New Mazda CX-6e gets enormous screens, rear-wheel drive and choice of hybrid or EV power

The all-new Mazda EZ-60 has been revealed in full at the Auto Shanghai Motor Show, and the striking mid-size SUV will be available with a choice of plug-in hybrid or pure-electric power, not just in EV form, as we’d assumed.

This will give the EZ-60 an edge over its numerous competitors, including the Tesla Model Y, Audi Q4 e-tron and Skoda Enyaq. It’s more than likely to come to the UK and Europe next year, and when it does, we expect that it’ll have a different name – probably CX-6e – which is in line with the 6e saloon that Mazda revealed last year. 

The EZ-60 isn’t a purely Japanese-designed and engineered Mazda, but one built in conjunction with Chinese manufacturer Changan – just like the 6e. While the new SUV is aimed primarily at the Chinese market, Mazda hopes the car will compete globally, too.

Mazda CX-6e design

On first impression, the EZ-60 has an imposing look. It might be an SUV, but its body is low and wide, with big wheels and a shallow glasshouse that make it look more like a shooting brake than a traditional upright SUV.

Despite the car’s Chinese connections, the design is still very Mazda, with a traditionally shaped grille graphic framed by a clever three-dimensional lighting element. While it looks blocked in, the grille has a function, thanks to a small slip vent that funnels air into a clever wing in the bonnet to help with aero. This feature is also found on the Polestar 3. 

There are a pair of thin daytime running lights, with the main lighting coming from a small secondary headlight below. Aerodynamics appear to govern lots of other design elements, too, including drag-reducing cameras in place of mirrors, and a hollow rear pillar that will help to clean up the airflow as it passes the car. 

At the back, a dramatically raked rear screen meets ultra-thin LED lighting. There are two aero devices fitted alongside the screen’s glass edge, while a written-out Mazda logo sits in place of the traditional winged badge. 

Earlier this year we created an exclusive image to show how the Mazda CX-6e might look, which was based in part on the brand’s Arata concept, and our design was spot on.

The car also measures 4,850mm long with a wheelbase of 2,902mm, 1,935mm wide and 1,620mm tall, which makes it considerably larger than the existing Mazda CX-5 and Mazda CX-60 SUVs, and bigger than the Tesla Model Y. So space instead should be plentiful. 

Mazda CX-6e interior and technology

The EZ-60 features a very different interior layout to the 6e. Instead of its sibling’s 14.6-inch touchscreen combined with a 10.2-inch instrument display, the SUV gets an even more enormous 26.45-inch 5K screen stretching from the middle of the dashboard to the front passenger seat, while all the vital driver information is provided by a 3D head-up display.

There are no buttons anywhere on the dashboard, but Mazda assures us the ‘smart cabin’ can be operated by voice, touch or gesture, although the company didn’t elaborate on how that last set-up will work. BMW had a go at gesture controls a couple of years ago, but has now scrapped them. 

Other technology onboard will include a 23-speaker 3D sound system, with speakers in the headrest that apparently allow the driver and front passenger to listen to different music if you really can’t stand each other's taste.

Mazda CX-6e range, plug-in hybrid and price

According to Mazda, the pure-electric version of the EZ-60 will be able to cover around 373 miles on a single charge, while the plug-in hybrid model will do 621 miles (1,000km) before both the battery and petrol tank are drained. It’s worth noting, however, that those figures are based on the Chinese CLTC test cycle, not the WLTP standard used in Europe. 

Both versions will be rear-wheel drive, with the company also proudly declaring it has achieved a perfect 50:50 weight distribution with the mid-size SUV. At least on the PHEV, the EV’s heft is split 47:53 from front to back. 

The EZ-60 uses strut suspension at the front and a multi-link rear suspension set-up, plus electronically controlled dampers, in pursuit of 'Jinba Ittai' – Mazda’s philosophy of the sense of horse and rider as one. We assume the EZ-60 uses Changan's EPA1 platform, like the 6e.

Given the 6e’s mooted price of £40,000, we would expect the CX-6e to have a starting price of less than £45,000 when it comes to the UK, which would allow it to undercut its key rivals, particularly the Tesla Model Y.

More Mazda electric SUVs to come

While the Mazda 6e and CX-6e will be using a platform from Changan, Mazda has been working on its own in-house EV architecture dubbed ‘Scalable SkyActiv’ for some time and the first model based on it is set to arrive in 2027.

Mazda’s chiefs previously hinted at an SUV based on this flexible platform to us last year. More recently, the brand’s UK managing director, Jeremy Thomson, told us to “watch this space” when asked why the firm had chosen to lead its next EV offering with a saloon rather than an SUV. 

“We’ll start plugging all of the gaps; they will be the mainstream kind of cars you expect. It’s a journey – we’re on a journey,” he explained. This leaves space in Mazda’s range for a larger electric SUV to potentially provide an alternative to the CX-80 flagship.

Mazda EZ-60 Shanghai Show Star

By Richard Ingram

Walking around the National Exhibition and Convention Center in Shanghai, I could’ve picked any number of the weird and wonderful cars on display as my highlight of what turned out to be a rather eye-opening trip, and my first to China since before the coronavirus pandemic.

However, I couldn’t help but be drawn to the striking Mazda EZ-60 – a sleek, battery-electric SUV that’s destined for UK shores in 2026. It will sit in the highly competitive D-SUV segment, and rival models such as the Tesla Model Y and Audi Q4 e-tron.

I was particularly excited to see it in the metal, having scooped the car during an exclusive interview with UK managing director, Jeremy Thompson, back in February. Turns out our exclusive render was pretty accurate – and there’s still a chance it could use the trademarked CX-6e name when it arrives in Europe next year.

Technical details such as motor capacity, battery sizes and projected range remain thin on the ground, but being a Mazda, we already know it’ll be good to drive; the maker injects a little bit of the MX-5 sports car into each and every one of its models, after all. The cabin should be nicely built, too, and despite the slightly sloping roofline, the boot looks a decent size.

While the car you see here was a kind of pearlescent white – more blue under the lights of the show floor, perhaps – there was another version on the Mazda stand finished in a resplendent shade of purple. It looked utterly fantastic, and any manufacturer who champions bold colours in this day and age by shunning the monotonous blacks and greys, gets my vote.

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