HOME OF THE THREE; Mazda follows a much-loved 6 and 8 with another impressive number.(News)

Byline: MATT DAVIS

We don't go around jinxing good things, but most or all of Mazda's sales goals it set at the launch of the Mazda 6 last year are being met or exceeded. This is good, because for years the "eccentric underdog'' came up a tad short on product and performance. No more.

Mazda's share of the North American car market has jumped from 1.4 percent in 2002 to 1.8 percent today thanks to the "6 effect.'' Would it be crazy to say that once: a) all Mazda 6 variations are on the American market; b) RX-8 horsepower and oil-burning furors calm, and; c) both the five-door and four-door 3 go on sale in the first week of December, market share could reach the 2.5 percent mark?

Thanks to the Mazda-Ford-Volvo mix (in which everyone is giving and taking freely enough), we're getting more and better Mazdas, Fords and Volvos-with less waiting-around the world. Our first drive of the 3 reveals a car some Americans will choose over a Honda Civic or Toyota Corolla-Mazda's two practical target models.

We say practical because in the emotive/styling sense-the impractical, if you will-the Mazda 3 has been influenced by some hot Latino blood straight out of Latium and Gaul. Hideki Suzuki, Mazda's chief designer in charge of the 3, admits, "We used the Civic and Corolla as examples of important global cars, but we used the Alfa Romeo 147 and Peugeot 307 as examples of beautiful execution within the C segment.'' This shows particularly in the five-door when in profile.

Mazda 3 is the first truly global, for-sale car to use the Ford corporate C1 platform. (The not-for-U.S.-sale Ford Focus C-Max MPV, also launch-ed at Frankfurt, is technically the first overall.) We also saw the final version of the C1-based latest Volvo S40 at Frankfurt. Meantime, the all-important second-generation Ford Focus will make its massive entrance on the C1 at the 2004 Geneva show. The basic underpinnings between all these cars is the same making it possible to build any one or all of them in any factory around the world. All powertrains and body panels are unique to each model, with the Mazda 3 being the sportiest stock setup of the lot.

Engines for North America include a 148-hp version of the 2.0-liter and the 160-hp 2.3-liter four used in the Mazda 6 (the 2.0-liter in non-N.A. markets). We drove a four-door with the 2.3-liter and a ...