MAZDA is in the middle of a major recovery in sales, and is now racing forward with a challenge for the best brands from Germany.

The newly named 6 replacing the previous 626 arrives here in July as the centrepiece of Mazda's 'zoom zoom' strategy.

The car will be available in three versions not just a saloon, but also a sporting hatchback and a Sportwagon.

And adding some real zoom-zoom glamour to the collection, a stunning new version of the RX-8 sports coupe is set to arrive next year, promising an impressive 250bhp from a modest 1.3-litre rotary engine.

The Japan-ese maker with a strong helping hand from Ford has chalked up a dramatic recovery in its sales performance in Britain in the last year, under new operators Mazda Motors UK.

It helped that prices were cut by an average 10 per cent last August, and sales almost doubled between August and November the first month the marque gained 1 per cent of the UK market since May 2000.

The new Mazda 6 is a completely new model which has been developed to compete as a true 'driver's car'. In particular, Mazda's development team studied the BMW 3 Series, the VW Passat, and the Honda Accord.

Their goal was for the new 6 to be superior to any of them not just a piece of marketing, but a serious aim for a marque with a highly respected reputation.

Mazda promises 'exciting styling and a dynamic driving experience' while retaining 'exceptional functionality' along with top levels of comfort, safety, craftsmanship and performance.

In case you still think that this is mere sales talk, at the heart of the car is an extensive range of new engines, transmissions and drive systems.

The 6 uses a new 16-valve petrol engine in three sizes 1.8-litre, 2.0 and a 2.3, along with two new 2.0-litre diesel engines.

Transmissions come as four-speed automatic, five-speed manual, and a variation of the current trend for half-and-half systems, which allows the driver to over-ride the auto change.

As an indication of Mazda's eagerness to give the new 6 a stronger performance image, the Sportwagon will also offer four-wheel drive.

The 6 will arrive in showrooms in July and Mazda Motors UK, boosted by its recent sales improvement, says it fully expects to reach its 2002 target of 27,000 sales.