Tarmac Sports Halo Rings The Mazda 3 (known as the Mazda Axela in Japan) is a compact car manufactured in Japan by the Mazda Motor Corporation. It was introduced for the 2004 model year, replacing the Mazda Familia (323 or Protegй in export markets). A more performance-oriented version of the Mazda3 is marketed as Mazdaspeed3 in North America and Mazda3 MPS in Europe.