MAZDA is serving up a festive boost to both private and company car drivers.

It comes courtesy of its latest generation Mazda3 that now boasts improvements in power, emissions and fuel economy to the popular 1.6-litre diesel model.

From the turn of the year this variant will be available with a Euro5-compliant engine, now mated to a new six-speed manual transmission and offering a 12 per cent hike in pulling power too.

Overall, the line-up has a range of seven powertrains - 1.6-litre 115PS, 2.2-litre 150PS and 2.2-litre 185PS diesel engines, a trio of petrol units comprising 1.6-litre 105PS, 2.0-litre automatic 150PS and 2.0-litre DISI 151PS in addition to the high-performance 2.3-litre 260PS turbocharged engine in the Mazda3 MPS.

But it's the revised 1.6D engine that will especially benefit retail and fleet customers as Mazda's engineers have upped the power while ensuring the Mazda3's low CO emissions qualify all models for the £0 first-year rate of road tax and remain in the 13 per cent company car tax bracket.

Available as a five-door hatchback in TS and TS trim levels, its CO emissions have been cut from 119g/km to 117g/km and fuel consumption is improved from 62.8mpg to 64.2mpg on the combined cycle. The TS five-door is expected to be the most popular model.

Prices for the 1.6 diesel start at £16,505 for the TS version, while TS-specified models begin at £17,705.

Safety systems like Dynamic Stability Control and Emergency Stop Signalling are fitted as standard on every model, together with six airbags, and even the entry level 1.6 S includes central locking, air-con and an MP3-compatible audio system, plus a Multi Information Display.