Mazda launches a 4-pronged large-product platform

TOKYO — Mazda kicks off an upmarket portfolio shift that bets that bigger is better with a global blitz of new large-sized crossovers.

The strategy will begin unfolding this year in Europe and Japan with the launch of the new two-row CX-60. That model will be followed by two U.S.-focused stablemates, the CX-70 and CX-90 starting next year.

A three-row CX-80 is also in the mix, for Europe, Japan and other global markets.

Underpinning all the new nameplates is a large-vehicle platform that will sustain Mazda’s electrification plan and its brand-building efforts through this decade and beyond.

The so-called large-product architecture has a newly developed rear-wheel-drive platform for vehicles sized above the recently introduced CX-50 made at Mazda’s new plant in Alabama.

The new architecture supports all-wheel drive-setups and a range of powertrains that include turbocharged gasoline engines, a newly developed diesel engine, a 48-volt mild hybrid system and the company’s first plug-in hybrid. Also on tap is a new eight-speed automatic transmission with a clutch instead of a torque converter for more responsive driving.

The new large-product platform also opens possibilities for other segments, said Takeji Kojima, Mazda’s managing executive officer in charge of product strategy and R&D administration. It potentially paves the way for a successor to the Mazda6 sedan or even an rwd sports car someday.

But Mazda is first focused on nailing the red-hot crossover market, Kojima said.

Mazda is banking on bigger engines to not only deliver better driving but better fuel efficiency through a more efficient combustion process that compares with engines of lower displacements.

The bigger engines could help attract a more upmarket customer base.

The CX-60 entered production at Mazda’s Hofu Plant No. 2 in western Japan last month. Deliveries to Europe will begin this summer, and to Japan in the fall.

The crossover will sport a range of powerplants, starting with a plug-in hybrid setup that mates a 2.5-liter, four-cylinder Skyactiv-G gasoline engine to a 17.8-kilowatt-hour lithium ion battery and a 129-kilowatt electric motor. Total system output is 241 kW, or about 328 hp.

The e-Skyactiv PHEV can cover 0 to 62 mph in 5.8 seconds and drive about 62 kilometers (39 miles) in EV mode.

Meanwhile, a newly developed 3.3-liter six-cylinder e-Skyactiv D diesel engine is combined with a 48-volt mild hybrid system that acts as a motor-assist to the engine. The diesel engine delivers 245 hp and does 0 to 62 mph in 7.3 seconds. Brawny torque is this setup’s selling point.

Those specifications are for the European version, but they are indicative of the drivetrains Mazda will introduce in its other large vehicles and in other markets.

In the U.S. market, the CX-70 and CX-90 are expected to get the e-Skyactiv PHEV version as well as a 3.3-liter inline six-cylinder turbocharged gasoline power plant. In the U.S., the CX-90 is expected to arrive first, in 2023, replacing the CX-9. The CX-70 will arrive shortly thereafter.

Further down the road, Europe is also expected to get an inline-six variant of Mazda’s Skyactiv-X engine. Japan, meanwhile, will also get non-hybrid variants of the I-6 diesel and I-4 gasoline.

The overall lineup looks like this:

• The CX-60 will have two rows, aiming at Europe and Japan
• The CX-70 will have two rows and a wide body, targeting North America.
• The CX-80 will have three rows, focusing on Europe and Japan.
• The CX-90 will have three rows and a wide body, also for North America.

Mazda continues to invest in internal combustion as part of the company’s so-called multi-solution approach to cleaner emissions. It sees further efficiency gains from engines paired with electrification or new clean-burning fuels, such as biodiesel or hydrogen.

Even the new six-cylinder e-Skyactiv D mild hybrid system can achieve the environmental performance of a full hybrid, said Senior Managing Executive Officer Ichiro Hirose, Mazda’s global R&D chief. It can also run on biofuel, breathing extended life into the diesel technology, he said.

“One of our missions is to boost the efficiency of internal combustion to the max,” Hirose said. “When biofuels become available, we think there is a huge opportunity for greater application of diesel engines. We believe there will come a day when diesel engines make a comeback.”

While Mazda will continue to consider deployment of a full-hybrid system, the company will source such technology from its partner Toyota, rather than develop it in-house, Hirose said.

Further ahead, Mazda will go full electric with another new platform that debuts around 2025. That setup will be called the Skyactiv EV Scalable Architecture. It will underpin a range of battery-electrics, from small to large segments.

Mazda wants EVs to account for a quarter of its global sales by 2030, with the rest of portfolio employing some other form of electrification.

“We will gradually shift to the electric-exclusive scalable architecture in the latter half of the 2020s,” said Yasuhiro Aoyama, Mazda’s global sales and marketing chief. “In the meantime, we will fully leverage the multi-solution architecture.”

But Mazda’s goal of 25 percent full-electric vehicles is probably not aggressive enough, he said.

“Frankly speaking, considering the latest trend of regulation in Europe and the United States, 25 percent should not be enough,” Aoyama said. New electrification targets, he added, are expected to be floated when the automaker updates its midterm business plan later this spring.Naoto Okamura contributed to this report.