2023 Mazda CX-60 price and features announced

THE CX-60 is certainly worthy of the adjective “ambitious”. For Mazda, it signals several things at once: it’s the first to use the company’s all-new longitudinal architecture, the first to apply electrification to its full range of engines, the first to feature an inline-six powerplant and the first to offer a plug-in hybrid option. 

And, with an ambitious price range that begins at $59,800 and tops out at $87,252, the CX-60 will also launch Mazda into the premium sphere.

Considering its silhouette is only fractionally larger than the CX-5 – it measures 165mm longer and 45mm wider, with an identical 1680mm overall height – the CX-60 is pitched as a premium alternative to Mazda’s ultra-popular mid-sized SUV rather than its replacement.

From Mazda Australia’s point of view, it complements rather than cannibalises its transversely-engined brother, giving CX-5 owners who are looking to step up – but aren’t looking for a physically larger vehicle – somewhere to go without leaving the Mazda showroom.

“About 25 percent of CX-5 buyers actually leave our brand for something else,” elaborated Mazda Australia director of sales, Jarrod Gieschen to GoAuto. 

“That’s a lot of customers, but now we have this offering (CX-60) that sits above it, with which we might actually be able to hold them for one or two more cycles.”

According to Mazda Australia marketing director Alastair Doak, the CX-60’s positioning within the company’s SUV line-up should not result in much substitution of CX-5 sales. After all, the top-spec CX-5 Akera AWD diesel maxes out at $53,880 before on-road costs – well below the starting sticker of the CX-60.

There is substantial overlap with the CX-8 and CX-9, although with the CX-60 being a more compact two-row-only proposition versus those bigger three-row stablemates, the newcomer should not tread on their toes either.

“It’s not substitution, it’s keeping them close to the Mazda brand. That’s a big opportunity for us,” Mr Doak said.

Asked if Mazda Australia was making a play to conquest sales from premium brands – or even if it had a competitor set in mind for the CX-60 – Mr Doak said Mazda’s product planners had other priorities.

“We haven’t really spent a lot of time thinking about that, the reason why is we’ve been more interested in making it fit within our line-up,” he said.

“Our focus with the product team has been to look at the people flowing from us to different brands and asking what do we need to do to attract those people, what are they looking for and what are they asking us for. Our research and our focus has been around that, rather than saying, ‘hey, here’s a target competitor, let’s do whatever they don’t do’.”

With deliveries slated to commence in June 2023, Mazda’s current task is to convert as much of its 16,000 expressions of interest for the CX-60 into solid orders, and is expecting an average monthly sales volume of around 500 units in the long term.

Prospective CX-60 buyers will have plenty of choice in front of them; with three grades, three powertrains and four option packages to select from, there are 14 possible configurations of CX-60 available.

The first rung of the CX-60 ladder is the entry-level Evolve, which Mazda expects to account for 30 per cent of total orders.

It features synthetic ‘Maztex’ black leather upholstery, 18-inch alloys, LED headlights, a powered tailgate, dual-zone climate control, a 10.25-inch infotainment screen, a 12.3-inch instrument panel display in the plug-in hybrid (PHEV), a seven-inch instrument panel for the six-cylinder variants, a wireless phone charger, built-in satellite navigation, Android Auto/Apple Carplay smartphone mirroring and a 360-degree parking camera view.

In the middle of the range is the GT, which will likely speak for the lion’s share of CX-60 volume with around half of all sales.

Above the Evolve spec, the GT adds a gloss black grille and black 20-inch alloys, swaps out the base model’s bare black exterior plastics for body-coloured items, adds a light-coloured interior upholstery option and brings a full 12.3-inch instrument panel for all drivetrains, a power-adjustable steering column, a hands-free mode for the power tailgate, a heated steering wheel, heated front and rear seats, a panoramic sunroof, power-adjustable front seats, personalised driver profile settings and a premium Bose audio system with 12 speakers.

Topping the range will sit the CX-60 Azami, externally identifiable by its unique slatted front grille, machined-face 20-inch alloys and adaptive LED headlamps. Inside are high-grade Nappa leather and fabric upholstery, ventilated front seats and a frameless interior rearview mirror. Driver assist upgrades include semi-autonomous Cruising and Traffic Support tech and a ‘see-through’ mode for its 360-degree parking camera system.

Across all three grades, three engines will be offered, comprising two all-new 3.3-litre inline-six engines, one petrol and the other diesel, and a plug-in hybrid with a 2.5-litre naturally-aspirated petrol engine paired with an electric drive motor.

The most affordable powertrain will be the 3.3-litre petrol six, which combines a 48-volt mild hybrid system, a turbocharger and direct injection to produce 209kW and 450Nm, enough to deliver a 6.9-second 0-100km/h sprint time claim. Fuel economy figures have yet to be disclosed, though Mazda claims results akin to a naturally-aspirated 2.5 litre petrol.

Hypermilers may instead be more interested in the diesel six-cylinder option, which carries a $2000 premium over the petrol six (or just $846 in the Azami grade), but offers 187kW and 550Nm and is claimed to consume just 4.9L/100km on the combined cycle, though is slower than the petrol with its claimed 7.3-second 0-100km/h time. 

Spending significantly more will net the most powerful, quickest and least thirsty powertrain of the range – the plug-in hybrid e-Skyactiv PHEV. Developing 241kW and 500Nm, the CX-60 PHEV has a 76km electric range from its 17.8kWh lithium-ion battery (which can be fully charged in 2.5 hours on a 7.2kW AC charger), and can operate combustion-free at speeds up to 100km/h.

As the most powerful model in the family, the PHEV is said to complete the sprint to 100km/h in 5.9 seconds, yet returns an official fuel economy figure is 2.1L/100km on the combined cycle, while its 2500kg tow rating is also 500kg up on that of diesel-engined CX-60 variants. 

The PHEV premium is substantial, though, costing $12,500 more than the petrol inline six in the Evolve grade, $12,692 more in the GT, or $13,098 more in Azami trim.

No matter which powertrain is selected, all Australia-bound CX-60s come standard with all-wheel drive and an eight-speed automatic transmission.

Dynamic performance is expected to be considerably better than is offered by the ageing CX-5 thanks to the CX-60’s longer wheelbase and more balanced longitudinally-engined platform, which puts more weight between the axles and yields improvements to suspension geometry (double wishbones at the front, multi-link at the rear). 

The i-Active all-wheel-drive system features a rear-axle torque bias to deliver a sportier driving feel and enhanced cornering grip under acceleration. 

With pricing announced, order books for the Mazda CX-60 are now open. Initial deliveries are slated to begin in June next year with the six-cylinder petrol and PHEV being the first off the rank, while deliveries of diesel variants will start the following month.

2023 Mazda CX-60 Pricing*

*Prices include LCT and exclude on-road costs.