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New Mazda Sedan.

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Yes, apparently, the top photo is an all-new Mazda sedan prototype. Will it be called the Mazda 6 or the Mazda MX-60? Or something else?

After digging a little bit, it is obvious the new Mazda prototype looks a lot ( I mean a lot!) like the Chinese Changan SL03…

Changan Automobile is a Chinese state-owned manufacturer that represents 50% of “Changan Mazda”, the company that builds Mazda cars for the Chinese market. The SL03 came out in 2022 under the newly created “Deepal” sub-brand, producing EVs for Changan. The SL03 uses CATL batteries and has a range of over 430 miles in the local testing system. It is also offered with a PHEV version using a 1.5 Liter engine and electric motor for a total of almost 260HP.

From the spy photo above, it looks like Mazda will be coming out with its own version of the SL03 sedan for the Chinese market. Although it might be exported to other markets as well.

The SL03 is not a tiny sedan at 189 inches long. Which is just about 3 inches shorter than the previous generation Mazda 6. It is a pretty nice-looking sedan, if a bit generic. At least the fastback design provides a real hatchback. And the interior is pretty low-key for a new Chinese EV, which is nice.

I wonder if a revised front end and rear lights (you can see them in the spy shot) could make it look more like a Mazda. Most car profiles these days look like they could be from anywhere by anyone. I guess a Mazda front end would make this look like a Mazda sedan…

This reminds me of the Toyota Xz-3, another Chinese market EV sedan by a Japanese manufacturer, sold exclusively in China. it came out a couple of years ago and it is obvious by now that we’ll never see it outside of China.

Redesigning the front end of your Chinese manufacturing partner’s new model is probably the cheapest and quickest way for Mazda to offer a new EV sedan in the world’s largest EV market.

Who can blame them…

Conversation 5 comments

  1. I was afraid of this. I have been predicting that right when Mazda FINALLY gets around to releasing new sedans, it would also change it’s design language (which has been really nice for years now) and turn it into something rather boring and bland. If these spyshots are any indication of a production model, that seems to be the case. It is especially bad if this sedan is also based on Chinese components – essentially turning Mazda into a rebadged Chinese car. Ewww.

  3. Someone should let reginald gist know that a facelift, especially from Mazda, doesn’t change the entire body of the vehicle as that spy photo shares nothing in common with the current 3, particularly the short trunk and rear glass extending that far backward

  4. I give Mazda credit for not being as dumb as they’re accused of being here. Using an existing model for a sedan makes sense. I fully expect it will have a common interior and design language as the current line-up, because that’s built its credibility, identity, and higher transaction prices. Mazda is also one of those companies that lives its ethos. So, i’m not expecting a rubber stamped badge engineered BEV from the Changan model.

  5. Very interesting, and while I really hope Mazda brings back the 6, I am even more interested in knowing what the new Mazda 3 will be like. After the 6 has vacated our market for so long, I was really hoping that as Mazda had said previously, the new 6 would utilize the rwd platform and I-6T engine. A Chinese badge engineered car just doesn’t seem very Mazda at all. I also think a phev makes way more sense than a completely bev vehicle.

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