Mazda Oz wants CX-8

It's not unknown for a Japanese company to withhold a specific model from the Australian market because it's exclusively reserved for Japan or China.

Honda's Jade is one example – a car built specifically for China, holding out no chance it would ever be officially imported here.

But sometimes the Japanese can change horses mid-stream. A case in point is the Subaru Levorg.

Mazda has been locked in a struggle with its head office for some years to bring the CX-4 to Australia, and now there's another SUV the importer is keen to add to its local portfolio, but it faces stiff resistance from Mazda's head office in Hiroshima.

The CX-8 (pictured) has been teased ahead of its launch in Japan later this year, but the word out of Mazda is that the seven-seat SUV won't be sold in Australia.

During the launch of the revised CX-3 earlier this week, Vinesh Bhindi, the recent appointee to the role of Managing Director at Mazda Australia, told journalists that the CX-8 was still on the agenda for the local market, provided it could be engineered to comply with Australian Design Rules (ADR). And if that should happen, Mazda Australia would be happy to introduce it here.

"Let me make a brief comment on the recently announced CX-8," Bhindi said.

"I'd just like to confirm that CX-8 is being produced in Japan, for the Japanese market only, very much like the CX-4, which is aimed at China alone.

"There are no plans to introduce these SUVs to the Australian market. We have the five-seat Mazda CX-3 and CX-5 that are both doing very well, and our seven-seat alternative, the brand-new Mazda CX-9, which is performing very strongly.

"Now these three model offerings give Mazda very good coverage in the SUV segment in Australia. You should also be aware CX-9 is not a vehicle that is offered in Japan.

"That being said, if there was ever to be an ADR version of CX-8 offered to Mazda Australia, we would evaluate this opportunity, and consider its viability in this market... and ask: 'how does it actually fit amongst the other SUV products we currently offer?'"

That suggests Mazda Australia anticipates the CX-8 could cannibalise sales from CX-5 and CX-9, but other car companies (Hyundai, Toyota) have had no qualms about selling more than one model type in the same market segment – and it has worked for both companies.

Indeed, Mazda would never have considered importing the all-new CX-3 in 2015 if it had worried about sales substitution with the similarly sized Mazda2, sales of which have declined as a result.

ADR compliance seems an unlikely hurdle for the CX-8 to overcome when Australia has been harmonising design rules with other markets in recent years – and Japan is already a right-hand drive market like Australia. So the resistance to bringing the car to Australia appears to come principally from Hiroshima.

Nevertheless, Bhindi left the door open for the CX-8 coming to Australia with his conclusion, which was clear from his use of the phrase "should circumstances change".

Mazda Australia enjoys a solid standing with its parent, and gets to "sit at the table", as one executive told motoring.com.au, due to the Aussie arm's world-beating market share. Be assured that the local management team will be making a strong argument for the CX-8 to be sold here.

And another source within Mazda has said that CX-8's arrival in Australia is a question of when, rather than if...