SPY PICS: New Mazda CX-9 breaks cover

Mazda is sticking with petrol-only power for its second-generation CX-9, spotted for the first here undergoing testing in San Bernardino, California, ahead of its world debut at the Los Angeles motor show in November.

But as we reported in April, Mazda's new flagship seven-seat SUV will be powered by a turbocharged version of Mazda's 2.5-litre SKYACTIV four-cylinder powerplant. The move will ensure the CX-9 continues to appeal in the American market, where diesel is a four-letter word.

Ditching the Cyclone 3.7-litre V6 that powers the current CX-9 should reduce fuel consumption considerably, as well as improve economies of scale for Mazda broadly, and for its Hiroshima engine plant in particular. The factory builds the current V6 on the same production line as SKYACTIV four-cylinders of varying capacity, but each V6 takes about eight seconds longer to build than the four-cylinder engines.

As the last Mazda model to receive the SKYACTIV engine, chassis and design treatment, the CX-9 will miss out on the Japanese car-maker's SKYACTIV II powertrain technology, which is expected to include homogeneous-charge compression-ignition (HCCI) technology in the next-generation of Mazda models.

This is the next step on Mazda's path to reduce corporate average fuel consumption, which began with a target to lower the figure 30 per cent across the range by 2015. That was the measure that drove the development of the current SKYACTIV technology.

Under the camouflage the new CX-9, which is due to arrive in Australia next year, is now full-house Kodo. A facelift in 2012 took the SUV part-way there, but the grille of the new car is upright, rather than canted back. The D-pillars, belt and roof line are all more rounded, replacing than the angular framing for the windows of the current car. And there's a bit more lift in the waist around the rear flanks.

At a glance, the new CX-9 looks like an over-inflated CX-5 – Australia's top-selling SUV. Based on the CX-5's current sales success in Australia and around the world, the more economical new CX-9 should see sales lift compared to key rivals like Toyota's Kluger.

Indeed, Mazda has promised the new CX-9 will be a better vehicle than the Kluger, which according to year-to-date VFACTS sales figures, has found 8096 Australian homes – almost four times as many as the outgoing CX-9 so far this year (2070).