Mazda has released the first official exterior image of its new CX-8 crossover, which is set to hit the market in Japan before the end of 2017.
The black-and-white photograph shows the new model’s profile, and suggests it carries similar styling to both the second-generation CX-5 recently launched in South Africa and the CX-9 offered elsewhere.
The Japanese automaker bills the CX-8 as “a new kind of crossover SUV for people who both appreciate quality and need to seat more than five”, adding that “even adults can sit comfortably in the third row”.
At first at least, the CX-8 will be offered exclusively in the Japanese market (which interestingly doesn’t get the CX-9 offered in some other markets, such as the United States and Australia), with the brand saying that “global roll-out has not been confirmed”.
However, 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.
