Mazda’s second EV is a weird China-only franken-SUV based on the CX-30



Mazda has just unveiled their second-ever fully electric vehicle, but instead of an all-new global model, it’ll actually be a China-only EV based on a car that we already know, the CX-30.

It’s dubbed the CX-30 EV, and is set to go on sale later this year, built by Changan Automobile – one of Mazda’s partners in China. And because the CX-30 wasn’t originally built with EVs in mind (eventhough the MX-30 uses the same platform), Mazda had to lift the crossover quite significantly to fit the batteries underneath, giving it a weird franken-SUV look.

The company literally only brought the car out for show at the Auto Shanghai 2021 motor show, without any accompanying information – so all reports are essentially just educated guesses at this point.

Based on the e-SkyActiv badging found on the show car though, we’re convinced that it’ll most likely feature the same electric powertrain combo found underneath that of the Mazda MX-30, which means an electric motor up front that’s good for 105 kW (143 hp) and 264 Nm of torque, powered by a 35.5-kWh lithium-ion battery.

However, several publications are reporting that the new CX-30 EV might actually ride on Changan’s in-house EV platform instead of Mazda’s own, which could explain the massive increase in ride height due to its larger batteries.

Either way, we still have so many questions that need answering. Why a “new” model instead of the MX-30? How will the increased ride height and new weight distribution affect its driving dynamics? Sadly, we probably won’t be able to find out ourselves, since this model is probably destined to only stay in China.