Mazda’s first in-house electric vehicle since the MX-30 has been spied during early development, ahead of its expected debut in 2027.
Public road testing of Mazda’s first in-house electric vehicle since the MX-30 has commenced.
The early development mule – which uses a shrunken CX-90 body placed over a new electric vehicle architecture – was spotted near Mazda’s US research and development facility in Los Angeles.
It is expected to debut in 2027, pending any delays, as the first vehicle on Mazda’s dedicated Skyactiv EV Scalable Architecture, which will support vehicles of different sizes and body types.
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The new SUV will be Mazda’s first electric car developed by the brand from the ground up, as the MX-30 Electric was based on the same platform as the petrol-powered Mazda 3 and CX-30.
Meanwhile, the EZ-60 SUV and Australia-bound Mazda 6e sedan are based on an electric-car platform from Mazda’s Chinese joint-venture Changan, which is shared with Deepal vehicles sold in Australia.
The test vehicle spotted in the United States is not representative of the final product, as the ‘mule’ is intended to test the electric-vehicle technology before prototypes of the actual vehicle hit the road.
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It has been derived from the five-metre-long CX-90 large SUV, but its body has been trimmed down, appearing to be dimensionally similar to the mid-size CX-50 and CX-60, with a shorter rear overhang and a narrower footprint.
A charging port is not visible on the outside of the mule – however, it has a closed-off grille, and lacks an exhaust pipe or fuel cap, suggesting it is an electric vehicle.
The Mazda EV is likely to be a rival for the Tesla Model Y, Kia EV5, Hyundai Ioniq 5, Volkswagen ID.4, and other mid-size electric SUVs.
It is possible the electric SUV could fill the Mazda CX-5e trademark, for which the brand recently applied, along with the CX-6e name expected to be applied to the EZ-60 outside of China.
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Mazda chief technical officer Ryuichi Umeshita recently told Autocar the brand’s maiden in-house electric vehicle “has very good driving dynamics”.
“We’ve established our own electrification development team, which we call ‘E-Mazda’, and that team has been doing a great job,” Umeshita said.
“I’ve driven a prototype car already, which I would say is a real ‘jinba ittai’ car – our key concept of wellness between car and driver. It has very good driving dynamics. So we’re confident that our EV products will be real Mazda products.”
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