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Mazda is one of the most popular brands in Australia, cementing a reputation for building vehicles that are enjoyable to drive. It's now starting to reveal some premium aspirations.
In 2023, the new CX-60 and CX-90 SUVs were pitched head-to-head with the luxury car brands, while it rolled out updates to its strong-selling staples including the 2, CX-3 and CX-5.
They shared showroom space with its first plug-in hybrids well as the genuinely iconic MX-5 sports car.
Yet there are some big changes as the brand takes to electrification – Mazda dropped its first battery electric vehicle, the MX-30, in October, and at the end of year will take the CX-8 large SUV off the market too.
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It also put the manual transmission CX-30 out to pasture and the manual entry-level version of the CX-5, while retiring the 2017 Wheels Car of the Year, the CX-9, globally.
While the big push for Mazda EVs will be in 2025 – with three new models expected – Mazda Australia has made no secret of its immediate desire to offer the CX-50, which shares it hybrid powertrain with the hugely popular Toyota RAV4 Hybrid, in local showrooms.
Here's your guide to the new Mazda models coming to Australia, along with the facelifts and other variants that have the potential to head down-under.
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JUMP AHEAD
Confirmed models
Potential models
Confirmed
New CX-5
The third-generation of Mazda’s best-seller is expected to land in 2025, but the current Mazda CX-5 will still be given a minor update ahead of the all-new model.
Mazda has given the CX-5 almost annual changes to keep since the nameplate went on sale in 2012 to keep its mid-size SUV in the mix – which appears to have succeeded.
For 2024, new colours and grilles will be joined by upgraded infotainment systems, while the Active Touring model grade has also been dropped, with price revisions for the refreshed line-up. Diesel CX-5 models will also say goodbye to make space for the diesel-powered CX-60.
New MX-5
In 2025, an all-new MX-5 is expected to replace the capable yet ageing sports car – the 2016 Wheels Car of the Year – with a new-generation NE model.
Yet the current ND MX-5 will be treated to some final tweaks before it’s replaced. For 2024, the manual MX-5 GT RS comes with a new ‘DSC Track’ mode, while all three-pedal MX-5s score an Asymmetric Limited Slip Differential (LSD) plus improved throttle response and steering changes.
Automatic MX-5s miss out on those changes, but range-wide new alloy wheel designs and fresh seat trims – as well as price rises – accompany the arrival of the MX-5 RF GT auto trim level.
It will also be the first Mazda to offer connected services functionality from the second half of 2024.
CX-80
Mazda has confirmed that the CX-80 – a three-row premium SUV sitting below the CX-90 – will be sold in Australia. The only remaining question is exactly when, following delays in its global reveal.
Confirmed for local showrooms back in March, there’s been no further detail on the seven-seat CX-80 which will, along with the CX-90, effectively replace the Mazda CX-9.
Using Mazda’s Large Platform architecture, the CX-80 is one of four large SUVs the Japanese car maker will offer to spearhead its luxury push. That starts with the CX-60, on sale since July 2023; the yet-to-be announced CX-70 and the CX-80, which will slot below the CX-90 launched in Australia last August.
CX-90 Plug-in Hybrid
The six-cylinder CX-90 large SUV arrived in 2023 as Mazda’s largest SUV with premium appointments, and a premium price, to tackle German prestige marques.
The Australian CX-90 range will expand in the second half of 2024 with a 2.5-litre naturally aspirated plug-in hybrid drivetrain – offering up to 42km of electric driving range – across multiple trim levels.
That may see PHEV prices start at around $86,000 but stretch as high as $115,000 including on-road costs – and the begrudged Luxury Car Tax – in the flagship Azami guise, with option packs potentially adding another $10,000 to the total outlay.
This would make the CX-90 PHEV the most expensive Mazda ever sold in Australia, knocking off the Mazda RX-7 SP sports car offered in 1995 for $101,515 before on-road costs.
Potential future models
Mazda 2
The current third-generation Mazda 2 went on sale in 2014, making it well past retirement age in passenger-car terms.
