They don't come more cut-throat than in the supermini segment.

It's not the absolute biggest group in overall cars sales, at around 33,000 of the 150,000-plus cars sold here each year, but it is key to gaining first customers who might well be prepared to stay with their first brand into the next segment of small family cars.

And for that reason alone, the imminent arrival of the Mazda2 replacement for the old 121 and the Demio is fortuitous timing.

If only because Mazda's next new car is in that next segment, the Mazda3 replacement for the 323 due towards the end of the year.

It means that the brand will then have three very fresh cars in its model sequence, the largest of which is already a deserved award winner - the Semperit Irish Car of the Year 2003 Mazda6. And for the esoteric aficionados, there will be the stratospheric RX8 sports rotary-engined car as well.

Mazda is on a roll. Upwards.

But let's roll back to now. The Mazda2 is due here in April. We've driven it briefly in Spain. And been really surprised.

Because what we feel has happened - albeit on first run - is that Mazda has out-performed its roots.

The Mazda2 is built on a Ford Fiesta platform. It has bodywise a number of Fiesta cues. It is manufactured on a Ford Fiesta assembly line in Spain. It uses Ford engines. The brand is owned by Ford, and has been rescued from possible oblivion by Ford knowhow.

But Mazda is determined that the 2 has its own place in motordom. To the point that they have brought in hundreds of their own engineers and quality people to Valencia to make sure that the car is built to their own specifications.

And unlike the Fiesta, the Yamaha-designed 1.25-litre that was available in the old Fiesta but not the new is now the base engine in the Mazda2. It IS more expensive to produce, but it is also a much better engine in its size range.

Trish and I drove the Mazda2 in both city and mountain duty in our short first acquaintance with the car. And if the immediate reaction of both of us is any guide, here is a car that - if the MDL-based importers of the brand can get a really good marketing campaign going - will bring the Mazda name in this particular segment into an independent prominence that they haven't had since my own much-loved 'round-top' 121 of several years ago.

Let's not get into the details of its drivability until we get to run a couple of them in Irish conditions. Except that the 1.25- and the 1.4-litre petrol cars were more than adequate for everything except the steepest of twisty hills.

(It's the hairpin turns that get you - by the time you get up enough speed to change out of first gear, you have to almost stop for another. Only the Healy Pass will cause that kind of bother in Ireland.)

But you will want the info we have so far - which doesn't yet include prices or full specs for here, except that the new car will 'be competitive against its main cometitors'.

The Mazda2 will be brought into Ireland with a full range of engines: 1.25-, 1.4- and 1.6-litre petrol, and a 1.4-litre turbodiesel.

In addition to the 5-speed manual transmission, the Mazda2 will be offered with an 'automatic manual' in both the petrol and diesel 1.4-litre sizes.

And that foregoing alone is a whole new departure for Mazda in Ireland in this segment, where they have previously kept the specification options to the minimum necessary to retain a presence there.

I suspect they're being encouraged by their brand to do much more with this one. And if the acceptance of the 'new' Mazda is as good with the '2' as it has been with the deservedly well-received '6', the supermini segment is hotting up in Ireland.

And soon there will be '3' ...