Paris show: Mazda6 wagon makes first appearance

THE first official image of the all-new Mazda6 wagon has been released ahead of its world public debut at the Paris motor show on September 29.

It will go on sale with the previously revealed sedan variant – which will make a separate global debut at the Moscow motor show on August 29 – in Japan and Europe by the end of this year, and Australia at the beginning of 2013.

The new load-lugging variant was the star attraction at an event commemorating the start of production for the third-generation mid-size car at Mazda’s Hofu Plant in the Japanese prefecture of Yamauchi, which is set to produce 120,000 units of the new ‘6’ per year.

The red Mazda6 wagon in the image – built to European specifications with a SkyActiv 2.0-litre petrol engine and embodying the same low-slung proportions as the previous two generations – was the first car to roll off the line.

The side-on image of the wagon gives the best look yet at the overall proportions of both bodystyles, with recent teaser images of the sedan instead emphasising the grille and three-quarter rear.

Notable styling features include the pronounced, curvaceous front wheelarches flowing back from the slim headlights and leading into a raked rear window, tapered roofline and triangular tail-lights.

Like the Mazda6 sedan, the wagon will follow the lead of the CX-5 compact SUV in making full use of the company’s fuel-saving SkyActiv technologies, including lightweight construction, efficient petrol and diesel engines with idle-stop system, and a specially designed six-speed automatic transmission.

It will also introduce the company’s new brake energy regeneration system, called i-ELOOP.

The most economical model globally will be powered by Mazda’s 2.2-litre low-compression turbo-diesel engine, linked with the six-speed auto to deliver fuel consumption of 4.2 litres per 100 kilometres – a whole litre less than the Australian-built, petrol-electric Toyota Camry Hybrid.

In a release accompanying the commencement of production, the company said its development team had “tried to instill the essence of the Mazda brand, the joy of nimble handling that responds precisely to the driver’s intentions, while offering the class, style, quality and comfort people expect from a car in the CD segment”.

As we have reported, Mazda will drop the hatchback variant offered on the previous two generations of the Mazda6, even though this bodystyle is the most popular in the Australian market.

Mazda has sold 3797 Mazda6s in Australia to the end of July, made up of 1735 hatches, 1244 wagons and 818 sedans.

However, Mazda Australia public relations manager Steve Maciver told GoAuto this morning that the company was confident in the new global strategy to offer only sedan and wagon bodystyles.

“Our understanding is many people buy the hatch in Australia because they like the look of it, not so much because of the functionality,” he said. “We believe that the new sedan is going to fit the bill for those particular buyers,” he said.