Mazda CX-8 will not follow CX-9 into early retirement

The 2023 Mazda CX-9 is being axed, but the CX-8 will continue as the Japanese brand’s most affordable three-row family SUV in Australia for some years yet.

Mazda is in the throes of a wholesale overhaul of the top end of its SUV line-up, with three all-new models rolling into Australia and the CX-9 disappearing by the end of this year.

The three new models – the five-seat CX-60 and the seven-seat CX-80 and CX-90 – will start their pricing at a significantly higher point than the CX-8 or CX-9.

First launched in 2018 and freshly updated, the 2023 Mazda CX-8 is priced from $42,060 plus on-road costs, while the CX-9 starts from $47,600 plus ORCs.

The new 2023 Mazda CX-60 goes on sale in June priced from $59,800 plus ORCs, while the CX-90 will start from $74,285 plus ORCs when reaches showrooms in August.

The CX-80 is yet to be revealed let alone locally priced, but the expectation is there will be some intersection with the CX-8, which tops out in the $60,000-$70,000 bracket.

The revised Mazda SUV pricing structure means the CX-8 potentially assumes more sales importance than ever as a member of the local line-up.

Currently, it is the slowest-selling CX SUV and ranks 10th in its segment, far behind rivals like the Kia Sorento and Toyota Kluger.

“As long as Japan makes it [CX-8], we intend to have it in our portfolio,” said Mazda Australia managing director Vinesh Bhindi.

“Our plan is we will be offering CX-90, CX-8 and CX-80 as our three-row offerings.”

Bhindi said the CX-8 would “play its part” alongside the new models, although he wouldn’t define exactly what that meant in terms of sales breakdown for each.

“With the three offerings, whether we sell more of everything as a combined portfolio … or whether one model is more popular because of an affordability factor, a size factor or consumer preference, it really doesn’t matter,” he said.

“We can always change our production allocation depending on where the demand is.”

The Mazda CX-80 is effectively a long-wheelbase version of the CX-60, similar in concept to the CX-8, which is a stretched version of the popular Mazda CX-5 mid-size SUV.

While a new generation of the CX-5 is confirmed to be under development, it is not expected to go on sale before 2025.

Logically, if there is a successor to the CX-8, it would be tied to the next CX-5, which suggests the current-generation CX-8 has a couple of years of life as well.

“We can’t answer that question straight up, but it [CX-8] is part of our portfolio, we are just introducing an updated model and it’s the most comprehensive update it’s had, so that would suggest it’s here for a while,” said Mazda Australia marketing boss Alastair Doak.

“We think that [update] will maximise the opportunity for CX-8.”

While the new ‘0’ Large Product Group (LPG) SUVs are based on an expensive new platform with inline-six engines, pushing upmarket in price and premium positioning, carsales expects that won’t be the case with the next-generation Mazda CX-5 (and potentially therefore a new CX-8).

While original reports had the new CX-5 transferring to the LPG platform, the understanding now is it will stick with a more affordable transverse engine/front- and all-wheel drive layout.

It could even be a further development of the current Skyactiv chassis, as already used by the (currently) North America-only Mazda CX-50 SUV.

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