Mazda Has Exciting Plans For The CX-30

Mazda's latest model is theMX-30交叉,e Japanese automaker'sfirst production EV(if you don't count theprototype from the 1990s). While the MX-30 would have suited the eco-conscious 2019 Los Angeles Auto Show, where other automakers likeFord revealed their new EVs, Mazda decided to turn up in the City of Angels with its new gas-engined crossover, theCX-30.

Having bowed in Europe, the CX-30 made itsNorth American debutalong with the announcement that it will start at $21,900. Only one engine will be offered in the US (for now), a 2.5-liter SkyActiv-G four-cylinder producing 186 horsepower. But speaking with Mazda Program Manager, Naohito Saga (through a translator), CarBuzz learned that more powertrain options are being considered.

During our roundtable discussion with Saga San, the topic of Mazda's revolutionary SkyActiv-X Spark Controlled Compression Ignition engine came up. SkyActiv-X has beendelayed coming to the USbut in Europe, "it [already] accounts for 60% of theMazda3and CX-30 sales," Saga San said. "So they [Europeans] have received it positively."

In Europe, Mazda also offers the CX-30 with a 1.8-liter diesel engine but we asked if we might see theCX-5's2.2-liter diesel, which Mazda went to great lengths to certify in the US, under the hood of the CX-30. "It's possible," Saga San said, not wanting to give too much away about future engine options. Of course, the CX-30 rides on a lifted version of the platform used by the Mazda3 hatchback, as does the recently-revealed MX-30 but "the changes we made [on the MX-30] are clearly greater [than on the CX-30]," Saga San explained.