Mazda is recently expanding its product line and making a big deal out of it to gradually transform into a luxury brand. However, if you take the new SUV car CX-60 officially released in Europe today, Mazda is true, not only has a new hybrid, but also with a newly developed rear-drive platform, supplemented by a cross-level texture of the interior performance, CX-60 may become the leader of Mazda's new era transformation.
While the CX-60 may not be as groundbreaking in terms of appearance, it's actually a brand new model, featuring Mazda's newly developed Skyactiv Multi-Solution Scalable Architecture rear-wheel drive platform and equipped with a rear-wheel-based i-Activ AWD setting, which is exactly in line with the european luxury SUV setting.
As part of Mazda's newly established "Large Product Group", the CX-60 is 4745mm long, 1890mm wide, 1670mm high and has a wheelbase of 2870mm. Compared to the recent CX-50 based on the front-drive platform in North America, it is slightly larger in all aspects of its size. The U.S. will then introduce a larger CX-70 model.
In terms of exterior design, the Mazda team has taken the design concept of Kodo-Soul soul to a new level, using a long front end with beautiful lines, and a very sporty and aggressive rear shape to create a new pattern, and the LED headlight group that extends the daily running lights to the chrome trim strip of the intake grille is a new design of the Mazda car series, and the tailpipe tubes on the rear bumper highlight the sporty atmosphere of the CX-60.
Inside, you'll find the CX-60's interior is quite luxurious, more detailed in leather and trim, and it exudes a little Volvo, providing an elegant, high-quality interior design and introducing the concept of "Kaichou", a mixture of different materials and texture destruction elements. In the flagship model, materials such as maple, Napa leather and other materials are combined with unique Japanese textiles and chrome details, while Musubu is an installation art that is the inspiration for the panel stitching, and the introduction of these high-quality interiors also proves once again Mazda's intention to transform into a luxury brand.
The CX-60 is equipped with a TFT-LCD digital instrument cluster with a large 12.3-inch central control screen and a large HUD head-up display three times larger than the CX-30. Even in the interior, the trend of reducing physical buttons has been kept up, but Mazda's designers still considered the ease of use, and did not all integrate them into the screen, and there is still a row of physical buttons below, which is very similar to the BMW design. There's also an interesting autonomous driving position adjustment guide, which uses a lens to detect the position of the driver's eyes and enter their height, automatically adjusting the seat, steering wheel, head-up display, and rearview mirror to the perfect position.
In the power segment, the CX-60 will offer three options in Europe, with only the e-Skyactiv PHEV, a plug-in hybrid system with a 2.5-liter inline four-cylinder petrol engine paired with an electric motor, announced so far. This is Mazda's first plug-in hybrid, optimizing its existing 2.5-liter SkyActiv-G four-cylinder petrol engine (output of 189hp/26.6kg-m), with an electric motor and a 17.8 kWh lithium battery pack (output of 134hp/25.5-kg-m), with a combined power output of up to 323 hp/51kg-m and 0-100km/h to 5.8 seconds, making it the most powerful model in the Mazda series.
The original factory also said that the PHEV system can provide a pure electric driving range of up to 60 kilometers, and the battery can be fully charged within four hours via AC charging. The 18-inch aluminium-ring model WLTP has a combined fuel consumption of only 1.5 liters/100 km, while the 20-inch model also has a 1.6 liter/100 km fuel consumption, which is very good.
The remaining two groups of unannounced power are: a 3.0-liter inline six-cylinder e-Skyactiv X petrol engine, and a 3.3-liter inline six-cylinder e-Skyactive D diesel engine, both equipped with a set of 48V light oil-electric systems.
Regardless of the CX-60 model, the new 8-speed automatic transmission is used, and the torque converter of the traditional self-transmission is replaced by a multi-piece clutch. The entire range is equipped with the i-Activ AWD system and is available in a variety of driving modes such as Normal, Sport, Off-Road, Towing and EV (PHEV models). THE PHEV also offers a towing capacity of up to 2,500 kg.
Mazda has also invested heavily in the development of the CX-60's suspension system, which has a suspension setup with dual A-arms at the front and multiple linkages at the rear. It is also equipped with Mazda's Body Balance Control Technology (KPC), which stabilizes the CX-60's body dynamics at high G forces by braking the inner rear wheels slightly to reduce roll, showing a stable and balanced dynamic performance.