Why you’ll have to wait for new Mazda EVs: Dedicated electric vehicle platform slated for 2025

Mazda might have recently doubled-down on its EV ambitions, but new Mazda EVs still appear to be some way off, with the brand’s dedicated EV platform not slated to appear until 2025.

Mazda has just one fully electric vehicle in its stable at present, the Mazda MX-30 Electric, and has instead invested heavily in new mild-hybrid and plug-in hybrid technology.

First to arrive will be the premium-focused CX-60 SUV, which will land in Australia in 2023 powered by a 2.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine with a 100kW electric motor. With total outputs of 241kW and 500Nm, it will be the most powerful road car to ever wear a Mazda badge.

But the faster-than-expected shift to all-electric vehicles forced the brand to rethink its EV strategy in November, releasing new forecasting that stated “Mazda’s EV ratio in global sales (will) rise to a range between 25 percent and 40 percent as of 2030.”

New EV metal, though, still appears to be some way off, with Mazda still working on a dedicated EV platform that won’t debut until 2025, but will then act as the underpinnings for a range of electrified vehicles.

“For the future, the product, we will disclose at appropriate timing. But as far as this all-new electric vehicle dedicated architecture that we will bring the action for (2025),” says Mazda’s Director and Senior Managing Executive Officer, Yasuhiro Aoyama.

That timing will put the brand behind its mainstream rivals in the electric car chase, with only Toyota and Subaru still shaping their own EV plans. But Mazda is also quick to point out that a mix of technologies will be required in the short to medium term, insisting it will have the “appropriate mix” of powertrains.

“There are lot of changes that we can hardly expect to foresee everything, so we tentatively prepare all of the combinations of the multi-solution approach,” Mr Aoyama says.

“So that’s kind of the reason why we had increased our expected (EV) range of the mix to 25 percent to 40 percent in the latest MTP update.

“We still think that it’s the appropriate mix from our perspective.”