Next Mazda CX-5 expected to go hybrid amid Toyota RAV4 success

Mazda has no intention of sunsetting its best-selling CX-5 mid-size SUV despite the arrival of the similarly sized and more upmarket CX-60 and CX-70 models, with its eventual successor likely to score hybrid power.

Speaking to Drive at the launch of the updated MX-5, Mazda Australia head of marketing Alastair Doak hinted that work had already begun on the CX-5’s successor but wouldn’t reveal any timing details.

“Mazda Corporation has been on the record to say there is a new one coming, which is great,” he said.

“The line-up, we updated loads of times with the current model, including not that long ago. It’s still there, it’s still doing very well, it’s still our top seller. We have a timeline [for the next model], and we’re comfortable with the timeline, so it’s coming.”

The second-generation CX-5 is now in its eighth year of production, meaning it has lived longer than the original model which ran from 2012 to 2017.

Given new-model development timelines and Mazda’s mid-term plans, the new CX-5-successor is expected to offer the option of hybrid power to better fight the top-selling Toyota RAV4.

Mazda’s mid-term plan was updated in 2022 with the first phase taking it up to 2025, while phase two would run until 2027, and 2028 and beyond would see the introduction of global full-electric models.

And if the CX-5-replacing model falls into phase two of Mazda’s electrification roadmap, a hybrid powertrain is expected as the brand marches towards electrifying its entire line-up.

The hybrid powertrain could be borrowed from the Toyota RAV4 as the CX-50 already does in China, or Mazda could build on its already in-market 48-volt mild-hybrid and plug-in hybrid technology that debuted with the CX-60, but nothing is confirmed.

Also not yet confirmed is the name, as the CX-5 (and CX-3) nomenclature stands apart in local showrooms that will soon field the CX-30, CX-60, CX-70, CX-80, and CX-90.

The CX-5 now shares segment space with the also-mid-sized CX-60 that was introduced in 2022, while another five-seat SUV will also land locally in the form of the larger CX-70 later this year.

Despite this, Mr Doak said there is room for five five-seat SUVs in the line-up.

“You can go from CX-3 to CX-30 to CX-5 to CX-60 to CX-70 as our flagship five-seater,” he said.

“And there are people who only want five seats.

“Traditionally from our buyers, at least in Australia, we haven’t seen too much cross-shop.

“People say ‘we’ll I’ll buy the three row and I’ll never use the rear seats’, people don’t really have those kinds of conversations very often – or our buyers don’t.”

Last year the CX-5 topped the Mazda sales charts with 23,083 new units sold, outpacing the BT-50 (17,526) and CX-3 (15,776).

It is expected there will be more running changes to come for the CX-5, with a future update likely to include Mazda Connected Services that debuted on the 2024 MX-5 line-up and is expected to proliferate across the product portfolio.

The CX-5 rocketed to the top of the SUV sales charts in 2013 (its first full year on sale), a position it held until 2020 when the Toyota RAV4 nabbed – and held onto for 2021, 2022, and 2023 – first place.

“We’ll bring in products that we think fill the market need and desire, and realistically, we’re an SUV market, there’s not many sedans and non-SUVs around anymore,” Mr Doak said.

“We can identify very clear market demand and we’re trying to fill as many opportunities as we can.”