Mazda CX-50 2022: American-made CX-5 sibling not coming to Australia

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The Mazda CX-50 is just around the corner and will promise an array of new features and benefits, while riding on the same Small Product Architecture as the Mazda 3 small car and CX-30 small SUV. 

It’ll be released globally during the first half of 2022 but we might catch a glimpse before that time. 

Mazda Australia has confirmed however that this model is not bound for Australia and will be sold predominantly in the US where it is built in a new Alabama plant shared with Toyota.

Australian buyers will instead receive the larger CX-60 that runs on an even more sophisticated Large Product Architecture platform. 

Engines have not yet been confirmed for the CX-50, but it is likely it will share four-cylinder petrol engines with its Mazda 3 and CX-30 siblings.

The larger models on their way to Australia will receive inline-six petrol and diesel engines with a mix of turbocharging, 48-volt mild hybrid systems and a possible plug-in hybrid system.

It was expected that the CX-50 would transition to a rear-wheel drive platform but the confirmation that the midsizer sits on the same platform as the CX-30 means it is likely to remain front-drive in nature, with optional AWD.

The larger SUVs announced today will indeed utilise longitudinal engine layouts and a rear-drive architecture.

Mazda’s large product platform has been in development for the last seven years and has been a well planned and executed exercise. 

What about the CX-5?

The CX-5 is to remain a part of Mazda’s range, especially considering the CX-50 won’t arrive here at all. 

Mazda Australia’s senior manager for public relations and corporate communications, Sonia Singh, said that the CX-5 will continue on as normal. 

“The CX-5 and CX-8 will continue to live alongside whichever of that product [CX-60, plus CX-70, CX-80 and CX-90] we bring, in the same way as the CX-30 and CX-3 live alongside one another happily but cater to very different audiences.”