It’s the dawn of a new era for Mazda as we're only a week away from the birth of a new rear-wheel-drive lineup. Joining the MX-5 Miata (and the BT-50 pickup truck) with their RWD layout, the CX-60 will go down in history as the automaker's first plug-in hybrid model. Leading the way is a two-row SUV for Europe with a wider-but-still-two-row CX-70 equivalent planned for North America's bigger roads.
The latest episode from the teaser campaign is a sneak preview of the exterior with its white body hue developed for the new arrival. Mazda describes it as a "delicately reflective paint crafted specifically to highlight the beauty of the CX-60 through contrasting light and shadow." Marketing jargon aside, it should also pay dividends as far as keeping the interior cooler.
Gallery: 2023 Mazda CX-60 spy photos
Reflective paints – especially if they're light colors – can reflect about 60 percent of sunlight, according to researchers from Berkeley Lab's Environmental Energy Technologies Division. If less heat enters the cabin, the air conditioning will need less power and time to cool the interior, consequently resulting in fewer emissions.
Paint aside, the Mazda CX-60 will be sold in Europe with a PHEV setup producing more than 300 horsepower. The solid output is the result of combining a 2.5-liter gasoline engine with an electric motor. It's unclear at this point whether the SUV will be available on the Old Continent in non-electrified form. We do know the platform has been engineered to accept larger inline-six gasoline and diesel engines, along with four-cylinder mild-hybrid and PHEV configurations.
After the CX-60's debut on March 8, the CX-70 will follow and the two will be eventually joined by three-row CX-80 (Europe) and CX-90 (US) models, all on the same new platform. Meanwhile, Mazda recently expanded its SUV family by launching the US-only CX-50 based on the existing FWD architecture as a more spacious CX-5.
