LA MOTOR SHOW: Mazda massages CX-5

First images of Mazda's facelifted CX-5 have leaked onto the internet, courtesy of French automotive forum Worldscoop.

First seen in spy pictures in September, the midlife makeover for Australia's most popular SUV will make its official world debut at next week's Los Angeles motor show before going on sale in Australia early next year.

The leaked 2015 CX-5 images mean all three of Mazda's world debuts at LA have now been exposed, following similarly leaked images of the facelifted Mazda6 last week and an official teaser sketch of the all-new CX-3 late last month.

Changes for the CX-5 are subtle, which is understandable given the model's global success since its release as Mazda's first all-SKYACTIV model in early 2012.

As evidenced by the vehicle seen in this Japanese brochure, there's a new front bumper with revised grille featuring five horizontal bars, new foglights and daytime running lights, which along with the tail-lights are expected to be LED.

Fresh wheel designs will also be part of the upgrade, along with Mazda's latest MZD Connect infotainment package with tablet-style dash-top display comprising a larger-seven inch colour-touch screen with console controller and voice activation, replacing the existing CX-5's smaller 5.8-inch in-built multimedia screen.

Expect more safety features too, given the newer Mazda6, Mazda3 and even the new Mazda2 are all available with more advanced safety features including automatic emergency braking.

The current CX-5 comes with a reversing camera and tyre pressure monitoring, while premium models add blind-spot monitoring, lane departure warning and high-beam control, and sat-nav is via Tom Tom.

It remains to be seen how many of Mazda's latest technologies are included. The list includes adaptive bi-xenon headlights, radar cruise control, forward obstruction warning, rear cross-traffic alert and a head-up display.

There will be fewer changes under the bonnet, meaning the same basic CX-5 model range should continue unchanged in Australia, including the entry-level front-wheel drive 2.0-litre petrol Maxx models, plus three 2.2-litre diesel AWD variants and four 2.5-litre petrol AWDs.

However, despite the fact the diesel already sips a class-leading 5.7L/100km, there could be more widespread deployment of the car-maker's latest fuel-saving measures, including idle-stop and the Mazda6's capacitor-based brake energy regeneration system.