Happening no more: Rear-wheel-drive Mazda6 scrapped

Having revealed its new SkyActiv Multi-Solution Scalable Architecture earlier this month with the CX-60, a report from the United Kingdom has alleged that the novel rear-wheel-drive platform will no longer be availed to the next generation Mazda6.

First reported in 2019 as being the result of a joint partnership between Mazda and Toyota, a claim which has not been substantiated, the platform had been tipped to provide the foundation for the all-new 6 in what was to be Hiroshima’s first rear-wheel-drive sedan since the discontinuation of the H-platform Sentia in 1999.

According to the report in the latest edition of Autocar though, the successor for the third generation 6 that ended production at the end of last year has been shelved, in Europe at least, in part due to the declining sales of sedans on the Old Continent versus those of SUVs.

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A situation likely to be replicated in North America where sales have remained comparatively strong, the apparent scrapping of the 6 has also halted the expansion of Mazda’s new turbocharged straight-six engine that debuted underneath the CX-60’s bonnet.

“It would be very nice… to have the FR [front-engine, rear-driven] concept and six-cylinder engine for a Mazda6 successor or a large sports coupe,” Mazda’s European Head of Engineering and Development, Joachim Kunz, was quoted by the publication as saying.

“We would like to have it, but at this point in time, it’s most important to sell SUVs. This SUV trend is continuing, and even more for Mazda. It’s what’s selling best”.

The likely end of the 6, tipped to have been the production version of the Vision Coupe Concept that bowed at the Tokyo Motor Show in 2017, has reportedly had further repercussions in that its platform was set to spawn the much rumoured replacement for the RX-8.

According to motor1.com, the RX-9 was set to make use of the 6’s foundation in a reported spun-off role by being a two-door model instead of a bespoke coupe the RX-7 and RX-9 were. In an RX first though, the RX-9 was due to derive motivation from the mentioned straight-six engine and not a rotary.

While the new 6 has been anticipated to debut this year, its scrapping, along with the still-born RX-9, leaves the CX-60 as the sole straight-six, rear-wheel-drive model, though it is expected that the next CX-5 will adopt the same arrangement when the current generation bows out.