Mazda shows off its first electric car

Mazda’s first production electric car, the Mazda MX-30, has been shown off at the Tokyo Motor Show. Mazda says that it has been developed for customers who don’t want to sacrifice driving pleasure when they buy an electric car.

With its unique freestyle doors (they’re rear-hinged, like the old RX-8 coupe’s), ecological materials and right-sized battery giving a range of approximately 200km, exceeding the 48km average daily drive of the European customer, the Mazda MX-30 marks another step in Mazda’s multi-solution approach to reducing emissions following the recent arrival of the innovative Skyactiv-X engine.

Commenting on the premiere of the Mazda MX-30, which will arrive in European dealerships during the second half of 2020 (UK and Ireland 2021), Yasuhiro Aoyama President and CEO of Mazda Motor Europe said: “As with all our products, our designers and engineers had a very clear goal for our first battery-electric vehicle. It had to have stand out design, be great to drive, something that is key part of Mazda’s DNA and makes us unique when compared with competitors, and most importantly, make a positive contribution to reducing emission across the entire life cycle of the product.

“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.

“Many of the media who have driven our test vehicle have said it is one of the few electric cars they have driven with the positive characteristics of a regular car. Delivering driving pleasure is at the heart of every Mazda we design and that will be no different in our electric car.”

Like every other Mazda, the Mazda MX-30 provides a very natural and responsive driving feel by accelerating, turning and braking exactly as you intend in everyday driving situations.

In the Mazda MX-30, this is achieved through the innovative engineering approaches in the e-Skyactiv package. This 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.

In addition, given the importance of sound to a drivers’ perception of torque and speed, the Mazda engineers have also created an electronic sound system inside the Mazda MX-30, which is synchronised to motor torque in sound frequency and sound pressure. This leads to less variation in vehicle speed resulting in very stable driving which is further supported by Mazda’s unique G-Vectoring Control (GVC) has been expanded and uses the advantages of the electric motor (electric G-Vectoring Control Plus).

According to a Mazda spokesperson: “With the Mazda MX-30, we continue the Mazda design focus of 'less is more' when it comes to the exterior and interior of our cars. The cabin has a sense of oneness, flowing from the top of a pillar to the rear end. The colour of the framed top roof makes this feeling even clearer. The freestyle doors give the Mazda MX-30 a distinctive and elegant cabin silhouette, as well as providing customers with easier access to both the front and rear seats.

“In the interior, we are also introducing eco-friendly materials and are replacing real leather with a vegan alternative. There is also environmentally sourced cork featured in the floating center console which provides creative storage space.”

Mazda has used the MX prefix on several products that were designed and engineered to challenge the assumptions in the automotive industry at the time. With the MX-5 they created a sporty two seater when the roadster had been dismissed by other manufacturers.

“With the Mazda MX-30, we have created a completely new EV experience with the Mazda DNA of unique interior and exterior design and great driving dynamics, ensuring that our customers are still able to experience the joy of driving for which Mazda is famous,” said the spokesperson.