TOKYO MOTOR SHOW: Next Mazda6 too big?

'Hint' is the word Mazda frequently uses to describe the relationship between the Takeri concept and the next generation Mazda6, but little doubt remains that the production model won't be far removed at all from the show car.

As we've reported previously, the all-new mid-size family car from Mazda is due perhaps in 12 months or thereabouts — and it will grow in size from what we know, to accommodate larger markets in the US, Russia and China. In the current generation Mazda has sold two distinct cars around the world: the larger '6 and seven-eighths' for North America and the Mazda6 sold everywhere else — including Australia.

For the new car, Mazda will revert to one design for all markets. Since the North American market is so important to Mazda, the rest of the world will have to fall in line with what the Americans want (and the Russians too, for that matter).

By our standards then, the Mazda6 will grow longer and wider.

During the Tokyo Motor Show, carsales.com.au spoke with Mazda CEO Takashi Yamanounchi about the rationale behind the increase in size. If small cars are currently all the rage among conventional passenger cars in Australia — and Australia is probably not unique among world markets in that respect — why should the Mazda6 appeal more by growing larger?

"We are doing a survey of our consumers," Yamanouchi-san responded through an interpreter, "but our [aim] is to have just one model — and we'll do anything we can so that size suits everyone."

Cheekily, the Mazda boss implied that the question and his answer were both hypothetical, because "there was no Mazda6 on the stand today."

Mazda is relying heavily on the Takeri's KODO styling theme to help sell the Mazda6 when it arrives in the market. The response to the styling of the concept car has been overwhelmingly positive, but an emotional reaction to the styling makes no allowance for backing a long car into a short parking spot or threading a wide car through heavy traffic.

Chief designer for the Takeri concept, Akira Tamatani, supported Yamanouchi's statement that Mazda needed to distil the medium segment family car down to just the one size for all global markets — and the Takeri is very close in size to the current North American Mazda6. In fact, Tamatani says that the show car's dimensions are under consideration for the production car (which we take to mean the show car's dimensions are locked in for the production car).

Tamatani did not care to comment in detail as to how close the relationship was between the Takeri and the next Mazda6. However, he basically sees the translation of KODO style from Takeri to production as achievable.

"Although I cannot be specific, or I cannot be clear about it," Tamatani said through an interpreter, "I believe that we are at the stage that we can be confident to be able to reproduce a very similar image that you see [from Takeri] in the next generation vehicle."

The Mazda6 wagon will be shorter than the current wagon, overall — and 15mm shorter in length than the next wagon — but the wheelbase will be longer than the current car's, Tamatani says. Both sedan and wagon will be wider, due to the special 4-2-1 exhaust manifold required for the SKYACTIV engines powering the cars.

Some of that width is parlayed into space between the driver and front passenger, to conserve legroom in the front seats. This will lend a more open aspect to front-seat accommodation at the least. The added length in the rear will enhance legroom, but shoulder room across the car will be compromised slightly by the KODO styling affectations of the sculptured flanks.

Overall then, the next Mazda6, we surmise, could and should be roomy enough for a typical Australian family. But without a hatchback model and perhaps in proportions too generous for some buyers, the Mazda possibly has some work ahead of it when it reaches the local market.

More Tokyo Motor Show news on carsales.com.au