version in Canada, Japan, and the United States. Design work began under chief designer Hideki Suzuki in 1999 at three Mazda design centres in California, United States; Frankfurt, Germany; and Hiroshima, Japan. By 2001, Hasip Girgin's design was chosen as a finalist. Girgin was sent to work in Hiroshima for 6 months, after which the final design was frozen for scheduled 2003 production. The front suspension comprises MacPherson struts, with coil springs and an anti-roll bar. The rear suspension is a Ford-designed "E-link" multi-link suspension, with four locating links per wheel and an anti-roll bar, suspended on coil springs that are mounted inboard of the shock absorbers to reduce suspension intrusion into the cargo area. The first generation Mazda3 has been known to have spontaneous piston failure in the form of the piston itself cracking which is a result of manufacturing anomalies that has plagued a small percentage of the normally reliable car. Four-wheel Disc brakes are fitted, with discs in the front and discs in the rear; ABS and electronic brake force distribution are available as standard, depending on the model. Wheel and tire sizes vary with model, from 15" on base models to optional 17" wheels on upper-level models. The Mazda3 was used as a regular police patrol car by the Public Security Police Force of Macau alongside the Toyota Corolla and the Honda Civic police cars in Macau, China. When first introduced, United States-market Mazda3 models were available in only two trim levels, i and s, with the 2.0 L and 2.3 L engines, respectively. Since then Mazda has introduced additional models under the Touring and Grand Touring labels. British Mazda3s are offered in S, TS, TS2, Sport, and a top end 2.3 L turbocharged Mazda3 MPS (Mazda Performance Series) models. Since April 2008, when there was a mainly cosmetic facelift of the Mazda3, there have been some changes to the trim designations for UK cars, with the models now being the entry-level S, then Takara (which replaces TS & TS2), the Tamara Special Edition and the Sport and MPS as before. All three models use the inline-4 Mazda MZR engine, with various types, displacements and outputs including the MZ-CD turbo-diesel, depending on model and market. Transmissions are a five-speed manual transmission and a four-speed automatic transmission; since the 2006 model year, a five-speed automatic is optional on models with the 2.3 L engine. This transmission has