A New Generation of Mazda 6 is Coming with Rear-wheel Drive?

In the fierce competition of the automotive industry, innovation and cooperation have become the keys to the survival and development of brands. Mazda, a Japanese automaker with a century-old history, recently demonstrated its flexibility and market adaptability. Mazda has registered two new trademarks in the Chinese market: "EZ-6" and "EZ-60", which have attracted widespread attention from Chinese car fans.

These two trademarks are expected to be reserved for the new models jointly developed by Changan Automobile and Mazda, which are expected to be pure electric vehicles and range-extended hybrid vehicles. Mazda may be deliberately releasing some information, putting these fragmentary pieces of information together to interpret objectively. It can be seen that Mazda still wants to keep up with the times. (Changan Mazda is a joint venture between China's state-owned automobile manufacturer Changan Automobile and the Japanese multinational automaker Mazda Motor Corporation. Established in December 2012, its headquarters is located in Nanjing, China.)

Mazda EZ-6 is expected to be a four-door sedan model, while EZ-60 may be an SUV model. The internal code names of these two models are J90A/J90A-REEV and will provide two power options: pure electric and range-extended hybrid. Most notably, these two new vehicles will be built based on the Changan Deep Blue SL03 platform. Changan Deep Blue SL03 is a pure electric vehicle model made in China. Since its launch, it has won market recognition with its excellent performance and endurance.

What is REEV?

Science Popularization:

EV: Electric vehicle

PHEV: plug-in hybrid electric vehicle

REEV: range-extended electric vehicle

Supporting plug-in range-extended hybrid vehicles in nature are the same as PHEV, both have pure electric drive mode (EV) and hybrid drive mode (HEV). The difference is just the principle of hybrid operation. In plain words, it is the type of car that can continue to drive by using the engine to generate electricity after the battery is exhausted. It is expected that Mazda J90A will have a plug-in hybrid model, which is likely to be the successor to the new Mazda 6.

Outlook for new models

Mazda will enter into a new cooperation model with Changan Automobile, and J90A will use the EPA architecture developed by Changan Automobile. J90A-REEV has been determined to be an extended-range vehicle, after confirming the use of the EPA architecture, it can be immediately determined that this car is a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle. Referring to Changan Deep Blue, all the vehicles it builds are "rear-mounted and rear-drive", whether it is range-extended or pure electric. The driving control quality brought by rear drive will always surpass front drive, so EZ-6/60 is very likely to be a real "Asian BMW" with driving pleasure in the Mazda brand.

The EPA architecture can also be compatible with four-wheel drive, the all-new Changan Deep Blue G318 in the Chinese market has a four-wheel drive option, so it does not rule out that the EZ-6/60 will have a high-performance four-wheel drive version.

The release of the Mazda EZ-6 and EZ-60 is expected to debut at the Beijing International Car Show in China in April this year. Although there is currently no official confirmation, according to the information available, the debut of these two new models will be an important presentation of Mazda in the Chinese market.