Mazda2 hybrid revealed

The covers have come off the 2022 Mazda2 hybrid and if it looks alarmingly familiar, that’s because it shares everything except its badging with the latest Toyota Yaris hybrid.

Rather than downsize or adapt the hybrid powertrain from the Mazda MX-30 compact SUV, Mazda has opted to tap Toyota for its second shared model in as many years following the Isuzu D-MAX based BT-50 ute.

For reference, the Mazda-Toyota business alliance was forged back in 2015 and should yield plenty more co-developed and shared products in coming years.

However, unlike the BT-50, which has significant design differences to the D-MAX, the first Mazda2 hybrid is purely a ‘badge engineering’ exercise with Mazda logos being the only changes from the latest Toyota Yaris hatch.

This means the pint-size Toyota’s 1.5-litre three-cylinder hybrid powertrain also carries over unchanged, delivering a combined 85kW to the front wheels via a continuously variable transmission (CVT).

In terms of fuel economy, Toyota says the thrummy little electrified triple consumes just 3.3 litres of 91RON petrol per 100km and the Mazda2 should be just as efficient.

Produced specifically for the European market, where it will hit the road in the second quarter of 2022, the Mazda2 hybrid is unlikely to make it to Australia, where a Mazda Australia said there was no “news to share” on its local release.

Instead, Mazda Australia’s attention is fixed firmly on this month’s launch of the updated MY22 Mazda2 range, which has nothing in common with the latest Yaris but brings an expanded colour palette, new safety tech and a new G15 Pure SP variant.