Now THIS Is The Performance Mazda6 That Needs To Be Built

Dec. 31, 2014 12:28 PM ET by Jay Traugott / 47 Comments

Remember the old MazdaSpeed6? Here's how its hopeful successor could look.

The previous generation Mazda6 sedan was never given the high performance treatment. That was an absolute shame. The first generation sedan was turned into the MazdaSpeed6, built from 2005 to 2007. It was powered by a turbocharged 2.3-liter inline-four with a total of 274 hp and paired to a six-speed manual. It even had all-wheel-drive. Call it the poor man's Audi A6 if you'd like. Over the years the MazdaSpeed6 has developed a loyal following of owners who are fully aware of the special sedan in their garages.

But for whatever reasons, Mazda opted not to continue the performance upgrades for the second-gen model. And so far the automaker hasn't confirmed whether or not it'll tune the current Mazda6. We certainly hope so, but in the meantime rendering artist Theophilus Chin has created an image, based on the recently refreshed Mazda6, of what a high performance version could end up looking like.