Best Car Brand distinction, according to CheatSheet.

"Mazda is honored to be named 2016 Best Car Brand by U.S. News & World Report," said Jim O'Sullivan, president/CEO for Mazda North America via a press release. "The award is a testament to our efforts to develop segment-leading vehicles featuring the newest technology, premium materials and enhanced style - and that we're creating vehicles that drivers want to drive."

And in line with one of the company's goals of developing fuel-efficient vehicles, Mazda has incorporated a new 1.5-litre SKYACTIV-D diesel engine for its Mazda 3 models. This will be the most fuel-efficient engine the Mazda3 will run on to date. The Mazda 2 and Mazda CX-3 have also started offering this 1.5-liter engine for some of their variants, wrote Carkeys.co.uk.

Steve Tomlinson, Mazda UK's head of fleet, said, "I am confident that the addition of the Mazda 3 1.5-litre diesel derivative to Mazda's already extensive corporate vehicle choice list will enhance our fleet appeal even further when the car goes on sale on the 1st December."

The Mazda 3 comes available in both 5-door and 4-door variants and on different trims like SE, SE Nav, SE-L, SE-L Nav and Sport Nav, all of which features the new 1.5-liter diesel engine. This new Skyactiv-D diesel engine can deliver 103hp/4000rpm and 270Nm/1600-2500rpm (199lb ft) which allows the new Mazda 3 to accelerate from zero to 100km/h or 62mph in 11 seconds and have a maximum speed of 116mph or 187km/h, wrote CarScoops.

But, if you want to optimized efficiency, the new engine combined with a manual gearbox will give you the best fuel economy at 74.3mpg and a CO2 emissions output of just 99g/km, as compared to its automatic counterpart with 64.2mpg and 114g/km. The price for the new Mazda 3 with 1.5-litre Skyactiv-D diesel starts at £18,895, or around $28,500, for the UK market with a release date early this December.