Mazda has pushed back the launch of its new large-vehicle platform to 2023, which suggests the next-generation CX-5 won’t hit the market before then.
Speaking to Automotive News, Mazda CEO Akira Marumoto confirmed the delay.
“We thought about the scalability of electrification technologies in the future, and we found if we stayed with the planned architecture as it was, we may get in trouble. So we decided to make a change,” he said.
Marumoto went on to reveal the platform – which he said would underpin “the CX-5 and above” (so, also the CX-8 and CX-9, plus the rumoured-to-return CX-7) – would be able to accommodate a four-cylinder engine, an inline six-cylinder engine and some sort of plug-in hybrid powertrain. Expect a Skyactiv-X unit and a 48-volt mild hybrid version of the inline-six to be included, too.
Interestingly, Marumoto said it was “not a goal” of Mazda’s to become an established premium brand, adding the Japanese firm does not “aim to be like one of the established German Three [Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz] premium brands”.
He also conceded the “Korean players” had reached a level that “really gives us pressure”, before predicting the “Chinese brands will eventually become something that will globally exert pressure as well”.
