Previously known as the Atenza back home in Japan, the Mazda6 never managed to make a considerable dent in the Camry’s reputation. The Accord sells better as well. With sedan deliveries in freefall due to utility vehicles, the long-running 6 may be discontinued for good in the near future.
Canned in the United States after the 2021 model year, the front-wheel-drive sedan was expected to receive a rear-drive successor with Mazda Vision Coupe design cues. Revealed with much pomp in 2017, said concept features a long hood, a short deck out back, as well as a coupe-like side profile.
Mazda never confirmed what’s hiding under the skin, although the car’s bite-the-back-of-your-hand beautiful proportions definitely suggest a longitudinally-mounted engine and rear-wheel drive. After the Japanese automaker confirmed a rear-biased architecture for its next-generation SUVs (think CX-60 in Europe and CX-90 in the United States of America), everyone speculated that the next-gen Mazda6 was on the horizon.
For starters, Mazda never confirmed that. More importantly, Joachim Kunz made it clear that Mazda is more focused on SUVs to the detriment of sedans. According to the Japanese automaker’s engineering and development lead in Europe, a Mazda6 successor would be nice to have. But given the current generation’s delivery figures, a small automaker like Mazda cannot afford to spend millions over millions into developing the new 6.
Kunz stopped short of saying whether the rear-drive 6 was dead entirely, which isn’t exactly surprising. With utility vehicles and trucks getting pricier with every passing day, consumer demand may shift to a more conventional body style. Don’t hold your breath for the new 6 rolling out anytime soon, though, because Mazda has yet to unleash all four SUVs based on its Large Product Group vehicle architecture. The remaining two are the CX-80 for Europe and the CX-70 for the US of A.
Photo: Mazda
Even so, pixel wizard Theophilus Chin fired up Adobe Photoshop to render the next-generation Mazda6. Rather than using the CX-60 sport utility vehicle as the starting point, he kicked things off with the G60-generation 5 Series. With BMW specialized in straight-six engines, it seems like a good pick.
Be that as it may, the newest 5er of them all will be elevated to plug-in hybrid V8 muscle for the all-new M5 sedan (G90) and wagon (G99). If Mazda were to launch the rear-drive 6 today for the 2024 model year, it would get a grand total of two inline-six powerplants (3.3L Skyactiv G and 3.3L Skyactiv D).
There’s a case to be made for the 2.5L e-Skyactiv PHEV as well, for it would help Mazda improve its fleet-average CO2 emissions in EU markets and fuel economy in the US market. Best Car speculates that Mazda’s rear-drive 6 would launch in 2025 at the earliest in the form of a four-door coupe.
In other words, the Japanese motoring publication refers to the concept we mentioned a little earlier. On the other hand, the cited report leans more into speculation than fact.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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