Mazda MX-30 2020 review walkaround – electric SUV

I'm Tom Baker, this is Chasing Cars, and today you join me here at the 2019 Tokyo Motor Show, where we've just attended the reveal of the brand new Mazda MX-30. This car is a really big deal for Mazda. It's this company's first ever production electric vehicle. No great shock that it's taken the form of an SUV, but there are a few interesting parts to this car that I didn't expect. The first is the name, and shortly we'll talk about exactly why this vehicle is badged as an MX and not a CX. The second thing is the amazing suicide doors or freestyle doors that are a hark back to the RX-8. I think that's very, very cool. And then there's also the fact that Mazda are taking a very sort of natural and intuitive approach to this EV. It doesn't have a massive battery, it doesn't have massive outputs, just like that electric prototype that we drove together a couple of months ago on the channel. This thing produces 105 kilowatts of power out of a 35 and a half kilowatt hour battery, and it's designed to feel really just like a combustion vehicle to drive with natural acceleration and braking characteristics delivered by two different pedals. But there's also a big story in terms of the MX-30's interesting interior, and that's where we're going to go now. And that's because the MX-30 amplifies its sustainable approach with a range of natural and sustainable materials in the interior. There are these gorgeous cloth seats. I prefer these so much to boring leather. Don't they look great? And they'll also breathe better in the sun. There's also stuff like heritage cork, which is a nod back to materials used at the very beginning of Mazda as a company. It used to be a cork manufacturer, and much of the plastic that you see in the interior is made from recycled bottles. So the MX-30 does really put its environmental credentials front and center. The rest of the interior is mostly components that we've seen in other new generation Mazda vehicles. There's a beautiful thin-rim steering wheel, a high-set infotainment screen with a rotary controller, but there's also now an extra screen, a seven-inch screen down below, for climate and other functions. Now, this vehicle is, of course, left-hand drive. We'll talk about whether or not the MX-30 is coming to Australia and in what form in just a second, but once you've opened up the rear suicide doors, freestyle doors, you have extra seating for another three people here in the back. It is a five-seater, nice incline on the bench, all those pleasant materials repeated here in the back. So there is meant to be, you know, a decent share of practicality to the MX-30 as well, and that's why they've chosen an SUV for their first electric vehicle. Now, what about that name, MX-30? Because if you're like me, you're probably reading that badge and wondering how Mazda have got to that point. Well, it turns out the company, perhaps unsurprisingly, does have something of a technical response to that question. The MX part of the name, Mazda are now saying that those letters are reserved for vehicles that are pushing the boundaries. The MX-5 is just one example of that. If you're a bit of a Mazda buff, you'll remember vehicles like the MX-3, the MX-6 of the 80s and 90s. Now, they were all sports cars. MX no longer means that. Instead, it means something that's really on the cutting edge of Mazda's design and engineering philosophies, and you've got to give it to them. The MX-30, first production EV, that kind of makes sense. As for the 30 part of the name, that's because the MX-30 is dimensionally very similar to the CX-30, so it's now sort of framing that smaller SUV kind of designation within the range. But whether or not Mazda's future EVs will also be called MX, I'm going to take a punt on that and say probably not, because at some point EV will become the standard powertrain within the Mazda lineup, so I reckon we'll then see a reversion to the sort of Mazda 3, Mazda 6, Mazda CX-5 kind of nomenclature. So, what is the deal with the Mazda MX-30, and where is this car going to go? Well, as I've already mentioned, it's headed to and that is a part of Mazda's well-to-wheel philosophy. This company is pretty strong in how it decides who's going to get electric cars, who's going to get hybrids, and who's getting combustion vehicles, and that's because Mazda really looks at the total energy consumption involved in both the manufacturing of the batteries in electric vehicles, and then how much energy it consumes or saves over the lifespan of the vehicle. Actually, building an EV is very energy intensive, so you need to make sure it's being driven in a market with clean energy production if it's going to put you back to carbon neutral over the lifetime of the vehicle. Now, Australia does not have much energy produced by renewable sources at present, so combustion vehicles, Skyactiv-X, hybrids, are what Mazda think are appropriate right now. That being said, Mazda Australia are lobbying very hard to receive the MX-30 in pure EV form sometime in the next couple of years, but we know that Mazda's Skyactiv vehicle platform, which supports these electric vehicles, including the MX-30, is modular. It allows for combustion, it allows for full EV, it allows for a rotary range extender, it allows for plug-in hybrid, so I'm pretty certain that we'll see the MX-30 in at least one of those guises in Australia before too long. So, that is a first look at the Mazda MX-30, Mazda's first ever production electric vehicle in the shape of an SUV that is dimensionally very similar to a CX-30, but of course with zero tailpipe emission powertrain underneath the skin. Let me know down in the comments what you think of the MX-30, whether or not this makes a good electric vehicle, whether or not you consider it, and how quickly Mazda should bring it to Australia. Subscribe to Chasing Cars so you never miss these detailed looks for the Australian market at new cars, and as always, thanks for watching Chasing Cars.