The Mazda6 was one of my favorite mid-sized sedans (and wagons) to drive, plus it was spectacular-looking for the money. It had a pretty decent run in America, from 2014 to 2021. And while this old platform is still in production and being sold in some places, its replacement promises to be much more interesting.
Turns out that Mazda hasn’t completely given up on sedans, seeing how other Japanese automakers are still finding success with them. And while reports of an RWD replacement have been around for quite some time, new info coming out of the Land of the Rising Sun suggests the wait is almost over.
The scoop website Best Car Web is saying the new Mazda6, the one underpinned by the RWD platform, is going to be revealed at the end of 2022. That sounds pretty unbelievable considering this is supposed to be a 2024 model year car, and they haven’t even launched all their hot crossovers yet.
But we think Mazda has finished some development and is ready to show a pre-production prototype as a concept. The same happened with the old Mazda6, which was previewed heavily by the Takeri concept of the 2011 Tokyo Motor Show but rolled off the assembly line in 2012.
A few engine details
Best Car has some pretty interesting information regarding the engines available, which suggests the Mazda6 sedan will be a carbon copy of the CX-60 premium crossover in the powertrain department. And according to them, 4WD will be standard with everything, even though this is a RWD platform, which is a bit of a shame, although this could just be the case in Japan.
The base engine will be a 2.5-liter gasoline inline-4, just like the one found on the current model. After that, you’ll get a 3.3-liter diesel turbo and a 3.3-liter diesel turbo mild hybrid. These engines are on the CX-60 and produce 200 and 254 horsepower. Finally, there will be a 2.5 e-Skyactiv plug-in hybrid with about 326 horsepower.
It’s not yet clear if Mazda will approve this new mid-sized sedan for America. But if it appears, say in 2024, we should get different engines, like the 2.5-liter turbo and some kind of hybrid. Mazda is a pretty small company and profits in this segment are tight, but they shifted 57,898 sedans in 2015 to American buyers, so the market is still there.
