Mazda Wants To Make The Vision Coupe, But SUVs Are The Moneymakers

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Mazda gave us all the wallpaper material back in October 2017 when it launched the very pretty Vision Coupe. If there’s one car that deserves the nonsensical “four-door coupe” description, it’s this. To no one’s surprise, it didn’t take long for rumors to surface about a swoopy sedan that would be in production. Fast forward four and a half years later, the car is nowhere to be found. In fact, it seems very unlikely that will happen.

Why? Three letters: S, U, and V. Mazda Europe engineering boss Joachim Kunz tells Autocar that “it is most important to sell an SUV.” He admits that “it would be great… to have a FR [front-engine, rear-driven] concept and a six-cylinder engine for a Mazda 6 successor or a big sports coupe.” His remarks were a quick reminder the big sedans wouldn’t take the RWD route to fight the German trifecta: BMW, Audi, and Mercedes-Benz.

With SUVs being prioritized, we’re also not going to hold our breath for the road-going variant of the older 2015 RX Vision concept. Mazda is bringing back the rotary engine, but only as an engine that expands the range for the MX-30 hybrid crossover. At least we can be relieved to know the MX-5 will stick to the RWD sports car formula with a petrol engine for its NE generation.

Joachim Kunz explains why attractive cars are put behind as the saying goes: “This SUV trend continues, and even more so for Mazda. It’s a top seller.” Autocar went so far as to doubt the future of the 6 sedan. The company Zoom-Zoom has been talking about the CX-60 and its subsequent CX-70, CX-80, and CX-90 SUVs, with no word on the sedan aging. Third-generation cars have been around for a decade, and there is no direct replacement spy shot.

With Mazda still a relatively small automaker, it made sense to take an SUV and go from there.

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