The plans for a bargain BMW 3 Series may have been axed.
Mazda
If there’s one automotive brand that’s solidified a reputation for punching above its weight in the 21st Century, it’s Mazda. In spite of being a comparatively small, independent carmaker, its products manage to hold their own against competitors from better-funded corporate goliaths like Toyota, Volkswagen and General Motors. The brand’s highly anticipated next step, however, seems designed to pit Mazda against the likes of BMW: a lineup of rear-wheel-drive-based, inline-six-powered vehicles, from a new Mazda 6 to rival the 3 Series to new crossovers aimed at the X3 / X4 / X5 lineup.
At least, that’s what the reports suggested. But it seems plans have changed over at Mazda: that 3 Series-fighting Mazda 6, apparently, has been canned — or at least back-burnered.
That’s the word from Mazda Europe’s head of engineering and development, Joachim Kunz, who spoke to Autocar for their print magazine (and whose quote was then spotted by CarBuzz). “It would be very nice…to have the [rear-drive platform] and six-cylinder engine for a Mazda 6 successor,” Kunz said. “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.”
That at least in part explains why Mazda chose to officially reveal the new platform and six-cylinder engine would be arriving in the form of new CX-70 and CX-90 SUVs, both of which should reach the streets by 2023. Those vehicles, however, will only offer all-wheel-drive, as one would expect of a sport-ute.
Given the bounty of well-reported claims from the industry’s most reputable publications about the RWD Mazda 6’s development, we’re fairly confident that Mazda was indeed pursuing such a vehicle as part of its plans; after all, the rumors of that car were intertwined with those of the company’s plans for that new inline-six and RWD-based platform, and both of those came true.And, to be fair, Kunz’s statement doesn’t say a rear-wheel-drive-platform Mazda 6 will never happen; he’s just saying that it won’t happen now.
Still, given how fast the automotive world is pushing towards electric power and how the market share for traditional sedans seems to be shrinking every year, any delay for a new Mazda 6 could push it closer to permanent dismissal. Mazda isn’t likely to lose its spirit anytime soon; the MX-5 Miata may well be the last car left on sale with a gas engine and a manual gearbox someday, and new products like the CX-50 and turbocharged Mazda 3 AWD hatchback seem likely to keep us interested for the forseeable future. Still…doesn’t an affordable 3 Series rival just sound so damn good?
Keyword: The Future Mazda We Were Super-Excited for Might Have Been Canceled