Mazda could keep CX-8 and CX-9 in lineup even with new hybrid models

UPDATE, November 29: Mazda CX-60 Australian pricing

Full Australian details, including pricing and specs for the entire 2023 Mazda CX-60 line-up, has been announced today. Get all the details in the video below, or at the link above it, and continue reading here for our first international drive. Our first Australian drive will come soon.

Story continues: CX-8 and CX-9 may continue alongside CX-60 and future CX-90

The Mazda CX-8 and CX-9 large SUVs won't necessarily be ousted from the company's lineup if their electrified equivalents join the family, an exec has said.

Speaking exclusively to Wheels, Marketing Director Alastair Doak said there could be a place for everyone if the appetite was right – in the same way the CX-60 will be welcomed into the fold to sit alongside the best-selling CX-5 mid-sized SUV rather than replace it.

"If you can try and find the space in the market, the initial thought, the opportunity, then hopefully you can jump in there and do incredibly well. For example, things like the CX-50 in the US – they've probably tapped into a kind of an unmet need in that market. And the reaction to that has been incredibly positive over there," he said.

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"I think we've said previously that we are always hungry for product. We have the broadest portfolio of product of all the major Mazda markets. And I guess we always go in with the attitude of 'why can't we sell this?' rather than 'why can we?' There’s a subtle difference, but you're always trying to make it work. You're always trying to say what's the opportunity with this? Even if it's quite small and doesn't make sense. That’s our attitude with all of the large architecture products – why can't we make it work?

"We are still working through those things and hopefully we'll have more to say on that sooner rather than later, but there's lots of work going on around all of those products. In terms of the other ones [CX-8 and CX-9], I mean, they're not direct replacements in theory, so if it makes sense to keep them in the portfolio and we have the opportunity to do that, then again we would."

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From next year, Mazda will introduce the CX-60, CX-70, CX-80, and CX-90 SUVs across international markets – all of which will be part of the company’s all-new ‘Large Product’ portfolio.

While the Mazda CX-60 will be offered in Australia, the remaining three Large Product SUVs are still under consideration.

Mazda says while the CX-50, CX-70, and CX-90 are bound for North American markets – the latter two of which are considered ‘wide body’ models – the option still remains for those vehicles to also be offered to Australian buyers, if it finds there is a place for them in the brand’s local line-up.

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The Mazda CX-8 is currently the second-largest family SUV in Mazda’s Australian line-up.

Essentially a long-wheelbase version of the CX-5 midsized SUV, the CX-8 can seat seven passengers in a roomy and well-equipped cabin.

It’s narrower than Mazda’s other large SUV, the CX-9, but longer than most mid-size SUVs, which makes it easier to drive in the city but retains the flexibility of a third row of seats.

The CX-8 is the only Mazda seven-seater SUV to offer a choice of engines: a 2.5-litre petrol engine or a torquey 2.2-litre twin-turbo diesel.

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Petrol-powered versions of the Mazda CX-8 are front-wheel-drive, while the diesel is all-wheel-drive and offers more performance and better fuel economy.

The Mazda CX-8 was first introduced in 2017 as a Japan-only model, but was soon imported into Aussie showrooms in 2018, while the CX-9 has been around for a long time – the latest generation launching in 2016 and received a mild update in 2020.

Mazda’s CX-9 flagship SUV is the most expensive, but it also features the most space and is the best-equipped of the range.

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There’s seven seats (or six if opting for captain’s chairs), a single engine option (2.5-litre turbocharged four-cylinder) and you can have in front- or all-wheel-drive.

The CX-8 range starts from $45,069 for the FWD petrol Sport, while the CX-9 opens at $52,115 also for a FWD Sport – but this time with a turbo-petrol engine.

Powering the CX-90 in the US however, will be a choice of a new turbocharged inline six-cylinder petrol engine, or a plug-in hybrid system. Meanwhile, the CX-80 – bound for other regions – will offer non-turbo SkyActiv-X petrol and turbo SkyActiv-D diesel inline-six engines with mild-hybrid systems, plus a four-cylinder plug-in hybrid and a regular four-cylinder petrol engine.