Any volume-selling brand without a mid-sized hybrid SUV is definitely swimming against the tide right now.

But if you were waiting for Mazda to pull the wraps off its CX-5 hybrid, prepare to wait a bit longer.

It’s not that Mazda Australia doesn’t understand the importance of filling the mid-sized SUV hybrid-shaped empty space in its showrooms, it’s just that the world has got in the way.

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Mazda Australia MD, Vinesh Bhindi, says it’s simply a matter of the market having voted with its feet in favour of full electrification right now.

And that means cars like the new, pure-electric CX-6e (below), and development of new ones just like it, have taken priority at Mazda for the moment.

“EV is the priority, because the market has now had that breakthrough from the early adopters to what the mainstream will accept,” Vinesh told Whichcar by Wheels.

Moving shot of a red Mazda SUV driving on a highway with blurred greenery in the background.
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“That breakthrough has been accelerated by two factors. The first is the fuel supply crisis and Australia’s limited supply at the start of that crisis. But secondly, the tax incentive from the FBT tax review. This is affecting mum and dad buyers who have figured out that the benefits are significant enough to pursue, and it’s BEV powertrains that offer that.

“Also, there are a lot of conversations at dinner tables along the lines of: `We know someone’ – maybe a neighbour or relative –  `who has figured out how to live with the tech’.

“It’s (BEV) still not a tech for everybody, but it’s emerging quicker than anybody would have predicted.”

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So where does that leave a CX-5 hybrid?

Vinesh says Mazda is still committed to the concept, but given that a firm timeline hasn’t been announced, there’s no indication of when a hybrid CX-5 will hit showrooms.

“Job one has not been announced yet. So I don’t have a date to give to you today.”

And just for the record, when a hybrid CX-5 does materialise, it will be a conventional closed-loop hybrid, not a plug-in.