Mazda won’t chase premium market with EVs

MAZDA’S MX-30 became only the third electric car from Japan to go on sale here (not counting grey imports) when it debuted at the Singapore Motor Show last month, but it also rolled into town as one of the cheapest.

At S$184,888 with Certificate Of Entitlement, the crossover coupe with five seats and unique rear-hinged doors is one of relatively few electric vehicles (EVs) to cost less than S$200,000 here.

That pricing is by design, because Mazda intends to keep its EVs affordable. In contrast, Korean brands such as Hyundai and Kia have launched powerful, snazzy EVs priced closer to those from premium brands such as BMW or Mercedes-EQ.

“We think about many options for the future, but premium pricing like others? That’s not our first priority, and not our intention,” said Koichiro Yamaguchi, program manager, product division at Mazda, through an interpreter.

Yet, Mazda is still finding its feet when it comes to EVs. That gave it room to try new ideas such as the MX-30’s coupe-like shape and what it calls the “freestyle door” concept. “Our aim when developing this model was to deliver a totally new body to customers, unlike the other, existing Mazdas,” Yamaguchi told The Business Times.

Given the MX-30’s unusual nature, criticism was perhaps inevitable. Some customers love the freestyle doors but others have denounced it, Yamaguchi said. “This is our first-ever EV totally developed by ourselves, and so this is a trial,” he said, adding that Mazda intends to use feedback about the MX-30 to develop its next EVs accordingly.

Another gripe: the MX-30’s range, which is around 200 kilometres in real-world conditions. Many EVs can go roughly twice as far, while the longest-range models now cover three times that distance on a single charge.

Yamaguchi said the range is adequate for some customers (those in Europe do 50 km a day on average, for example) and that giving the Mazda longer legs would have meant packing it with heavy batteries, which would have ruined the ride quality and handling, while crimping efficiency.

While conceding that Mazda would take comments about the MX-30’s range to heart, Yamaguchi said the brand’s main priority is to make cars that deliver on its reputation for driving pleasure.

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“Actually, the sort of power unit doesn’t matter to us,” he said. “Between driving an internal combustion engine model and driving an EV, we want to offer the same driving experience.” So much the better, if Mazda can also offer them at the same price.