• Mazda’s new 2024 CX-90 will be offered with a plug-in hybrid powertrain.
• This setup could be similar to the one used in Europe with the CX-60.
• The technology developed by Mazda is getting the name e-Skyactiv PHEV.
At the end of January, Auto123 will be heading to Los Angeles to be introduced to Mazda's new CX-90 SUV. This model is the first new design the company has offered us in ages. That’s not counting the all-electric MX-30 unveiled last year, which is easy not to count because of the very short range it offers for the price. You’ll be forgiven if you’ve never seen one on the road, or even of heard of it..
Things will be very different with the upcoming CX-90, a model that promises to be practical, distinctive and… fuel efficient. We already knew that the SUV is getting a new inline 6-cylinder engine. Today, Mazda confirmed that a plug-in hybrid variant will also be produced. It’s designation: e-Skyactiv PHEV.
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Mazda is pretty likely to give this CX-90 a similar configuration to that of the CX-60 sold in Europe. That SUV, based on the same longitudinal platform as the CX-90, is equipped with a 2.5L 4-cylinder engine and an electric motor. Together, the two produce 323 hp and 369 lb-ft of torque. A 17.8-kWh lithium-ion battery provides an electric range of about 60 km by European calculations. Mazda is hinting that the North American version of this powertrain may have slightly different specs.
Let's just hope we don't get a range as tiny as that of as the MX-30, proportionally speaking. Mazda is late to the plug-in hybrid game and it needs to take big steps and not shuffle slowly forward.
We'll have a chance to get back to you on this CX-90 once we attend its official unveiling at the end of January 2023.