Next-Gen 2025 or 2026 Mazda CX-5 Hybrid CUV Takes Shape, Albeit Only Virtually

Oddly enough, while many of its nameplates reported positive results, the best-selling CX-5 compact crossover dropped more than 14% between January and April 2024 compared to the same period last year. There are two main reasons for that evolution – the CX-50, produced locally, is eating into its customer base, and the second-generation CX-5 has grown long in the tooth in front of worthy adversaries like the Toyota RAV4 and Honda CR-V or upcoming all-new threats like the 2025 Chevrolet Equinox.

Now that it's almost eight years old, everyone and their mother expects Mazda to bring out a third CX-3 iteration as soon as possible – especially since it's been quite a while since the facelifted variant was unleashed for the 2022 model year. Naturally, the rumor mill loves to speculate about its future, and a recent document discovery in the company's results for the most recent fiscal year (which ended in March 2024) hinted that an all-new CX-5 is indeed coming.

First, a Mazda CX-50 with electrified bits and pieces will come out during the second part of the year – most likely, it will follow the lead from the Chinese model that uses Toyota RAV4's hybrid powertrain. As for the Mazda CX-5, it will also receive an electrified powertrain, but it will be one developed in-house. Of course, an internal document leak doesn't usually show any design traits – so no one really knows how the third CX-5 iteration will look.

However, the imaginative realm of digital car content creators thinks they have a pretty good lead based on the latest Chinese models – the EX-6 concept and Arata crossover prototype revealed at Auto China 2024 in Beijing. The Halo oto channel on YouTube provides fresh automotive info corroborated with their virtual designs; now, there are new CGI ideas about the upcoming CX-5 as the resident pixel master envisions the looks of the global CX-5 based on the Arata design study for an all-electric crossover.

Of course, do take all these renderings with a pinch of salt because no one really knows if Mazda will actually use the Arata as a preview for any of its upcoming models, let alone for the worldwide crucial CX-5. Hopefully, though, the Japanese automaker will start revealing bits and pieces of the best-selling CX-5 because it really needs help in bringing hype back to last year's levels if it wants to move over 150k CUVs in America as it did in 2023.

What do you think? Is a Mazda CX-5 Hybrid the perfect CUV weapon for the little Japanese automaker against Goliaths like the Toyota RAV4, Honda Civic, and Chevrolet Equinox (among many others)?