It’s still an important model globally so it’s unlikely it will not be replaced, but the next Mazda 2 may well be an electric-powered city car using the car maker’s new electric architecture.
The new platform will not be ready until 2025 – leaving the current car in showrooms for another 12 months, likely longer.
The existing Mazda 2 received its second significant facelift in July 2023, which suggests Mazda Australia won’t follow Mazda Europe, where the 2 was replaced by a rebadged Toyota Yaris Hybrid to meet emissions regulations.
Instead, there’s the possibility of more updates to the brand’s smallest model for 2024 to keep it in the mix.
With a further update on sale in Japan from December 2023, Australia may see its Thai-built Mazda 2 with an improved in-car infotainment system – at last.To date, Australian buyers have missed out on the Apple CarPlay and wireless phone charging added to the Japan-built Mazda 2 in 2021.
It’s one of a handful of Mazda Australia models yet to move on from the almost six-year-old MZD Connect software – with Japanese models now running the newer Mazda Connect system.
CX-3
The CX-3 remains one of the biggest-selling small SUVs in Australia – and still using the same underpinnings that it took from the Mazda 2 in 2015.
While minor updates in the last 12 months saw AWD and manual transmission models deleted from the line-up, a new CX-3 is needed in the near-term for continued success.
As Mazda focuses on higher-grade ‘CX’ SUVs, the CX-30 has pushed the CX-3 out of its US and European showrooms, but the CX-3 remains the third-best-selling Mazda here after the CX-5 and BT-50 ute.
Pulling the CX-3 off sale comes with huge risk and the local arm has genuine sway with head office in Japan, given its consistent success in Australia, so a successor cannot be ruled out based on other markets alone.
A new CX-3 may have to wait until new architecture arrives meaning a 2025 arrival.
Meanwhile, minor spec changes saw price rises in 2023 but saw the inclusion of Apple CarPlay wireless phone charging – which the 2 missed out on.
However, like the 2, Australian CX-3s did not receive the latest infotainment system upgrade Japan’s CX-3 were given in December.
That’s likely to change in 2024 as the brand transitions to its newer systems.
CX-50
Mazda Australia has made no secret that the CX-50 is on its ‘wish list’.
Currently only produced in left-hand drive, the CX-50 mid-size SUV is manufactured in China and the USA.
In North America, it uses the same 2.5-litre four-cylinder non-turbo powertrain, electric motor and CVT as the Toyota RAV4 Hybrid as part of a technology sharing arrangement in North America between Mazda, Toyota and Subaru.
It’s unclear as to whether the CX-50 – if produced in right-hand drive – would be a replacement for the CX-5, or if the CX-5 will be given hybrid powertrains instead.
CX-70
Another big Mazda SUV cometh, but it's unclear yet if we'll see it in Australia.
For now, all we know is that it's under consideration, and with its full unveiling set for late January 2024, we'll likely know more soon.
Mazda 6
The Mazda 6 was updated in 2023 with a 20th Anniversary model added to the line-up, but it may not have many birthdays remaining.
Axed from the US market in 2021, the current-generation Mazda 6 sedan and wagon has been on sale in Australia for more than a decade, with no replacement in sight – yet Mazda says it’s committed to the segment.
The Large Platform architecture underpinning CX-60 through CX-90 SUVs offered hope for those seeking a new 6, but Mazda has said the rear-drive architecture is designed for SUVs only. That also put paid to the platform being used for a rear-drive sports car, too.
So while Mazda says it’s sticking with 6, it won’t confirm a replacement, either – but a decision has to be made sooner rather than later.
RX-7
Teased at the October 2023 Tokyo show, the stunning Mazda Iconic SP concept is a tantalising look at a potential rotary-powered hero sports car as a successor to the RX-7 and RX-8.
The red two-door hardtop was revealed with the same rotary-hybrid and electric motor drivetrain as the Mazda MX-30 RE-V but at 270kW has more than double the power.
Larger than an MX-5, heavier too – at a 1430kg goal weight – design elements pay homage to the RX-7 while 50:50 weight distribution as per the latter RX-8 is targeted, too.
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