First look: Sassou is Mazda's light car future

MAZDA will unveil a small, lightweight, three-door hatchback concept dubbed Sassou at next week's Frankfurt motor show.

Deriving its name from a Japanese term meaning positive state of mind, the angular, wide-mouthed Sassou (pronounced "saso") was created at Mazda’s design centre in Frankfurt and points to where the Japanese manufacturer is heading with its next-generation light car.

It uses a 1.0-litre three-cylinder direct-injection turbocharged engine with an idle-stop feature, and was conceived as a "lightweight, fuel-efficient, urban vehicle for young, first-car buyers that can make city driving zoom-zoom, fun and highly practical".

The interior features a USB stick as a key and an interface port for programming the hard disc drive conceived for the concept.

It also has a unique "morphing" back seating system that uses compressed air to alter the seat configuration (one big armchair for a single passenger or smaller seats for two passengers), and a flat-fold seating arrangement that increases the available storage space.