TOKYO MOTOR SHOW: CX-5 to succeed CX-7 in Mazda's Aussie lineup?
CEO admits the challenge to sell two comparable SUVs alongside in "some markets"Management at Mazda Australia will end the importation of the CX-7 once the CX-5 arrives in Australia — short of a miracle occurring.
In the day prior to the Tokyo Motor Show, carsales.com.au spoke with local PR manager Steve Maciver concerning the ongoing market viability of the CX-7 once the CX-5 joins the local range. Maciver replied that he felt it unlikely that the older model would survive the introduction of the new, SKYACTIV-equipped CX-5. The new car is arguably better packaged, more fuel efficient and likely to be cheaper once it arrives here, so Maciver and his colleague — National Marketing Manager Alastair Doak — see little to be gained by retaining the CX-7.
And Mazda CEO Takashi Yamanounchi has paved the way forward for the Australian arm to end local distribution of the CX-7.
"We think the different styling dictates different target customers for those products," Yamanouchi-san said through an interpreter. "CX-5 is more SUV-like, whereas CX-7 is more... crossover. I think the CX-7 will be positioned in a higher-priced position. But I agree that in some markets it may be difficult to sell the two side by side. That will be left to the decision of the distributor in each market."
In larger markets however, the two can survive and, on a global level, Yamanouchi doesn't see the CX-7 being taken behind the green curtain just yet. Indeed, the current CX-7 will be succeeded by a new model in due course — to address perhaps the relative difference in fuel efficiency that lies between it and the newer CX-5. Further bolstering its SUV offerings, Mazda will also develop a new generation of the CX-9, with SKYACTIV technology just as the CX-5 currently features.
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