Mazda Australia defends minor BT-50 enhancements
Updated 2025 Mazda BT-50 gets a new look and a new infotainment system, but is that enough?Mazda Australia is confident it’s made enough updates to the facelifted BT-50 to keep the Isuzu D-MAX clone competitive in a rapidly evolving ute market.
Mazda Australia marketing director Alastair Doak scoffed when carsales described the upgrades as minor and described the new exterior design as “totally different”.
“I do reject your hypothesis absolutely,” he said.
“If we got the old one and parked it beside it, the front-end is totally different.”
Externally, the 2025 Mazda BT-50 has one sheetmetal change to the tailgate, a new blacked-out grille and bumper, a larger Mazda badge at both ends and new LED headlights, fender flares and alloy wheels.
Inside there are some trim changes, but the biggest overhaul is to the infotainment system and safety equipment, which have been upgraded in line with the facelifted D-MAX.
There are no mechanical changes to the BT-50 whatsoever, with both the existing 1.9-litre (110kW/350Nm) and 3.0-litre (140kW/450Nm) turbo-diesel engines being carried over untouched.
Pricing and finer specification details of the BT-50 line-up will be announced early in 2025 before it goes on-sale later in the first quarter.
It will arrive in a rapidly changing ute segment and have to contend with new metal and electrified powertrains in the form of the BYD Shark 6, the Ford Ranger and GWM Cannon Alpha plug-in hybrids, as well as the new Chinese brand Foton by mid-2025.
More seismically, a new-generation Toyota HiLux is expected in 2025 along with the Kia Tasman and the next-gen Nissan Navara in 2026.
The combined 4x4 and 4x2 ute segment is the second-biggest sales category in Australia behind medium SUVs, with the BT-50 being Mazda Australia’s third-most popular vehicle.
But its sales in the lucrative 4x4 segment are down 14.8 per cent this year in a segment that’s up by 7.1 per cent overall.
Mazda has described the facelift as the biggest update to the current BT-50 since it was introduced in 2020. While now ageing, if it follows the normal ute lifecycle, it won’t be replaced until around 2030.
Asked what about the refresh would appeal to buyers and keep them interested in the BT-50, Doak said: “It looks fresh from the front-end, there’s big change there, there’s big update with the human machine interface with a better screen and better functionality inside as well.”
Defensive of the untouched powertrain, he also said nobody had “ever complained about the engine”.
“It has very good performance and more importantly, has very good real world fuel economy, so that wasn’t the priority.
“Doesn’t mean you can’t change that another time, but that’s just the facelift and I think giving it the visual change does make a statement that it’s been updated.
“We are very happy with the changes.”
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