The Mazda 6 has always been one of the prettiest and sharpest-handling cars across the U.S. With a new model in the works for 2023, anticipate a similar experience. Right? Wrong. The Hiroshima-based automaker has revealed is planning to launch one of the largest shifts that has been seen in the automotive sector in a long while.
The new generation 6 will shift from an front-wheel drive platform, and will be a rear-wheel driven platform and, in doing so it will compete with some of the biggest players in this market, including models like the BMW 3-Series and the Mercedes Benz C-Class.
The styling of the 6 will be inherited some of the elegant, sleek lines of the predecessor, but it will also enhance these styling characteristics by taking proportions from the beautiful Long-nosed Mazda Vision Coupe concept that was unveiled during the 2017 Tokyo Motor Show. When the four-door “coupe” was first announced, Mazda referred to it as a purely next-generation concept vehicle for design research, but with no reference to a production vehicle. We now know that the concept was intended to influence the next-generation Mazda 6, and other models. The new Mazda 6 to be heavily modelled on the design and materials of the prize-winning Vision Coupe.
The cult Mazda 6 sedan moves upmarket and into the market, its ‘large’ vehicle plan will undergo a major change that will not be limited to the rear-drive section. The Mazda 6 will also feature the widest range of the most advanced powertrains from Mazda that include the 2.0-liter fuel-powered plug-in hybrid designed for Europe as well as to America U.S., the firm will launch an engine that is turbocharged straight-6 and a plug-in hybrid with four cylinders as well as a turbodiesel. It will also include the Skyactiv-X innovative spark-controlled compression ignition system that includes an electric hybrid system that is 48-volts. Another plus is that the drives will be connected to a brand new 8-speed auto transmission and optional iActiv All-Wheel Drive system.
Mazda is a smaller-scale automaker when compared with the prestige of its current partner Toyota. In recent times, Mazda has been strengthening its relationship with Japan’s number one carmaker, through ventures like Mazda Toyota Manufacturing that makes the Corolla Cross in the U.S. and an innovative cost-saving auto design partnership that includes Mazda, Toyota and Denso that was announced in the year 2000. Although Mazda makes use of the hybrid tech of Toyota, we’re being told that Lexus could utilize Mazda’s Skyactiv technology in its forthcoming vehicles.
