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The redesigned Mazda2 won’t make it to U.S. dealerships.

The Japanese automaker has given the model the axe in the U.S. as cheaper gas prices and tight supplies from a new factory in Salamanca, Mexico make the model a less attractive offering for Mazda.

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According to Robert Davis, Mazda’s senior vice-president of U.S. operations, executives in the U.S. last year decided the Mazda2 wasn’t a priority despite getting redesigned.

“We could have had it, but we would have had a number that didn’t make much sense with 600 dealers and with the marketing it takes to launch a new car,” said Davis in an interview with Automotive News. “I wanted to allocate resources to those products that make us and our dealers considerably more profit than a Mazda2 does.”

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The subcompact Mazda2 wasn’t a strong competitor in the market for Mazda, having sold just 13,615 units last year. With supplies now gone, the company moved just 21 units in April 2015. Now, since the Mazda2 will be sold in Puerto Rico, the company has already tested it to meet U.S. safety and environmental standards, if it ever decides to sell it in the U.S.

One version of the subcompact will be available, in the form of the Scion iA that is based on the Mazda2.

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[Source: Automotive News]

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