Mazda exec lifts lid on EV reality as fuel costs climb

Rising petrol prices and tightening global regulations are reshaping the automotive conversation, but a senior Mazda executive says the path forward is far from straightforward.

The forecourts tell one story. Petrol prices are surging, some petrol stations across Australia are already running dry, and drivers are rattled.

But inside Changan Mazda Automobile's technical development centre in China, a quieter and perhaps more consequential conversation is happening about what comes next.

Hiroshi Ozawa, General Manager of the Changan Mazda Automobile Technical Development Center, is straight shooter.

When carsales asked Ozawa-san about rising fuel prices, EVs and the uncertain road ahead, his answers were considered, candid and, at times, surprisingly frank for a senior figure at a major car-maker.

"As you rightly said, since the war started the price of petrol has gone up quite high. And in order to avoid paying a lot of fuel cost, I think people are searching for better fuel economy cars," he said.

"We looked at that, the whole process, at Mazda, and I think we [are] disadvantaged by this price hike."

But Ozawa diverges from the standard industry script.

Rather than simply championing EVs as the obvious answer – which they are for a lot of people, especially those with solar panels and batteries at home – he raises a question the sector often sidesteps: where does the electricity come from?

"Electricity cost is expensive and we have been saying, well to wheel all the time, you know, from oil to the actual vehicle engine burning the oil well.

The well-to-wheel argument is the idea that the full environmental and economic cost of a vehicle cannot be measured at the tailpipe alone, but across its entire energy chain.

And it’s one Mazda has long taken seriously.

Even the batteries themselves, he notes, are not immune to the pressures squeezing motorists at the pump.

"And you know, battery cost also will increase since it's created by using a lot of electricity."

Back home, the anxiety is showing up in the data.

Internal data here at carsales, Australia’s largest automotive website, reveals that EV searches among Australian car buyers is climbing rapidly.

More people than ever are actively looking for an electric vehicle, even as the technology, the infrastructure and the economics continue to evolve.

It's a shift that maps closely to what Ozawa is observing from the other side of the world.

It would be easy to read all of this as scepticism about the electric transition. But Ozawa appears clear-eyed about where the industry is heading.

And he refuses to pretend the path is straightforward.

"But for the long term, nobody knows what will happen."

"We need to be prepared for the future movement and when you think about the global situation, CO2 regulations are certainly going to be more stringent, and the CO2 regulations will become much tighter in 2030 and we don't know what's after 2030," he said.

We’re seeing a change in attitude at Mazda, with two new EVs arriving in Australia in 2026, the Mazda 6e sedan and Mazda CX-6e, which are both expected to generate reasonable sales for the brand

Mazda is currently the second most popular new car badge in Australia after Toyota.

But the regulatory pressure is real, and tightening.

"And given that, we have to have EVs around the world, EVs are going to increase slightly. And of course, we therefore have to expand our EV line-up.

"We have to consider expanding the EV line-up looking at such a global movement and regulatory movement as well."

For Australian drivers watching prices climb at the bowser, the shift toward electrification is accelerating – both in market demand and regulatory necessity.

Ozawa’s comments underline a more nuanced reality: EVs are coming, but they are not a simple fix.

Costs, infrastructure and energy sources remain key challenges, even as adoption increases.

The direction is clear, even if the destination is not.

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