Debuting at Auto Shanghai last April, the Mazda EZ-60 will finally be exported outside China this year – and as expected, it wears a new name, the Mazda CX-6e. Unlike in the Middle Kingdom where it is available with a range extender, the car is offered globally in pure EV form only. That means you get just a single powertrain option – a single rear motor producing 190 kW (258 PS) and 290 Nm of torque, juiced by a 78 kWh LFP battery for a claimed WLTP-rated range of 484 km; way off the 600 km quoted on China’s wildly optimistic CLTC cycle. Performance figures include a zero-to-100 km/h time of 7.9 seconds and a top speed of 185 km/h. You also get support for up to 195 kW of DC fast charging, topping up the battery from 10 to 80% in 24 minutes. The car also accepts up to 11 kW of AC charging, taking 8.5 hours for a full charge. As per the 6e sedan, the CX-6e was jointly developed with Changan and takes much of its hardware from the Deepal S07, albeit with a bigger battery and faster charging. Although the car was designed and built in China, the MacPherson strut front and multilink rear suspension has been extensively retuned by Mazda’s European R&D centre in Oberusel, Germany for more engaging handling and optimised power steering assistance. The brakes have also been tweaked to provide a smoother transition between regenerative and friction braking. The rest of the car is as we’ve seen before, including the striking design that looks all the world like an enlarged Mazda 3 hatch. Details include slim and sharp upper daytime running lights, illuminated shark nose-like closed-off grille, chiselled flanks, swooping low-slung glasshouse, slim L-shaped taillights and a gloss black floating roof. The CX-6e also features no less than nine ducts to channel air through the car, including on the leading edge of the grille and even the “flying buttress” C-pillars. Finishing off the look is the Nightfall Violet hero colour, with range-topping models featuring side-view cameras and fetching 21-inch “petal” alloy wheels that have the effect of reducing range slightly to 468 km. Inside, one can’t help but be drawn to the massive 26-inch infotainment touchscreen that spans the centre and passenger sides of the dashboard, with the driver instead getting a head-up display. The big screen integrates most vehicular controls such as the air con and features wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, plus a “Hey Mazda” voice control system. If need be, the CX-6e can be put into one of four vehicle modes, including a Pet Comfort mode if you need to step out while a pet or groceries are still inside. There’s also the ability to use hand gestures such as the “okay” sign to navigate home and even a “finger heart” to save a song to your favourites. Speaking of which, music is piped through a 23-speaker, 1,280-watt sound system that includes headrest speakers for both the driver and front passenger. Unique to the industry, you are able to connect each headrest speaker to separate Bluetooth devices, allowing the front occupants to play their own media and make phone calls without disturbing other passengers. The rest of the cabin is inspired by the ma, the Japanese concept of negative space, with silvery trim, gloss black touches and Maztex faux leather upholstery – the latter available in black, beige or a two-tone Amethyst and White to compliment the purple exterior option. The illuminated wing-shaped strip forms part of the ambient lighting system with 256 colours. As standard, the CX-6e comes with a panoramic glass roof with a visible light transmittance (VLT) of 35% and heat-reflective coating that rejects up to 99.7% of ultraviolet light. The boot is relatively small at 363 litres but you can fold down the rear seats to boost luggage capacity to 1,434 litres, and there’s also an 80 litre front boot. Safety-wise, the CX-6e comes as standard with a suite of driver assists such as autonomous emergency braking, lane keeping assist, blind spot monitoring with collision prevention, rear cross traffic alert with auto brake, a door opening warning, speed limit assist and a door opening warning. There’s also a rear seat reminder with camera-based child presence detection in keeping with EU regulations. The CX-6e could very well make its way to our region, given that the 6e is already on sale in Thailand. Whether it will make its way to Malaysia is another story and will likely hinge on whether Bermaz is able to assemble the car at the Inokom plant in Kulim, Kedah to benefit from CKD EV tax exemptions. Compare prices between different insurer providers to save the most on your car insurance renewal compared to other competing services. Many payment method supported and you can pay with instalment using Atome, Grab PayLater or Shopee SPayLater.