Paris show: Mazda6 wagon revealed

MAZDA formally presented the wagon version of its highly anticipated new mid-size Mazda6 at the Paris Motor Show yesterday, three weeks after releasing photos of the sleek load-lugger.

The company will release the wagon alongside the Mazda6 sedan in Australia in the first quarter of next year, when it is expected to challenge the Honda Accord as the number two mid-size car behind the locally built Toyota Camry.

Mazda Australia hopes the sleek styling of the wagon version will help to overcome the loss in the new generation of the hatchback variant, which has accounted for as much as 40 per cent of local Mazda6 sales locally.

The local agent was keen to retain the five-door hatchback, but head office decided to produce just the sedan and wagon body styles.

Mazda introduced the sedan version globally one month ago at the Moscow motor show, reflecting Mazda’s strong presence in the Russian market.

After a long-running teaser campaign that left little to reveal, the Mazda6 wagon unveiling at the Paris show did not attract a big audience.

It will be the second new model line launched by Mazda Australia exclusively powered by the company’s new more-efficient SkyActiv engines, following the CX-5 compact SUV launched locally earlier this year.

Mazda chief executive Takashi Yamanouchi said at the show that SkyActiv engines will be fitted exclusively across the brand’s full passenger vehicle range within four years.

As revealed earlier this month, the new Mazda6 will be powered by the latest 2.5-litre SkyActiv-G four-cylinder petrol engine, alongside the alternative 2.2-litre SkyActiv-D diesel that debuted in the CX-5.

The new 2.5-litre petrol engine will also be fitted globally to the CX-5 from next year, Mazda Europe vice-president Ichiro Hirose told a contingent of Australian media including GoAuto at the Paris show.

Mazda Australia public relations manager Steve Maciver said if this new engine was offered in right-hand-drive CX-5s – currently fitted with a 2.0-litre unit – then the company would have it.

The 2.5-litre petrol engine for Australia – available only with a six-speed auto –generates 138kW of power and 250Nm of torque on regular unleaded petrol, which is 10 per cent and 11 per cent more respectively than the current 125kW 2.5-litre petrol engine in the Mazda6.

Fuel consumption is claimed to have been slashed by some 25 per cent, down from 8.8 litres per 100km for the current model with the old 2.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine to just 6.4L/100km for the new-generation engine of the same size.

The 2.2-litre diesel engine in “high power specification” produces 129kW and 420Nm, which is less power but more torque than the current Mazda6 diesel (136kW/400Nm).

Figures released in Paris show this diesel with a six-speed manual gearbox uses just 4.5 litres per 100km, compared with the current Mazda6 diesel’s 5.9L/100km in sedan guise.

Even more remarkably, the “standard power” version, which generates 110kW and 380Nm, uses just 3.9L/100km – the best in its class, according to Mr Yamanouchi.

With the six-speed auto favoured for Australia, consumption blows out to 4.8L/100km.

Mr Yamanouchi also promoted the benefits of the standard i-Eloop (Intelligent Energy Loop) regenerative braking system, which the company claims is a world first.

The i-Eloop system uses a capacitor to store electricity instead of the battery used by most other manufacturers to power ancillary functions such as climate control and audio system, saving fuel by reducing drag from the alternator and cutting fuel consumption in stop-start driving by up to 10 per cent.

While the Mazda6 sedan rides on a significantly longer 2830mm wheelbase than the current model and is longer overall at 4865mm, the wagon rides on a shorter 2750mm wheelbase and is 4800mm long.

Both versions are 1840mm wide, but the wagon is 30mm higher at 1480mm, reducing its aerodynamic efficiency slightly (0.28Cd against an impressive 0.26 for the sedan).

The wagon has a boot capacity of 522 litres with the seats up (against 489 litres for the sedan), but that increases to 1664 litres with the back seats folded.