With America’s burgeoning small car landscape, the rumor mill has been rife with speculation that Mazda is planning on introducing a version of its Mazda2 subcompact currently sold overseas. With cars like the Chevrolet Aveo, Toyota Yaris, and Honda Fit showing that there’s a market for such cars in North America, the time would appear to be ripe for Ford’s Japanese subsidiary to inject a little Zoom-Zoom into the segment.

All of which might help explain why Antoine Guilbaud was able to catch this Mazda2 mule in California wearing Michigan manufacturer tags. According to the Hidden Image shooter, the mule here is a development prototype that bears the clothing of the current model, albeit “Frankensteined” a bit with parts from a JDM Verisa.

Worth noting is that the platform is also expected to underpin Ford’s next Fiesta. And while the Blue Oval has stopped short of officially declaring its intentions to introduce a B-segment car in the U.S., we have it on good authority that they are very likely to do so.