The latest CX-5 may never have happened.
Mazda has confirmed that the CX-60 was originally planned to replace, rather than support, the company's best-selling medium-sized SUV as we know it, as part of the brand's global move upmarket that resulted in a wide range of larger and more-expensive alternatives stretching up to the CX-90 flagship.
The disappointing critical reception and subsequent disappointing global sales performance of the CX-60 since its March, 2022 world premiere, appear to have prompted a pivot back to CX-5 development soon after, resulting in today's third-generation KM-series model.
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"I like to admit the fact that we had a variety of discussions on this model," according to Mazda Motor Corporation CX-5 Program Manager, Koichiro Yamaguchi, speaking via an interpreter.
"There was an idea to replace (CX-5) with the CX-60 as the new generation (CX-5), and there were also some opinions about continuing the CX-5 model. But the conclusion was very simple, because the current CX-5 just kept setting well among our customers.
"So, after we came to this conclusion, we just had to develop this new-generation CX-5 model that fits our customers' needs and wants. And that's how we planned and engineered this vehicle."
The Australian sales data would certainly support the decision to evolve the CX-5 series.
Volumes for the CX-60, CX-70, CX-80 and CX-90 are all down compared to the same time last year, by 1.4 per cent, 28 per cent, 30 per cent and 12.5 per cent respectively.
In the CX-60's case, this is despite the advent of a round of suspension improvements last year, designed to address criticisms over ride quality, as well as an entry-level four-cylinder petrol rear-drive Pure grade starting from $44,740 that's within $5000 of the CX-5 base equivalent.
Furthermore, Yamaguchi also disclosed that KM CX-5 development took just three years, which puts it commencing sometime after the CX-60's global debut in early 2022.
"It began three years ago," he revealed.
Not only does the latest CX-5's late gestation explain the unusually long lifecycle of the outgoing KF series that launched in Australia in early 2017 (nearly doubling the original KE's five-year time frame), it also explains the delay in getting the vital hybrid models to market, as they are not due to arrive here until 2028.
And that's not even considering the naming convention that makes the KM an outlier with no easy fit between the US-market CX-50 and CX-60.
Mazda Australia Managing Director Vinesh Bhindi believes that global demand deemed it essential that the series continue and evolve, even in unison with the larger SUVs in the brand's line-up.
"The market voice from Australia and many other regions is that CX 5 is a core product, and a core value proposition for the customer, and that must be honoured," he added.
"And this is going back many years, before the CX-60 was even launched."
While walking away from Mazda's premium aspirations, Bhindi is adamant the multi-SUV approach was always part of the company's strategy.
"There was a reason for (the CX-5 to stay on sale), because we also wanted what the large-platform (CX-60 and CX-70 two-row SUVs and CX-80 and CX-90 three-row SUVs) offer for Australia, but also globally," he said.
"And to do that, the CX-5 had to extend a little bit longer. So, we've got both the things that was on our wish list: to have a CX 5 ongoing, and the large platform (SUVs) that provide that step up from CX-5.
"Because, in the previous line-up, after CX 5, where does the customer go?
They would only have the (now-discontinued) CX-8 and CX-9. But they are three-row SUVs, and not everybody needs a three-row car.
"What we have now is a CX-60 and a CX-70, if you want two-row cars and performance and different dynamics."