Mazda’s first full-production BEV, the MX-30, announced at the Tokyo show, will go on sale in the UK early in 2021.
Mazda said the car, whose rear hinged rear doors are likely to prove controversial, is a “battery electric vehicle developed for customers who don’t want to sacrifice driving pleasure when they buy an electric car”.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
Those rear doors are described as “unique freestyle”.
Range is just 125 miles, with Mazda claiming it exceeds the 30 mile average daily drive of the European customer.
Yasuhiro Aoyama president & CEO said: “Alongside the electrification technologies we are introducing across our range, being a smaller manufacturer we focused all our efforts on creating an electric car that we anticipate will be a second car where the range of our vehicle will meet customers’ needs.”
Mazda claims the MX-30 “provides a very natural and responsive driving feel by accelerating, turning and braking exactly as you intend in everyday driving situations”.
Which, in just-auto‘s experience, is exactly what could be said of Nissan’s Leaf.
The e-Skyactiv package includes the battery being rigidly integrated into the vehicle body structure which enhances the overall body stiffness and provides excellent response to the driver’s input.
Engineers have also created an electronic sound system inside the car which is synchronised to motor torque in sound frequency and sound pressure.
This is claimed to lead to less variation in vehicle speed resulting in very stable driving which is further supported by G-Vectoring Control (GVC) which has been expanded and uses the advantages of the electric motor (electric G-Vectoring Control Plus).
The interior includes eco-friendly materials and replacing much real leather with a vegan alternative. There is also environmentally sourced cork in the floating centre console which provides creative storage space.
