Mazda has finally fully revealed the CX-8, opening the order books for the new three-row crossover in Japan.
Due to serve as the flagship model in the automaker’s SUV line-up in Japan, Mazda says the newcomer offers a fresh “people-moving option for customers who want to enjoy outings with family and friends but don’t want to sacrifice design or driving performance”. It will be available in six- and seven-seat guises.
Power comes from what the Japanese brand describes as an “advanced version” of its familiar 2,2-litre turbodiesel engine producing 140 kW and 450 N.m, and linked to a six-speed automatic transmission as standard. In Japan, there will be both front- and all-wheel-drive derivatives.
The CX-8 measures 4 900 mm long, 1 840 mm wide and 1 730 mm high, and features three rows of seats. Mazda says the second row is “comfortable for people of larger builds”, while the third row can “easily accommodate adults up to 170 cm tall”. With all three rows of seats in use, Mazda says the luggage compartment offers 239 litres of space (folding down the third row boosts the figure to a claimed 572 litres).
Will it be offered outside of Japan at a later stage? Well, while it seems unlikely to be launched in markets that already feature the CX-9 (which itself is not offered in Japan), it may eventually appear elsewhere.
Indeed, when CARmag.co.za spoke to Mazda Southern Africa CEO Craig Roberts back in May, he revealed that the local arm of the Japanese automaker had “got wind of – nothing official – some other opportunities potentially with a larger SUV, not necessarily CX-9”.
Roberts went on to admit that there may well be a place for a seven-seater such as the new CX-8 in South Africa at a later stage.
“There might be an opportunity for us to position something like that [the CX-8] between CX-5 and CX-9, which I think there could be a niche for,” Roberts said at the time.