Mazda is about to release an updated version of its popular CX-5 medium SUV but much of the commentary around the event has focused on the lack of a hybrid option for the model, given the growing relevance of the form for fuel-conscious Australians.

In response, Mazda Australia boss, Vinesh Bhindi, told WhichCar by Wheels back in March that the brand’s delay in doing so is to preserve the true Mazda drive experience valued by its customers.

“Look, we would love to have a hybrid today, and to talk to you about it,” Bhindi said. “But what was on the table as an option… we felt like Mazda needs to create a Mazda hybrid system that will deliver the Mazda feeling.”

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The statement was recently backed up by Mazda’s Program Manager for the CX-5, Koichiro Yamaguchi, during his visit to Australia for the first drive of the revised 2026 Mazda CX-5.

“I think the customers will care,” Yamaguchi told WhichCar by Wheels, when asked if Mazda buyers would actually be concerned whether their CX-5 “drives like a Mazda”. “For example, I told my engineers with this new CX-5, with the dampers, that they must behave and respond in a way that we see as the world’s best.”

According to Yamaguchi, that will deliver the kind of response and engagement that is synonymous with driving a Mazda.

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Bhindi, who has driven the Mazda-developed CX-5 hybrid prototype, was keen to emphasise that a Mazda hybrid might not be what we expect it to be – certainly in the traditional sense.

“Not all customers say we want a particular technology… so there are opportunities, and from a Mazda point of view, the hybrid will come and will join the portfolio,” Bhindi told WhichCar by Wheels. “But we have got many variations currently for a customer who says, ‘I want a midsize SUV.’

“We will have the CX-5 here as brand new, we will have the CX-6E in a few months time, but we also have a CX-60 with both pure internal combustion, mild-hybrid and plug-in hybrid. So the options are there under CX5… the hybrid will come.”

The link between Mazda and Changan Automobile has already borne fruit in the form of the soon to be released electric 6e and CX-6e. Could Mazda not have opted for an engineering or platform-sharing arrangement to bring a hybrid CX-5 to market sooner?

“One option was there for Mazda Corporation to plug and play, buy an off-the-shelf hybrid system and be done with it,” Bhindi said. “But… customers really care that it needs to feel and drive like a Mazda. And that option was given to markets, and we all said no, [let’s] spend the time and resource and energy to make it feel like a Mazda drive for the customer. That’s what we’re doing.”

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The response suggests Mazda is looking at hybrid a little differently to its Japanese and South Korean competitors who have, thus far at least, considered the technology to be wholly about fuel saving. That’s in contrast to a manufacturer like Lamborghini, which looks at hybrid technology as a way to prolong its internal combustion engines, and make a fast car, even faster. It’s news that could even be exciting for the next generation of sporty Mazdas – like MX-5.

“Driving the prototype only a little while ago, I’ve got to say, it’s going to be amazing.,” Bhindi said. “And it’ll be different. It’s not about hybrid [focusing] on fuel efficiency and fuel efficiency only. Mazda is not going for that – Mazda is going for something that Mazda customers will appreciate.”