THE latest Mazda6 is a deliberate contradiction, being just as Japanese and European as the designers were able to make it in equal measure.
While many Japanese manufacturers are abandoning their Far Eastern identities in order to rival the Germans in Europe, Mazda says it is going back to its roots.
This is why the latest Mazda6 looks like the archetypal Japanese family saloon, albeit an upmarket one that could be mistaken for a Lexus.
At its launch the company even introduced a series of traditional Japanese artefacts that are supposed to have influenced some aspects of its styling.
This is a load of baloney of course but it helped to reinforce the image.
So, it is a refreshed family saloon with a distinct Japanese flavour that is aiming to attract European buyers in a diminishing sector of the market like never before.
This will be achieved by making it not only bigger and better in several key respects but also cheaper to run with a smaller tax burden for the larger proportion of company user-choosers that it intends to attract.
The bad news is that this latest Mazda6 will cost significantly more than the current car when it goes on sale in January.
Prices will start at £15,100 for the 1.8-litre petrol version, which is a rise of virtually £1,000.
Mazda points to the extra space inside, revised body, improved dynamics, enhanced safety and extra equipment to justify the increase.
From launch there will be a choice of 16 saloon and hatchback models to be followed by a further nine estate variants in February.
There will be the current petrol engines of 1.8 and 2.0-litres plus the 2.0-litre turbodiesel and a new 2.5-litre petrol unit to replace the current 2.3-litre engine.
However, whilst there is no doubting the similarities between the current and new cars there are improvements all round.
Economy improves by up to more than ten per cent whilst CO2 emissions in the case of the diesel come down from 165g/km to a new low of fractionally under 150g/km.
This is of some significance to company car users whose tax liability falls by four bands in the case of the diesel and by five bands in the case of the 1.8 and 2.0-litre petrol models.
Other changes include modified suspension for a better ride, electronic power steering to save fuel, extra soundproofing and body stiffening plus anti-whiplash front head restraints.
Although built on the same platform as the current car there are a host of visual changes and the same bulging wheel arches as those of the RX-8 sports coupe.
The interior boasts a rather special steering wheel that houses a command unit for the air conditioning, satellite navigation, sound system and trip computer.
The dashboard is illuminated in a series of sequences when you enter the car and there is a better driving position thanks to a repositioning of the gear lever and a changed angle for the steering wheel.
The car's kerb-side appeal is high but then so is that of the rival and hugely-competent Ford Mondeo.
On the road the Mazda is a joy to drive but, as before, so is the Mondeo.
The two cars are competing in a sector of the market that is declining as people switch to the new breed of crossovers, in which coincidentally both companies are represented by their new Mazda CX-7 and Ford Kuga models.
While the new Mazda6 is an evolution of an already-respected and utterly reliable family model, it faces massive competition and its declared objective of stealing sales from Audi and BMW is perhaps somewhat optimistic.
Its mainstream rivals are the Ford Mondeo, Skoda Superb, Vauxhall Vectra, Honda Accord, Peugeot 407 and a host of others that are all improving at the same rate.
To be brutally honest then, the latest incarnation of the respected Mazda6 has been improved to the point where it can continue to maintain its ranking within a fiercely competitive sector of the market.
That is no mean feat and for that the company should consider it a job well done.