The Mazda Lantis was a series of two cars sold in Japan from 1993 to 1996. In the rest of the world it was also known as 323F, Astina or Allegro Hatchback.
The Lantis used Mazda's CB platform, which means close relations to the Eunos 500/Xedos 6 and the 1994-1997 Mazda Capella. It was a FF layout car with either a manual or automatic transmission.
There are two body variants: a 4-door hardtop sedan, sold in Japan and a small number of overseas markets, such as Hong Kong; and what Mazda called a "4-door coupe", which in common terminology is a 5-door hatchback. The 5-door was sold as the Mazda 323F in Europe and Allegro HB in Latin America. The 5-door is penned by Ginger (Arnold) Ostle, who was at Porsche before he arrived at Mazda, and thus some consider the 5-door to be closely related to a stillborn 4-door Porsche proposal.
By the time the cars premiered in August 1993, Mazda's multi-brand strategy had become difficult to sustain, so both Lantis variants were released to Mazda, Efini and Eunos dealerships. Sales in Japan was lacklustre throughout the Lantis' production run, but the 323F proved to be immensely popular in Europe, where it sold in reasonable numbers right until it was discontinued.
The name Lantis is created from the Latin phrase "Latens Curtis".
