Was Mazda’s ‘premium push’ a mistake?

Mazda successfully transitions from ‘mainstream’ to ‘semi-premium’ but its attempts to stop buyers from leaving in search of a true premium brand has not worked quite so well.

The brand famously dropped its CX-8 and CX-9 large SUVs in favour of a new line-up of more premium offerings, the CX-60, CX-70, CX-80 and CX-90. Australia is one of very few markets in the world to offer all four, as the CX-60/CX-80 and CX-70/CX-90 are just five- and seven-seat versions of largely the same vehicle.

READ MORE: 2025 Mazda CX-60 review

The idea, as explained to the media at the time of the launch of the CX-60 in 2022, was that Mazda saw the arrival of this new range of SUVs as an expansion of its line-up and not a dramatic shift away from its more mainstream legacy. However, the company did make it clear that the CX-60 and others were meant to be something “aspirational” and more “sophisticated” models with the clear inference that the brand was trying to avoid having customers move into a BMW, Mercedes-Benz or similar.

However, despite doubling the amount of SUVs it offers, Mazda’s large SUV sales have dramatically declined. In 2022 Mazda sold more than 12,000 examples of the more-affordable CX-8 and CX-9, while in 2024 it sold less than 6000 examples of its new quartet of models; although both the CX-70 and CX-80 didn’t have a full year on sale in ‘24.

But Mazda Australia Managing Director Vinesh Bhindi admitted that the brand’s ‘premium push’ may have been misunderstood, with him adamant that the brand was never chasing BMW, Mercedes or similar customers. Instead, he says the plan was always to try and keep existing Mazda customers within the brand when they were looking for something different from their existing CX-5, CX-8 or CX-9.

“It could be [misunderstood],” Bhindi told Torquecafe. “And from our point-of-view, our direction was always, we will find more of the customers for large platform from the Mazda customer base, which we did. But what we also acknowledge is they, it could be appealing for other brands to consider this, but that’s not where we’ve publicly said that’s our target. And whether that’s been written and that’s what’s causing what you are suggesting, then it was probably based on speculation.

“Because that was never, ever stated as our main objective with large platform. So we believe when we look at our customers who have had CX-5 or CX-8 or CX-9, and wherever they are in their life stage, suddenly, are considering something bigger, better, different, advanced, that’s where majority of our customers, so far, have come from.”

Sales of the CX-60 are up more than 100 per cent year-to-date in April, with the updated model due to hit showrooms shortly.