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The current Mazda CX-3 will finally bow out after 12 years, with a new-generation model locked in for 2027, likely with hybrid power.
A successor to the 11-year-old Mazda CX-3 city SUV will launch next year, the brand has confirmed.
Mazda has announced it will "introduce the next-generation CX-3 (compact SUV)… next year to capture the volume segment," with the second-generation model to remain manufactured in Thailand.
The company had previously confirmed it would manufacture a new small SUV in Thailand from 2027 – including an "electrified" version – but this is the first confirmation that the CX-3 name will be retained.
More details on the 2027 CX-3 are currently unclear, including whether it will feature an updated version of its existing underpinnings – as seen with the new-generation CX-5 due in Australia next month – or move to a smaller version of the Mazda 3 and CX-30 platform.
Also unclear is the future of the related Mazda 2 hatch and sedan, which launched in 2014 in its current-generation, a year earlier than the CX-3.
A future Mazda 2 was hinted by the Vision X-Compact concept at the 2025 Tokyo motor show, while design sketches for what appears to be the new CX-3 were shown last February, during the announcement of Mazda's five billion baht ($AU233 million) investment in Thailand.
In its March 2026 full-year financial report released this week, Mazda said the launch of the next-generation CX-3 will strengthen the Thailand factory's role "as an export base to Japan and ASEAN (South-East Asia)".
Australian examples of the CX-3 are expected to continue to be sourced from Thailand, with local showroom arrivals of the new-generation model possible by the end of next year.
Earlier this year, Mazda Australia managing director Vinesh Bhindi told Drive the current Mazda CX-3 and Mazda 2 "will be on offer ongoing this year".
"From Mazda Australia’s point of view, if Mazda Corporation are making these cars and they are available to us – and there’s demand or interest in it – we will work as hard as we can to make it available.
"Absolutely, at some point there will be newer generation models, but … there is a priority list.
"Getting Large Platform [CX-60, CX-70, CX-80 and CX-90], and then the CX-5 replacement, and then electrification technologies, so there is a need [to refresh Mazda 2 and CX-3].
"I mean, I wish we had endless R&D resources that could do everything at once, but that’s not the case."
The 2027 Mazda CX-3 is likely to take design and technology inspiration from the new-generation 2026 CX-5, as well as from newer Mazda small cars, such as the Mazda 3 and CX-30.
Year-to-date, 4439 examples of the CX-3 have been reported as sold, retaining its title as Australia's best-selling 'light' SUV, despite newer competitors, such as the Toyota Yaris Cross (2731), Hyundai Venue (1938), Kia Stonic (1897), and Suzuki Fronx (323).
The CX-3 is also Mazda's second-best-selling vehicle in Australia so far in 2026, behind the CX-5 (7477), but ahead of the BT-50 (4059), CX-30 (4041), Mazda 3 (2697) and CX-60 (1804).
However, the CX-3 is down 17.6 per cent year-on-year, in a segment currently down 17.1 per cent, as affordable, one-size-up SUVs from China report growing sales, such as the Chery Tiggo 4 (up 104 per cent YTD) and GWM Haval Jolion (up 31.8 per cent YTD).
Mazda partly attributed a 9 per cent sales decline in Australia between April 2025 and March 2026 to the Mazda 2 and CX-3 small cars, "while sales of Large Platform models (CX-60, CX-70, CX-80 and CX-90) increased".
Jordan is a motoring journalist based in Melbourne with a lifelong passion for cars. He has been surrounded by classic Fords and Holdens, brand-new cars, and everything in between from birth, with his parents’ owning an automotive workshop in regional Victoria. Jordan started writing about cars in 2021, and joined the Drive team in 2024.
