Mazda’s first and highly-anticipated all-electric crossover SUV is officially here, or at least, it is digitally, in China. Feast your eyes on the all-new and handsome EZ-60, the Japanese automaker’s second foray into the world of all-electric CUVs. After teasing the model not too long ago on Chinese social media site, Weibo, Mazda and its China-based EV partner, Changan, officially pulled the digital wraps off the car.
Expected at Shanghai Auto Show for its full debut, the new EZ-60 represents Mazda’s next step in its new electrification strategy, following the EZ-6/Mazda6e sedan from a few months ago. It also follows up with Mazda’s product strategy, which the company revealed at an investor meeting late last year.
Key Takeaways
- Mazda’s two-vehicle EV product range in an alliance with Changan is finally here for the world to see
- The EZ-60 will debut first in China, then in Europe as the Mazda CX-6e, with aspirations of coming to the States as Mazda’s first all-electric CUV
- The CX-6e will replace the global MX-30 BEV/PHEV
The New EZ-60/CX-6e Completes Mazda’s Latest Two-BEV Joint-Venture With Changan
In the product presentation, Mazda confirmed an “alliance” with Changan and that the joint-venture would result in a new battery-electric vehicle platform as well as two new models based on said platform. The EZ-6/Mazda6e sedan is one and this new EZ-60/CX-6e is the second.
Similar to the EZ-6/Mazda6e, the new EZ-60/CX-6e utilizes Changan’s latest EPA1 BEV platform, which also underpins the Chinese-market Deepal S07 crossover SUV and L07 sedan. And in essence, the Mazda EZ-6/Mazda6e is essentially a rebodied and reworked Deepal L07, while the EZ-60/CX-6e is a reworked S07.
As expected, the EZ-60 incorporates Mazda’s latest KODO “Soul of Motion” design language, similar to the EZ-6/Mazda6e sedan. It’s the same design language that’s visually defined Mazda’s cars for more than the past decade, but, in an evolved form. The EZ-60 takes on more unique and updated features, such as a “two-section” waistline, combined with a more curvaceous, sleek, and low-slung roofline, and what Changan-Mazda describes as thin-profile, “through-type headlights,” as roughly translated from Mandarin in Google Translate.
In short, it almost looks like a more upright and all-electric version of the Mazda3 hatchback.
The Mazda EZ-60 Will Compete Against The Tesla Model Y
Although Changan-Mazda didn’t share any mechanical specifics, the EZ-60 is expected to use the same electric powertrain as the Deepal S07. In the S07, a near-80-kilowatt-hour battery powers two electric motors and provides up to 295 miles of driving range, along with a charging rate of up to 93 kilowatts. When connected to the appropriate charger, the S07 can recharge from 30% to 80% in around 35 minutes.
Because the EZ-60 is roughly 187 inches long, 76 inches wide, and 64 inches tall, its proportions make it an ideal rival against the Tesla Model Y, which is almost precisely the same size.
The EZ-60 will take its official bow at the Shanghai Auto Show later this month on April 23.
TopSpeed’s Take
Mazda’s new line of electric vehicles is finally here, at least, for our eyes to comb over. After sitting out the electrification wave over the past several years, the small Japanese company is officially entering the EV market with two fresh new vehicles. It’ll also potentially offer a new channel for some Chinese-made electric vehicles to hit our shores. But what will be interesting to see is how Mazda’s North American product strategy will be affected by the Trump Administration’s auto and Chinese import tariffs, especially knowing that Mazda’s EVs are specifically built in a joint-venture with a Chinese EV automaker.
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