New Mazda CX-60 to have premium edge
Incoming Mazda CX-60 SUV’s rear-drive layout and inline-six engines will be key selling pointsThe all-new 2022 Mazda CX-60 SUV that launches in Australia late this year will be an important step in the company’s drive upmarket.
The first member of the Japanese brand’s so-called Large Product Group to break cover, the Mazda CX-60 will be pitched in Australia as a slightly longer, wider and more expensive relation to the popular Mazda CX-5.
It will also be rear-wheel drive rather than front-drive, a drivetrain layout more typically associated with premium models and a feature Mazda confirmed it will promote locally.
“We’ll be promoting that point of difference definitely,” declared Mazda Australia marketing chief Alastair Doak.
Mazda has yet to confirm whether the other three members of the Large Product Group – the CX-70, CX-80 and CX-90 – will come to Australia. However, the business case for all of them is being assessed.
Mazda teased the CX-60 this week when it confirmed it would also be its first model with a plug-in hybrid drivetrain.
We’ve also previously seen spy photography of the CX-60 that captures the entire exterior undisguised.
It clearly shows the long bonnet and cab-back style that goes with its underpinning rear- and all-wheel drive architecture and family of longitudinal PHEV four- and mild-hybrid inline six-cylinder turbo-petrol and diesel engines.
This arrangement is a change from the front- and all-wheel drive architectures and transverse-mounted four-cylinder and V6 engines commonly employed by most mainstream car manufacturers including Mazda and its local sales rivals such as Toyota, Hyundai, Kia and Mitsubishi.
It’s the layout employed by the current Mazda CX-5, which like the CX-60 has a maximum five-seat capacity.
All engine options are expected to be included in the local CX-60 line-up, although their arrival is likely to be staggered out into the early months of 2023.
“The CX-60 is a new-generation product and it’s a car that takes us a little bit more premium than we have been,” said Doak.
“So it will sit above CX-5 in the range – which we are about to update. CX-60 takes us into that next price bracket above that car. Maybe in the Australian market that’s a bit of a unique proposition for us.”
Mazda has been inching its way upmarket over the last few years, pushing up pricing as it rolls out new-gen products such as the Mazda3 and the CX-30.
Doak said the audience for the CX-60 would – like the CX-5 – primarily be families, although they would likely be more “affluent” and “premium”.
He said the RWD layout would be an opportunity to attract that audience.
“It makes us different from most people around us,” said Doak. “It gives you an opportunity to deliver an even sportier drive.
“We are known for good dynamics and there is a reason some of the more sporty brands around the world are rear-drive biased; it gives us that opportunity.”
‘Clear hierarchy’
Intriguingly, the next Mazda CX-5 – expected in 2023 – will migrate to the Large Product Group (LPG) architecture, potentially narrowing the point of difference to the CX-60.
“If you are replacing the CX-5 there would be no point making it so close to CX-60 that customers get confused by it,” said Doak. “There will always be a clear hierarchy between the products.”
The CX-60 and seven-seat CX-80 are linked together in the LPG as narrow-body vehicles aimed at Europe and areas like that with narrower roads and driving space.
The wider-body five-seat CX-70 and seven-seat CX-90 are aimed at places such as North America with more automotive room to move.
Australia is unique among major Mazda markets in having the chance to take all four models.
But local boss Vinesh Bhindi told carsales only the CX-60 had been locked in.
“We are still considering the business cases,” he said. “Our philosophy has always been about giving as many choices as possible, but it’s all got to make a bit of sense.
“You’ll have to wait and see [what is confirmed].”
The next question is what impact the arrival of some or all of these new models will have on Mazda’s current large SUVs, the CX-8 and CX-9.
The Mazda CX-8 is effectively a three-row CX-5 that’s been on sale in Australia since 2018. The second-generation seven-seat Mazda CX-9 has been on sale here for six years, and was judged carsales Car of the Year 2016.
The lifecycle suggests the CX-8 might have more time in it, while the CX-9 could be replaced by one of the LPG models such as the CX-90.
But Bhindi didn’t rule out expansion rather than replacement.
“Where the opportunity presents, if it makes sense to have them side by side, and it’s available and it’s produced, absolutely,” he said.
“CX-8 and CX-9 are here to stay, but when other models are released or revealed that will determine what happens to 8 or 9.
“Now again, it’s not only manufactured for the Australian market, it’s a global car. So it will be a global decision on whether it stays or doesn’t.
“It’s not as clear cut as you’d like it to be; we are just one market feeding into all these products out of the one factory.”
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