While sold across four generations in the domestic Japanese market, the Demio nameplate was rarely used outside of Japan, where it was usually called the Mazda2.

Introduced in a time full of negative press coverage for the company, the Demio became a surprise hit for Mazda in Japan, and also foreshadowed B-segment minivans such as the Opel Meriva, Fiat Idea and the Renault Modus.

A concept model previewing the DW series, called the Mazda BU-X was shown in 1995.

[3] At its introduction in 1997, it won the Automotive Researchers' and Journalists' Conference Car of the Year award in Japan.

The Demio received a facelift in December 1999 with a revised exterior, redesigned dashboard, cabin air filtration, retuned automatic transmission, and available DSC.