Available in a 5-speed manual transmission

The ɛ̃fini (Anfini) MS-6 was a derivative of the Mazda Cronos. The styling was a combination of the Ford Telstar five-door hatchback with the front mask of the Cronos. The unique styling looks attractive when viewed today. Let’s take a look at the appeal of this endangered model.

In the European market until 1997

While Mazda’s five-channel system, which started in 1989, produced such masterpieces as the Eunos Roadster, the Cronos, the successor to the Capella, and derivatives based on it, sold disastrously in Japan, and Mazda’s business was said to be in a tailspin. It is said that Mazda’s company went into a tailspin. Among the Cronos derivatives, the five-door hatchback sold in Japan as the ɛ̃fini (Anfini) MS-6 had a very different reputation in Japan and overseas.

The MS-6, which went on sale in November 1991, was released exclusively at ɛ̃fini shops, as the car’s name suggests. It was a five-door hatchback model of the Ford Telstar, handled by Ford Japan, which had been introduced the previous month, combined with a Kronos front mask.

The powertrains installed were the same as the Cronos, a V6 1.8L and 2L, and both engines were available with a four-speed AT and a five-speed manual transmission, an episode reminiscent of those days. Incidentally, the “MS” in the car’s name is an acronym for Megalo (great) and Spirit (thought), which suggests the strong feelings that went into the MS series that lined up in the ɛ̃fini shop line-up.

In Japan, however, demand for five-door hatchbacks was low, and the coupe style, with a lower overall height than the Cronos, was said to lack head clearance for the rear seats. The Cronos had too many siblings derived from the Cronos in the first place, so it became a distinctively different car, and sales were a struggle.

The manufacturer also tried to expand the range of variants by adding a 4WD model with an in-line four-cylinder 2L engine in March 1992, four months after its debut, and a model with Mazda’s own pressure-wave supercharged diesel engine in February 1993, but sales did not improve. However, sales did not improve and production ended prematurely in June 1994.

On the other hand, outside Japan, the Mazda 626 was sold under the same name as in the Capella era. The Cronos was marketed as the 626 Sedan and the MS-6 as the 626 Hatchback, and in Europe, where five-door hatchbacks were originally popular, sales were strong and continued until 1997.

Then, the new Capella, which was introduced in 1997, also had a five-door hatchback version for export. In its successor, the Atenza, launched in 2002, the five-door hatchback was once again revived for the Japanese market, but it failed to become a mainstay model, and the third-generation Atenza once again suffered the dreaded disappearance.

translated by DeepL