Mazda to launch new CX-8 SUV in December

September 14, 2017

TOKYO- Mazda Motor Corp. said Thursday it will launch a high-end large sport-utility vehicle in Japan on Dec. 14.

Equipped with a 2,200 cc clean diesel engine, the Japanese automaker's flagship SUV, named the CX-8, is 4.9 meters long, about the same length as a large minivan, and has three rows of seating.

The third-row seats are designed so that an adult 170 centimeters tall can fit comfortably.

Mazda said it hopes to sell the vehicle to customers who lay weight on design and driving performance.

Suggested retail prices will range from 3,196,800 yen to 4,190,400 yen for the CX-8 series, which comprises front- and four-wheel-drive versions with six- to seven-seat arrangements. The company hopes to sell 1,200 units per month.

"We'll take up the challenge of creating a new market as an alternative to the minivan market," Mazda President Masamichi Kogai said at an event to introduce the CX-8.

The new model has a fuel economy, measured on a new scale that simulates vehicles' actual running condition on roads, of 15.8 kilometers per liter of diesel oil on front-wheel drive, Mazda said. Jiji Press