Mazda News

A sneaky photo of a camouflaged SUV in a US carpark appears to be the new Mazda CX-5 undergoing testing, according to the photographer.

Australia clocked a record number of new-car sales in 2024, proving once again how diverse our new-car market really is.

Mazda’s new seven-seat family SUV has scored full marks in safety testing.  The 2025 Mazda CX-80 received five stars from the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) against the latest 2024 criteria. 

With many European brands feeling the sting of slowing electric car sales expansion and intense competition from China, Japan is doing things differently.  Mazda is no stranger to thinking outside the box and at this month’s Tokyo Auto Salon car show, boss Masahiro Moro declared Mazda “will not give up on [combustion] engines," according to a report from BestCar.

The car industry is based on constant model renewal. Cycles have been getting shorter and shorter, with the main industry settling on between six and eight years as the norm. 

Mazda’s new electric Mazda6 is going global.The Mazda EZ-6 was revealed in China in 2024 with sales commencing later in the year, now it has been confirmed it will go on sale in Europe as the Mazda6e.Sales will commence in the middle of this year in the northern hemisphere.Mazda Australia has previously been tight-lipped on the vehicle coming here, only stating the car is built in China for the Chinese market.It has also been confirmed for the UK market in 2026. This strengthens the chances it'll make it Down Under as it is another right-hand-drive market.Mazda Australia said when quizzed on whether the Mazda6e would come here: "Mazda6e has been developed for the European market. It is under study for overseas markets."The Mazda6e is built by Mazda’s joint venture with Chinese brand Changan and shares its underpinnings with the Deepal SL03.Changan also owns the electric car brand Deepal, which has just launched in Australia with its S07 mid-size SUV.The Mazda6e has the Japanese brand’s easy-on-the-eye styling with an illuminated bottom grille outline and flashy alloy wheels adding some pop.It is bigger than other mid-size electric sedans such as the BYD Seal and Tesla Model 3, and measures 4921mm long, 1890mm wide and 1491mm tall.Mazda Europe said it comes with two battery options, an 80kWh unit and a 68.8kWh pack that deliver driving ranges of 552km and 479km respectively.The electric Mazda6e breaking out of China could also light the way for a production version of the Arata concept, which is a CX-5-sized EV, to make its debut soon.Mazda will need some electric cars in the next few years to help avoid penalties from the Federal Government's New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES), which became law on January 1.The NVES punishes carmakers $100 for every gram of CO2 emitted over a certain threshold for every vehicle sold. This threshold lowers every year until 2030. Carmakers can offset the penalties with sales of hybrids, plug-in hybrids and electric cars.Electric cars give more credits and will be necessary once the emissions threshold really start to bite in 2027.Mazda currently has no electric cars on sale in Australia and has no confirmed EVs arriving. The CX-60 and CX-80 plug-in hybrids are the brand’s only full hybrid with a spattering of mild hybrid variants spread through other model ranges.A hybrid CX-5 is mooted for the near future, too.

Australia’s top-selling car and the top-selling brands for 2024 have been revealed and it’s been yet another record year of sales.Last year, Australians bought 1,237,287 new vehicles, which represented a modest 1.7 per cent upswing compared with 2023 sales. It was enough to make it the biggest year of sales in Australian history.Utes and SUVs continued to dominate with just one passenger car - the Toyota Corolla - managing to remain in the top 10 best-selling models list.Almost 700,000 SUVs were sold in the calendar year compared with 270,000 light-commercial vehicles and just over 203,000 passenger cars (hatchbacks, sedans, wagons, sports cars and people movers).The top-selling model for 2024 was the Ford Ranger, repeating its 2023 win, despite a slight dip in sales to 62,593 (-1.2%).The Toyota RAV4 had its best sales year and came pretty close to toppling the Ranger, but had to settle for a still-impressive second place with 58,718 units, closely followed by its HiLux stablemate on 53,499.The Isuzu D-Max was the only other ute in the top 10, landing in fourth place with 30,194, and rounding out the top-five models was the Mitsubishi Outlander.Making up the rest of the top-10 models were Ford’s Everest, the Corolla, Mazda CX-5, MG ZS and the Kia Sportage. Check the tables below for all the figures.Toyota maintained its dominance in the industry, leading the charge with 241,296 sales, which is 12.1 per cent ahead of last year’s total.As expected, Ford leapfrogged Mazda to nab second place with a healthy 100,170 units, helped mostly by those solid Ranger and Everest numbers.Mazda dipped a little in 2024 (95,987) but remained well ahead of fourth-placed Kia on 81,787, while Mitsubishi (74,547) capped off the top-five brands.Hyundai (71,664) only just missed out on a top-five position, trailing Mitsubishi by 2883 units.MG also took a sales tumble but still stayed firm with 50,592 (-13.3%) for seventh place, while Isuzu continued to punch above its weight in eighth spot, recording 48,172 sales with just two models on sale.Nissan managed to make some gains in 2024, landing in ninth place with 45,284, and China’s GWM is now firmly a top-10 player having grabbed tenth spot with 42,782.The Chinese giant kept Subaru and Tesla out of the top list, with Subaru collecting 40,604 sales and Tesla sliding by 17 per cent to 38,347.The Model Y also just missed out on a top-10 spot for model sales, with 21,253 finding homes, a drop of 26 per cent.Despite the bumper sales year, the automotive industry’s peak body is forecasting a gloomy outlook and taking a swipe at the Federal Government’s New Vehicle Emissions Standards that kicked in on January 1.“While overall consumer preferences remain clear with SUVs and Light Commercial vehicles continuing to dominate the market and especially the top ten sales, many vehicles in these segments are either difficult or expensive to decarbonise. This will prove to be a significant challenge in meeting the extremely ambitious targets of the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES) which began on 1 January 2025,” Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries Chief Executive Tony Weber said in a media release.“The industry is responding to NVES by increasing the range of zero and low emission vehicles on offer. However, a continuation of current customer buying preferences will inevitably lead to the accrual of substantial penalties under the Government’s new scheme, which will create price inflation within the new vehicle market.”

If you want a big beefy engine under the bonnet of your dual-cab, it might be now or never.

Australia has a very, very competitive new car market.  Our total new car sales each year is dwarfed by other nations around the world, but there are only a handful of countries where there’s as much choice for new car buyers as here.

These are the five best cars of 2024, according to CarsGuide journalist Chris Thompson