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Want the on-again, off-again Mazda 6 successor – with a six-cylinder engine and rear-wheel drive – to come to showrooms? Start buying sedans, according to a top executive.
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Mazda is calling on fans to trade their SUVs for sedans if they want any chance of seeing the long-mooted six-cylinder, rear-wheel-drive Mazda 6 in showrooms.
The Japanese car giant has long quashed persistent rumours out of Japan claiming the rear-wheel-drive underpinnings of the CX-60 will spawn a sedan to replace the Mazda 6.
It has cited slow sales of traditional four-doors – compared to growing SUV sales – for the decision.
But the Mazda Japan executive in charge of the rear-drive 'Large' architecture says such a car is still on his wish list, and is rallying customers to help build the business case.
"In addition [to CX-60, CX-70, CX-80 and CX-90], if there are any possibilities then, of course, we would like to consider that as well," Kohei Shibata, Mazda program manager of the CX-60, CX-80 and broader Large Product Group, told Drive through a translator.
"Personally, a FR [front-engined, rear-wheel drive] sedan would be a good dream for everyone.
"Journalists always tell me that you should make a sedan, but the marketplace is so small. So if ... the people start to buy that kind of vehicle, then that will let us make that vehicle."
It has long been envisioned a new Mazda 6 on the Large architecture would use the 3.3-litre turbo-petrol inline six-cylinder engine debuted in the CX-60, matched with a choice of rear- or all-wheel drive.
Reports out of Japan first claimed such a vehicle was in development more than three years ago, but it has never surfaced.
Instead, Mazda has focused on four SUVs based on the Large platform: two narrow-body models for Europe and Japan, the five-seat CX-60 and seven-seat CX-80, and two wide-body vehicles for North America, the five-seat CX-70 and seven-seat CX-90.
Australia is the only major global market to sell all four, with Shibata-san flying to Australia for the Australian media launch of the CX-80 and CX-70.
"With the Large platform models, we had from the beginning of the plan, those four are the ones," the Mazda executive told Drive.
"They are all out now. CX-80 is the last one and we now launched it in March. The four Large architecture models [and] how we can continue to sell them in the marketplace, how we going to keep evolving those four models – that's something I need to really work on."
In May 2024, a Mazda financial report described the CX-80 as "completing our four Large product line-up globally," all but closing the door on an expansion of the underpinnings to other body styles.
Cold water was first poured on rumours of a rear-wheel-drive Mazda 6 replacement two years ago, with comments from a European executive surprisingly similar to those given to Drive this month by Shibata-san.
"It would be very nice… to have the FR [front-engine, rear-driven] concept and six-cylinder engine for a Mazda 6 successor or a large sports coupé," Mazda Europe development and engineering boss Joachim Kunz told the UK's Autocar at the time.
"We would like to have it, but at this point in time, it's most important to sell SUVs. This SUV trend is continuing, and even more for Mazda. It's what's selling best."
Mazda 6 sales currently sit at less than a tenth of their record pace – on track for 1340 deliveries in Australia this year, compared to 14,783 cars in 2005 – and Australia is one of the few markets where the current model is still sold.
The closest Mazda fans will come to a new Mazda 6 is likely to be the EZ-6, an electric sedan now on sale in China – where sedans remain popular – based on a vehicle from local joint-venture partner Changan.
While reports suggest it will be sold in Europe, it is yet to be confirmed for Australia, or any right-hand-drive market.
Top of story: Illustrations created by Theottle.
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Alex Misoyannis has been writing about cars since 2017, when he started his own website, Redline. He contributed for Drive in 2018, before joining CarAdvice in 2019, becoming a regular contributing journalist within the news team in 2020. Cars have played a central role throughout Alex’s life, from flicking through car magazines at a young age, to growing up around performance vehicles in a car-loving family.
