The next generation of Mazdaspeed models are currently under production and the company has slowed down the work in order to come up with a model that is mature enough to suit a wide range of audience.

The news comes from an automobile magazine which confirmed that the company believed their earlier executions to be childish. The quote was made by Masahiro Moro, the person who handles the North America operations for the brand. While it is not something a company’s boss would comment on bluntly, it didn’t stop the U.S. operations head to accept that they didn’t come up with a mature, performance oriented model in the last two generations.

However, the brand is also confident of the model they are working on at the moment and it has prompted Moro to make such a comment. The execution of the Mazdaspeed 3 and the Mazda MPS was something childish with very low gear ratio, torque and low performance, he commented.

“I am not afraid to say that the earlier versions didn’t live up to expectation. But, the third generation which is under development will be a worthy addition to the lineup. The research and development team is working round the clock to deliver a truly next gen model. They are one hundred percent confident that the SKYACTIV model coming up will be worth the said,” Moro.

The 2016 edition of the Mazdaspeed is expected to be powered by a 2.5-liter power train which uses an all-wheel drive system by default. The company’s official statement added that they have put the production on hold in order to gather the necessary resources before continuing with the job again. While it was supposed to have been launched by the end of this year, delivery will be delayed to 2017 due to technical constraints.

Mazda is not a brand associated with performance models in the past. Things have changed in the recent past according to Moro who said that the company is glad to see customers expecting performance models from the brand. In his speech, he recognized MazdaSpeed 6, Mazdaspeed 3 among other first generation models.

It is evident that Mazda is planning to change their strategy and come up with cars worthy of the sports badge. By changing their approach to production, the company may reach new customers and increase their fan base leading to better cars but will face increased competition at the same time.