MAZDA MX-30

Mazda reckons there’s more to selling EVs than offering long-range and straight line speed – but will potential customers agree?

- Alex Grant

From race-winning rotary engines to its early adoption of weight reduction and right-sized powertrains for mainstream models, Mazda has a history of doing its own thing and it’s not rushing into electrification. By 2030 it believes most of its global production will still have a combustion engine and, despite increasing hybridization, the cleanest possible cars will result from ongoing improvements to the base technology. In the meantime, it’s challenging some industry norms with its first EV.

The MX-30 stands out even at face value. It’s slightly longer than a traditional hatchback, blending the sculpted afterburner rear lights and reverse-hinged doors of a coupe with the ride height and rugged body cladding of a compact SUV. In Japan, it’s launching as a 156hp petrol ‘mild hybrid’, while Europeans will see it first as a full EV, also due to get a petrol range extender in around 18 months. Specifications haven’t been confirmed yet, but that E-REV will get the company’s first rotary engine since production of the RX-8 wound down in 2012. Interesting indeed.

Mazda’s wider aim is to minimise the use of components requiring carbon-intensive production, so it’s developing electrification solutions to suit different usage patterns based on what the tech can offer today. So instead of cramming in as much battery capacity as possible, the MX-30 was engineered with a balance of cost, lifecycle CO2 emissions, and customer requirements in mind. The 35.5kWh battery pack was sized to suit a role as the second car in a household and offers a range of 124 miles, but it means pricing is in line with smaller EVs and it weighs less than the Mini Cooper SE.