Electric cars now welcome! Mazda gears itself for EV push in more amenable post-election Australia, with hybrid, plug-in and battery-electric small cars, crossovers, SUVs and more

Mazda has welcomed the federal Labor government’s plans to push ahead with more progressive electric vehicle (EV) policies designed to boost both uptake and development of associated infrastructure around the country.

However, the company remains wary of any government putting all of its policy eggs that aim to hit zero-emissions targets in the one battery EV basket.

Speaking to CarsGuide in Melbourne earlier this month, Mazda Australia marketing director, Alastair Doak, agreed that the electorate’s removal of the previous Liberal National Party from governance is elevating Australia’s placement in many carmakers’ global EV rollout priority list – including Mazda’s own.

“To some degree you’re absolutely right,” he revealed. “When we launched the MX-30 Electric, we weren’t a priority market for that kind of technology.

“It makes sense that we would deliver the product that matched the conditions in each country.”

Unveiled back in June last year, Mazda announced its intent to have every vehicle from 2030 electrified in some way, with 25 per cent being full EV.

Starting from 2025, the anticipated next-generation SUVs, crossovers, hatchbacks and sports cars that are set to be the recipients of these technologies will be based on the brand’s coming Skyactiv Multi-Solution Scalable Architecture, and will include five hybrids, five plug-in hybrids and a trio of all-electric models. And whatever replaces the BT-50 will likely be derived from another manufacturer’s electrified ute architecture, such as Isuzu’s.

With all that in mind, planning is already underway about which will find their way to Australia.

“We’re on a journey towards zero emissions and have been for some time with our Sustainable Zoom Zoom 2030 and nothing has changed,” Mr Doak said.

“We’re working with Mazda (Japan) to make sure we have products into the future that are relevant. As we have since 1959 when the first Mazda arrived. That doesn’t change.

“Things move quicker when you throw up challenges in parts supply or emissions targets and that sort of things. But those kinds of challenges have always been there.

“The great news is that we continue to have a voice within Mazda (Japan) and working with them to make sure the voice of the Australian customer is clearly heard in Hiroshima and whatever product we do get is relevant to our market.

“The type of vehicle obviously is going to be changing. We are about to be launching a CX-60 PHEV as well as a 48V mild hybrid for that car. So, things are evolving, things are changing. Full EVs… we’ve announced we are going to have cars in the future, so we know where it is going and we are comfortable with that.

“And obviously if laws change, we’ll pivot to answering that question (of EVs for Australia).”

However, Mr Doak is also expressing concerns over future policies that favour the overwhelming adoption of battery EVs to the detriment of competing alternatives, such as hydrogen-based technologies, calling instead for Australia to follow Europe in introducing laws designed to cut carbon dioxide emissions.

“Nobody should underestimate the move to electrification and what that means across a lot of different things, and that transition from relying on internal combustion engine products and then that transition to other things,” he warned.

“I know we obsess a lot about battery EVs, but it is not the only answer, and it shouldn’t be the only answer. That’s a silly thing to do, to paint yourself into that corner. Because we know that recycling batteries is a complicated thing, it’s not a clean solution.

“There probably should be a balance of things there. Hopefully, the federal government does put in some laws around that stuff – chasing an emissions target rather than chasing a specific technology, because that tends to push the industry down into a direction that probably then you can’t decide to change.

“If future carbon dioxide emissions-cutting regulations are agnostic to the technology, it delivers a bit more freedom and a bit more creative thinking as to what that solution should be.”