Mazda CX-8 ruled out for Australia

Mazda's new CX-8 SUV won't be headed down under.

Mazda Australia's managing director, Vinesh Bhindi, has confirmed that the recently teased six- and seven-seat SUV won't be seen in local showrooms.

The concept is based on the CX-5, but with a longer wheelbase that matches the full-sized CX-9 but with a shorter overall length and narrower width to better match Japanese roads.

Despite Australia's insatiable appetite for SUVs, Bhindi explained local buyers will miss out on the segment-straddling CX-8 for now as it will only be offered in Japan.

"I'd just like to confirm that CX-8 is being produced in Japan for the Japanese market only, very much like the CX-4, which is aimed at China only. 

"There are no plans to introduce these SUVs to the Australian market. We have the five-seat Mazda CX-3 and CX-5 both doing very well, and our seven-seat alternative, the brand new seven-seat Mazda CX-9, which is performing very strongly," said Bhindi at the launch of the updated Mazda CX-3 this week.

The CX-8 will fill the seven-seat hole in the brand's line-up in Japan where the CX-9 ins't offered due to taxation laws that limit vehicles that are more than 1.8m in width.

However, the CX-8 offers an interesting proposition in Australia as the market for mid-size seven-seat SUVs is growing, first with the Nissan X-Trail and Mitsubishi Outlander which are now joined by the Skoda Kodiaq and upcoming seven-seat Volkswagen Tiguan and Honda CR-V.

A lack of petrol engines in the CX-8 could potential damage sales of the CX-8 if it made it to Australia where medium SUV sales are dominated by petrol options. However, the CX-9 doesn't offer a diesel option and the CX-8 could plug that gap in the future.

And while Mazda said that it wouldn't be coming to Australia at the present time, the door was left open for the future arrival of the CX-8.

"If there was ever to be an ADR [Australian Design Rules compliant] version of CX-8 offered to Mazda Australia we would evaluate this opportunity and consider its viability in this market and actually ask 'how does it fit amongst the other SUV products we have on offer here?" said Bhindi.

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