The executive sedan market is a thinning market at the moment. Save for the Germans, no one is really attempting to make a rear-wheel drive, sport sedan these days. Sure, there’s the Lexus IS and Genesis G70, but the prior will soldier on for a few more years and the latter has no replacement in sight.
Mind you, it’s a segment that many automakers would like to be in. One of them is Mazda, and they recently floated the idea of having a new sport sedan.
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At the moment, Mazda has all the ingredients to build one. There’s the 3.3-liter inline-six engines, both in gas and diesel guises. It also has the large longitudinal platform that underpins the CX-60, CX-80, and CX-90. All that’s left to do now is combine those elements and put it in sedan form.
But it’s not as simple as that, though. Mazda’s Large Product Group program manager, Kohei Shibata, had this to say to Australia’s Drive. “Personally, a FR [front-engined, rear-wheel drive] sedan would be a good dream for everyone. Journalists always tell me that you should make a sedan, but the marketplace is so small. So if...the people start to buy that kind of vehicle, then that will let us make that vehicle.”
Sure, there’s public clamor for Mazda to build a BMW 3-Series or Lexus IS rival, but it doesn’t mean people will buy it. The Kia Stinger is an example of that. It had all the right ingredients with turbo and six-cylinder options, and rear-wheel drive. It was met with a lot of fanfare but ultimately failed due to low sales. Mazda wouldn’t like that to happen to them.
Still, Mazda isn’t closing its door on a rear-wheel drive Mazda 6 with a six-cylinder. So, for Mazda to do this, we should start buying more sedans again. A tough ask in an SUV and crossover world, but if we buy enough of these four-doors, then maybe it’ll happen soon.
