As a "Toei BMW", has always hoped to revive the rotor engine, almost the best to drive the front-drive family car, Mazda although the sales can not compete with several other Japanese brands, but its unique brand image is more deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, the user niche but loyal.
Previously, we have heard Fromzda say that it has been doing a new rear-drive platform and a straight-six engine for several years, and we will further update the Skyactiv engine technology. Now, we see the new CX-60 with a longitudinal rear-drive platform, and will be equipped with an e-Skyactiv plug-in hybrid system consisting of a 2.5-liter naturally aspirated engine and a single motor.
It is not difficult to see from the name of the CX-60 that this is a larger and higher positioning model than the CX-50 or the domestic CX-5, with a body size of 4745x1890x1680mm and a wheelbase of 2870mm. As far as the current official picture is concerned, in fact, it is far from the sense of surprise given by the debut of the original hybrid series, although it belongs to the same set of design languages, but Mazda's proud lines have not been fully utilized on the CX-60, and the overall shape is somewhat conservative and ordinary. Even the silhouette of the net in the front face, the angle of the A-pillar to the front of the car, and the shape of the air intakes on both sides of the safety are still a bit incongruous, which is a bit surprising that this is from Mazda's hand. But fortunately, due to the longitudinal engine, its front is relatively slender, the proportion is not bad from the side, and the soul red and silver gray body can increase the visual effect more than white.
The interior of the CX-60 is obviously more pleasing than the exterior, and the whole shape is still very simple, with only a 12.3-inch floating central control screen on the spacious hollow table. However, the two-color design divided from the screen and the unique Japanese fabric, Nappa leather, maple wood trim and other different high-grade materials in the car, so that the sense of luxury in the car is greatly improved, and the same small electronic gear handle shape also allows the front row to free up more storage space, it can be said that the car is permeated with a combination of home and small fresh style of high-grade sense, in line with the popular design, but also in line with Mazda's idea of wanting luxury brands to be close.
In contrast, we are most concerned about the technology under the appearance. The CX-60 for the first time features a longitudinal rear-drive structure, the chassis uses a combination of front double wishbones and rear linkages, Mazda said that the chassis tuning style of the new car will be harder, equipped with a rear-drive oriented i-Activ AWD system, with torque vectoring control, and will apply the KPC Kinetic Posture Control system that has appeared on the MX-5 Miata to increase the lateral stability of the vehicle by applying braking force to the inner rear wheels. Follow-up models will also be available.
In addition to the rear drive, another eye-catching is Mazda's first plug-in hybrid system, which consists of a 2.5L Chuangchi Blue Sky engine, a 100kW motor, and a 17.8kWh lithium battery pack. The system comprehensive power can reach a maximum of 241kW, the system peak torque of 500Nm, pure electric endurance of 60km, extreme speed of 100km/h, with 8AT gearbox, the official zero hundred acceleration performance can reach 5.8 seconds. In addition, Mazda also offers a new e-Skyactiv X 3.0L compression-ignited straight-six gasoline engine and an e-Skyactiv D 3.3L straight-six diesel engine, which will be equipped with a 48V light hybrid system, which will be launched next year and at the end of this year, respectively.
Although there is not much technical information about the new Chuangchi Blue Sky engine, and this 3.0L will hardly enter the country, the good news is that Mazda has finally launched a back-drive platform, which means that the "big post-super" version of Mazda 6 that we have in mind has a greater possibility. But this CX-60 is not expected to enter the country, because it is aimed at the European and Japanese markets, is expected to be listed in the second half of this year, we can also guess from its wheelbase and rear-drive settings that its interior space will not be too popular in China. Mazda will launch a similar but possibly slightly larger CX-70 in the North American market, which is also more likely to enter the country.
According to Mazda's previous strategy, the longitudinal rear-drive platform is based on Mazda's Multi-Solution Scalable Architecture multi-solution scalable architecture, and is also the first model in Mazda's "Large Product Group" strategy, and Mazda's future large-scale vehicles will also be built on the rear-drive platform. After the CX-60, Mazda will also launch the CX-80, which is expected to be a 7-seater model with a higher class, also for the European and Japanese markets, and the North American market is corresponding to the CX-90.
Now, with the vertical platform and the plug-and-mix system, Mazda is more up to date with the trend, and it has also brought its goal of entering the luxury brand camp one step closer. For car fans, Mazda's new products are always gratifying, and the "technical house" Mazda will always surprise us, believing that the rotor engine of the new era is on the road.