As officially announced by Mazda, the global launch of the EZ-6 will be focused on the European market first, with no exact date for its European launch other than fall 2024. Mazda has also yet to announce the price of the EZ-6.
Mazda unveiled the EZ-6 at Auto China in Beijing in April. Developed in collaboration with Changan, the model is the successor to the Mazda6 internal combustion engine saloon and will be launched in China with battery electric drive and an optional range extender. No technical data was released at the time, but platform similarities to the Deepal SL03 lead us to speculate that the car will use a 163kW electric drive and CATL's LFP battery, giving it a range of around 700km on China's CTLC.
The announcement that the EZ-6 will be sold outside of China requires the Japanese company to still provide technical data. Instead, it was announced that Mazda and its Chinese joint venture Changan Mazda have signed an “Electric Vehicle Export Cooperation Agreement.” The agreement designates Changan Mazda as China's exclusive research, development and production center for alternative drive systems for the global market. Therefore, the EZ-6 for Europe will also be made in China, not Japan.
According to Mazda, experts from its European R&D center have already visited China and “tuned and verified the dynamic performance of the Mazda EZ-6 at the Chongqing Automobile Proving Ground.” There is no mention of whether European-specific modifications have been made to the chassis or drive hardware, or whether the Chinese version has been verified for Europe. Mazda emphasizes that it “utilized its extensive expertise in dynamic performance tuning from the gasoline vehicle era” to enhance the driving enjoyment of the EZ-6.
Changan is not only providing the EPA-1 platform, but also the driving assistant: the EZ-6 will be equipped with a Level 2.5 semi-autonomous driving system, which uses the 7nm Qualcomm SA8155P chip, four high-definition panoramic cameras, and 12 high-performance ultrasonic radars.
The Mazda EZ-6 has an overall length of 4.92 meters, an overall width of 1.89 meters without door mirrors, and an overall height of 1.49 meters. The wheelbase is 2.99 meters. In the design of the sedan, Mazda chose continuity with the internal combustion engine models. The EZ-6 has a black but closed “radiator grille” in the front, giving the sedan an internal combustion engine look.
prnewswire.com (European launch), carnewschina.com (production start)
