AIMS: Mazda pulls 6 surprise

The new-generation Mazda6 will be less efficient than expected when it goes on sale in Australia earlier than expected in just six weeks.

The early December on-sale date for the new Mazda6 sedan and wagon, which made its Australian debut today in Sydney, was announced by Mazda Australia Managing Director Doug Dickson.

Previously, Mazda said the new 6 would be released here in the first quarter of next year, but its local launch was fast-tracked following the personal intervention of Mazda Motor Corporation President Takashi Yamanouchi, who unveiled the new 6 today in Sydney and last month in Paris.

Motoring.com.au understands the decision to bring forward the release by up to three months was made just two weeks ago and dealers will be told tonight, however, Mazda6 pricing will not be decided in Japan until later this month.

Apart from staging the local debut of the all-new Mazda6 and the world debut of the facelifted CX-9, which also hits Australian dealers in December, as well as the local debut of this month’s facelifted MX-5, Mazda also revealed fuel consumption figures for Australia’s new Mazda6.

Both sedan and wagon versions of the automatic-only 2.5-litre petrol Mazda6 will consume 6.6L/100km, while the auto-only 2.2-litre turbo-diesel model will consume 5.4L/100km.

Those figures are significantly more than the European model, which returns as little as 3.9L/100km with a low-output diesel engine and a manual transmission, neither of which will be sold in Australia.

Europe’s equivalent petrol-auto Mazda6 consumes 6.3L/100km (sedan) and 6.4L/100km (wagon), while the diesel-auto consumes 4.8L/100km (sedan) and 4.9L/100km (wagon).

Mazda Australia says the difference is almost completely due to the disparity in fuel consumption testing methodology in Australia, where the heaviest variant a model is tested rather than the lightest, as in Europe.

The new Mazda6’s 5.4L/100km fuel consumption low falls narrowly short of the 5.2L/100km official figure achieved by Toyota’s latest Camry Hybrid – the most economical car in the mid-size segment.

However, the new Mazda6 almost matches the most fuel-efficient vehicle in its class using conventional diesel engine and automatic transmission technology, which Mazda points out will deliver a better driving experience than the Camry Hybrid’s petrol-electric and CVT drive system.

While the new Mazda6 diesel engine comes with the lowest compression ratio of any diesel passenger car engine (14.0:1) and emits as little as 103g/km of CO2 (141g/km in Australia), the Camry Hybrid remains the lowest CO2-emitting mid-size sedan available.

The new Mazda6 diesel is nine per cent more efficient than the manual-only model it replaces and the only other car in its class to undercut the 6.0L/100km consumption mark.

The new Mazda6 petrol, meantime, is 25 per cent more efficient, with its 6.6KL/100km figure easily bettering Volkswagen’s Passat (7.8L/100km) and all-petrol versions of the Camry (8.8L/100km).

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