Go large

MAZDA HAS UPMARKET AMBITIONS AND THE NEW CX-60 IS THE POINT OF ITS PREMIUM SPEAR. BUT IS THE SPEAR AIMED IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION?

- ANDY ENRIGHT

IT DOESN’T look exceptional. Maybe that’s the point, but if you’d never clapped eyes on a Mazda CX-60 before but tried to imagine something that slots in above a CX-5, I’d wager that you’re imagining something like this car. But while the design language may be familiar, there’s something in the basic proportioning that’s a little different. The bonnet is longer, the cab’s pushed subtly rearwards, and the flanks are slabbier.

There’s some visual heft here, the CX-60 casting a bigger shadow than the likes of the Audi Q5, BMW X3 and Mercedes-Benz GLC. But why is it even here? What’s the point of another SUV when Mazda Australia already offers six of them and has an option on another couple spun off this new platform from Mazda’s Large Product group?

The decision to offer the CX-60 comes via a subtle detail of how customers choose an SUV here in Australia. One of the very first decisions is whether they need two rows of seats or three, and while those who need to seat more people are amply catered for by CX-8 and CX-9, should you prefer two rows of seats, the most you can spend on a Mazda CX-5 is around $56,000. Should your pockets be encumbered by any more cash than that, you need to start shopping elsewhere.

Naturally, seeing that amount of cash walking out of the door represents something of a problem for Mazda, especially when customers realise that to option a German rival to the specifications of the CX-60 can see the price tag easily tickle into six figures. In order to plug that hole, Hiroshima needed something convincing in its execution, confident in its own skin and which offered any number of justifications for spending serious money on a Mazda.