New breed of Mazda EVs delayed until at least 2028

Mazda is pushing back the launch of the first EV based on its highly important new scalable  architecture yet again. The car was originally scheduled to arrive last year, but now Auto Express has learned it won’t touch down until 2028, at the earliest.

Mazda is ramping up its efforts in the EV market, with the 6e saloon and the CX-6e mid-size SUV – its rivals to Tesla’s Model 3 and Model Y – both coming to the UK this year. However they’re based on a platform from Chinese manufacturer Changan, not an in-house-designed Mazda architecture. 

The Japanese brand announced it was developing its own dedicated EV platform, the very matter-of-factly named Mazda EV-scalable architecture, back in 2021. At the time, it said this would be used as the basis for several new models launching between 2025 and 2030. 

Some time later, Mazda shifted its timeframe and said the first of this next generation of EVs would instead arrive in 2027. But now an official presentation shown to Auto Express confirmed this wouldn’t be happening until at least 2028 - although it will be before the end of the decade.

Deputy General Manager of R&D Mazda Europe, Christian Schultze, spoke to Auto Express about the challenges it had faced while developing the scalable architecture: “EV technology is not something stable. So while you're developing, things are changing [and advancing].”

The “availability of resources and expertise” also posed a challenge, which isn’t surprising for a smaller manufacturer such as Mazda, which isn’t part of a major automotive group like VW. 

“That's why we decided that this launch plan of vehicles we are having right now with partner [technology] and with our own vehicles gives us opportunities, and a certain relief and the ability to do it right.”

Using Changan’s EPA1 platform doesn’t give Mazda total freedom to create whatever shape and size of EV it might want, but it “gives us now the right car we need at this point in time,” says Schultze. 

He also highlighted some of the “disadvantages of being faster” when it comes to developing EVs, because “some [other manufacturer’s architectures] have already disappeared, or have been recognised as too expensive or too heavy and so forth. We give ourselves some more time to prepare the best possible solution.”

Mazda says it will be able to efficiently build electric cars of all sizes based on this one scalable platform, similar to what Volvo can do with its new SPA3 architecture or the Volkswagen Group with its tried-and-tested MEB underpinnings. However, Mazda still hasn’t said what the first model based on the new architecture will be. 

We’re all but certain it will be an electric SUV of some description, but not the same size as the new CX-6e to avoid making that obsolete or cannibalising sales of both. 

Moritz Oswald, product planning supervisor for Mazda in Europe, told us: “When we develop cars, we always look at the customers. So we look at our customer base, we try to make sure that we can safeguard our loyal customers and we try to expand to new customers.”

He continued: “So these cars [6e and CX-6e] that we are now launching, they are still true Mazdas and they deliver on every attribute that is important for us. And the next car, even if it's built really from us in probably Hiroshima, let's see, it will also be exactly that, a true Mazda. So in the eyes of the customers, this will just be the next generation.

“Of course we need to make sure that our portfolio is targeting different customers,” he went on. “And I think if you look at it right now, with CX-5, CX-60 and CX-6e, we have quite a distinctive portfolio. 

“You could say they’re quite close, at least from a size perspective,” he said. “But if you dive a little bit deeper, or you imagine a customer going into the showroom, they will very quickly understand the differences between those. And that will be true also when we launch the [next EV].”

Did you know you can sell your car through Auto Express? We’ll help you get a great price and find a great deal on a new car, too.