The Mazda CX-5 continues to sell in significant numbers. Since 2015, U.S. dealers have sold more than 100,000 units a year – after breaking the 1,000-unit mark in 2014 – and as of 2018, they have not sold less than 145,000 units a year. So while many of us suspected the CX-5 would exit the picture once Mazda’s modern CX-50 star appears on the scene, Mazda rightly has other plans. Page 19 of the car manufacturer’s financial results for the first quarter of 2024, which also details the end of Mazda’s 2023 fiscal year, includes the line “Plan to equip the next CX-5 with a Mazda-developed hybrid engine.” This is bulleted in the section on electrifying the product range, right after the line about “a range of vast hybrid and PHEV products, [and adding a] CX-50 hybrid version in the second half.”
Mazda already offers PHEVs: the CX-90 and CX-70 PHEV. We already knew the CX-50 hybrid was coming; this powertrain will be sourced from Toyota and will be the same as that used in the RAV4 hybrid. Car and driver reported We should expect more details on this in June, but Mazda debuted the CX-50 HEV in China a year ago. The basic configuration is a 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine with two electric motors and a total output of 219 horsepower, similar to the Toyota. Mazda builds our CX-50 at the Alabama plant it co-owns with Toyota, where Toyota produces the Corolla Cross and Corolla Cross Hybrid. Mazda’s distinction between “PHEV” and “hybrid” in the report suggests that the CX-5 will not be plug-in, which would maintain some sort of technological parity with the CX-50 and keep prices down.
The CX-5 hybrid is an in-house production and will be based on the Mazda SkyActiv four-cylinder engine. CEO Masahiro Moro called the design “original” and the internal combustion part “an improved SkyActiv engine.” The company produces the SkyActiv gas mill in five displacements: 1.3 liters, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5 and 3.3. In our market, the CX-5 only fits 2.5-liter engines; it’s thought the modern hybrid will stick to this displacement. The naturally aspirated version starts at just over $30,000 and produces 187 hp and 186 lb-ft of torque, the turbocharged version produces 256 hp and 320 lb-ft, and the hybrid’s combined numbers can fall somewhere between the two while delivering over 26 in the city and 31 highway miles per gallon in NA only achieved with cylinder deactivation and automatic stop/start enabled. For comparison, the Toyota RAV4 Hybrid starts at around $33,000 and gets 41 mpg in the city and 38 mpg on the highway, while the Honda CR-V Hybrid starts at just over $35,000 and gets 43 mpg in the city and 36 mpg on the highway highway.
The premiere of the hybrid CX-5 may take place at the end of this year or early next year. The financial results then also apply to the modern all-electric Mazda on a modern dedicated platform in 2027.
