Image Credit: Captain Electro.
I have an unshakable, possibly irrational, soft spot for Mazda. I will be forever in love with the RX7 (FD) - a car so beautiful it makes the Mona Lisa look like a passport photo of a potato. The Miata is a classic the whole world knows, a wee roadster that proved you don't need a thousand horsepower to have a permanent grin plastered across your face. No person of sound mind will ever dispute that Mazda knows how to make pretty cars. They have the "Soul of Motion" design language down to a fine art, sculpting metal until it looks like it's doing a hundred miles an hour while parked at Walmart.
But recently, it just seems Mazda forgot how to actually make driver's cars... or possibly blew the entire budget on designing its latest SUV and then panicked, raided the parts bin of a neighbor, and ended up stuffing it with leftover EV parts found in the back of a shed.
Image Credit: Mazda.
I am talking, of course, about the new Mazda CX-6e, which has just pulled the wraps off itself at the Brussels Motor Show. And we all can see it is a stunner. It is easily the best-looking SUV the brand has done in years, with curves in all the right places and a face that doesn't look like an angry electric shaver. But - and there is always a "but" with modern EVs, usually the size of a planetary object - under that bonnie skin, this premium EV is years behind its rivals. This supermodel thinks the moon is made of aggressive cheese…
Let's get the dirty laundry out of the way first. The CX-6e isn't a pure Mazda creation. It's not been forged in the fires of Hiroshima by master craftsmen wielding katanas. No, like the mechanically similar 6e sedan, it is the result of a joint project with Changan. It's built in China on the same assembly line as something called the Deepal S07.
Image Credit: Mazda.
Mazda has done the design, the tuning, and the branding work, so it wears the right badge and looks the part. But the bones? The bones are very much shared. This Chinese connection means it won't make it to the United States. Americans get nothing at all. We might be feeling left out right now, wiping a tear from an eye, but there's no reason to cry - we might have actually dodged a bullet here.
It lands in European showrooms later in 2026, where it will attempt to take on the Tesla Model Y, the BMW iX3, and the Audi Q6 e-tron. That is a fight roughly equivalent to me trying to box Mike Tyson. Underneath the 114.3-inch wheelbase sits a 78 kWh LFP battery. That sounds reasonable enough until you realize it's feeding a single rear motor making just 258 horsepower. Now, 258 hp is fine if you are riding a lawnmower or a food blender, but in a heavy electric SUV? It also delivers just 214 lb-ft of torque.
Image Credit: Mazda.
The acceleration from zero to 62 mph takes 7.9 seconds. Sure, I've had hangovers that cleared up faster than that, but family SUVs these days are launching themselves toward the horizon like scalded cats. This Mazda? It is taking a leisurely stroll. No, it is literally waiting for a bus in the rain… Back in 1995, eight seconds to 60 was a good number. A lot has changed since, and maybe it's time someone had a serious chat with Mazda.
Then we get to the range, which is usually the part where I start sweating. Mazda claims a WLTP range of up to 300 miles. On paper, that sounds okay-ish. You know what else is okay-ish? A lukewarm cup of tea. And then you look at the competition. Volvo, just this week, revealed that its similarly-sized EX60 will have up to 503 miles of range. That is over 200 miles more! Even Tesla's most basic Model Y Standard - which is a more accurate rival for this CX - gives you 314 miles between charges.
Image Credit: Mazda.
The CX-6e's range looks like a joke. A bad one. The kind your uncle tells at Christmas that makes everyone stare at their turkey in silence. And the charging isn't going to save you either. The 195 kW max charge rate is far from class-leading, meaning a 10 to 80 percent refill takes about 24 minutes. Fine, that isn't really enough time to knit a scarf or learn a second language, but it's enough to regret your purchase.
The interior is where the CX-6e really tries to distract you from its lethargic performance. It leans heavily into the future, presumably hoping you won't notice the speedometer moving so slowly. A huge 26-inch display stretches across the dash like a digital billboard. It's massive. You could probably watch an IMAX movie on it.
Image Credit: Mazda.
Mazda also ditched the traditional instrument cluster for a head-up display, which is very fighter-jet, and added gesture shortcuts. You can wave your hands at the dashboard like a wizard trying to cast a spell. There are speakers in the headrests - so you can hear the sat-nav telling you you're out of range in high definition - and screens for the camera-based door mirrors neatly embedded in the door cards. It's all very "Minority Report," and I really think it looks fantastic.
But then you open the trunk. Size-wise, the CX-6e is longer and wider than the combustion CX-60, but it can't touch the gas-guzzling SUV or its electric rivals for cargo space. The EV only offers 16.5 cubic feet of space. The combustion CX-60 has 20.1 cubic feet. And the Tesla Model Y? That cavernous beast offers over 30 cubic feet. You do get a 2.8 cubic-foot frunk (front trunk) in the Mazda for your charging cables, but that's like getting a free pair of socks with a suit that doesn't fit.
Image Credit: Mazda.
So, how much for this slow, short-ranged, but undeniably pretty fashion accessory? In China, prices start at just $16,800. That is a bargain. That is "buy two and race them" money. But in Europe? It will probably cost three times that. We are likely looking at a price tag that puts it in the premium segment, rubbing shoulders with cars that can actually drive to the next city without needing a lie-down.
I think the CX-6e looks great inside and out. It really does. It's a bonnie lass. But that style and the still-to-be-confirmed prices might have to do a lot of heavy lifting to make buyers overlook the poor range, the glacial performance, and the practicality of a backpack. Come on, Mazda. You gave us the Zoom-Zoom. This is just... snooze-snooze.
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