Mazda Begins 2023 CX-50 Production, Reiterates Hybrid Model Is Planned

It was the middle of November 2021 when Mazda unveiled the first-ever CX-50 and now the Zoom-Zoom company is happy to announce production has commenced. Developed specifically for the North American market, the compact crossover is slightly larger than the CX-5 and will be available at a later date with a hybrid powertrain.

The Japanese marque doesn’t go into any details about how it plans to electrify the CX-50, other than saying it will feature a traditional hybrid powertrain. That tells us it won’t be a PHEV and could likely inherit the technology from Toyota. The two companies have already joined forces to build the factory in Alabama where the compact crossover is produced.

We also know it will come with all-wheel drive as standard as Mazda has pledged to sell all its CX-badged in the United States with an AWD system beginning with the 2022 model year. Another electrified crossover due to arrive soon will be a hybrid MX-30 equipped with a range-extending rotary engine.

Not only that, but Mazda will roll out a bigger SUV with two rows dubbed CX-70 and a three-row CX-90 on a new rear-wheel-drive platform with plug-in hybrid, inline-six powertrains. Over in Europe, narrower CX-60 and CX-80 SUVs with two respectively three seats will get the same architecture and PHEV versions. The company’s smaller cars will embrace a plug-in hybrid setup based around a smaller four-cylinder engine.

All four electrified crossovers and SUVs are due to hit the market by late next year. Mazda is working on a dedicated EV platform that will make its debut on a production car in 2025. All models will be electrified to some extent by 2030, with a quarter of annual sales projected to be purely electric models. Meanwhile, three EVs are scheduled to arrive between now and 2025.

Source: Mazda