New Mazda 6: Rebranded model of Changan
- The Mazda 6 is a D-segment sedan that succeeded the Mazda 626 in 2002. Three generations followed until 2024. The growing demand for SUVs pushed the Japanese carmaker to launch several vehicles of this type from 2001, but it was especially from 2012 with the launch of the Mazda CX5 that the share of SUVs in the carmaker's sales increased considerably, causing at the same time the collapse of sales of the brand's sedans, first and foremost the Mazda 6 offered in the same price range, whose distribution fell from 295,000 units in 2008 to 260,000 in 2013, 170,000 in 2016, 70,000 in 2020 and only 30,000 in 2024.
- At the same time, the total number of Mazda SUVs increased from 120,000 to 780,000 units per year.
- The Mazda 6, produced in Japan, China, and the United States for their domestic markets, collapsed in the same way everywhere. Mazda could have cancelled this model without replacing it. For 2025, however, the Japanese carmaker decided to give it one last chance. But the model completely changes its philosophy.
- The new Mazda 6 remains a sedan, but it becomes battery electric, has a hatchback and is based on a Chinese sedan, the Changan SL03 (Changan is Mazda's Chinese partner which produces its cars in China). This 4.92 m long model (therefore at the limit of the E segment) produced and sold only in China, under the name Mazda AZ-6 and in Europe under the name Mazda 6 e. In Europe, it has an 80 kWh NMC battery while in China it receives a 58 kWh LFP battery. The price of the Mazda 6 e in Europe will be around 40,000 euros (20,000 euros in China).