No Biante for Australia

Mazda is taking orders from Japanese buyers for the domestic market-only Biante eight-seat people mover, but it won't be coming to Australia.

The Biante is offered in Japan with a 2.0-litre direct-injection engine or a 2.3-litre engine with port injection. 2.0-litre variants are available in front-wheel drive configuration -- with five-speed automatic transmission -- or with drive to all four wheels, via a four-speed automatic. Topping the range, the 2.3-litre Biante is available in front-wheel drive configuration only, the engine coupled to the five-speed auto box.

Locally, Mazda will not compete in the VFACTS people mover segment, due to that segment's gradual sales decline -- and that means the Biante is a non-starter here.

"We see all our seven-seat needs being fulfilled by the CX-9," says Glenn Butler, Mazda Australia's National PR Manager.

"[There's] Not enough of a market for us to want to get back into it at this stage; it seems to be diminishing -- [mostly] as a result of SUV sales picking up.

"[SUVs] are a growing market, so we think there's more relevance for us... Rather than in the dedicated MPV market."

Until around July 2006, Mazda offered a distinct people-mover, the MPV. The MPV, a model that had been a fixture of the local Mazda product range since the early 1990s, couldn't compete with cheaper competitors from Korea and SUVs -- which also provided a cheaper alternative. It's principally SUVs that are decimating the people mover segment, according to Butler.

"I think you'd probably get a lot of your answers too if you have a look at VFACTS on the MPV segment over the last five years," he says.

"It's almost been in a constant, slow decline."

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