The current generation Mazda 6 has been around since 2012, but as sedan sales slow and Mazda looks to focus on crossovers instead, the Japanese automaker will end production at its domestic factory this April. But maybe it has a second life with some form of electric power, a recent trademark and logo application suggests.
As AutoGuide reported, Mazda has filed for the “6e” name and logo in the European Union, suggesting that the aging four-door sedan might return as an electron-guzzling sedan instead.
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Mazda's slow approach to EVs
Like most Japanese automakers, Mazda has been long skeptical of full battery-powered EVs. It only has one in its global lineup but is said to be planning more in the coming years. Whether Mazda can catch up to rivals from Korea, Europe, the U.S. and China is a crucial question.
The applications for both the model name and the logo were submitted to the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) yesterday, and the entity is yet to award the company the rights to what it applied for, but if everything goes according to plan, the applications should be granted in the coming months.
As per the EUIPO, the "6e" trademark refers to "Automobiles and their parts; electric cars and their parts." As for the logo, you can see it in the image at the top of this article, where it sits next to the soon-to-be-retired 6 sedan. And the "electric cars" part gives us hope it could be a pure EV and not a member of Mazda's growing portfolio of hybrids (though that would hardly be a bad thing either.)
Mazda currently doesn’t offer any all-electric cars in the United States after it pulled the plug on the MX-30 BEV last year following disappointing sales numbers of less than 1,000 units in three years. Granted, the MX-30 was only available in California, but its measly range of just 100 miles made it a hard sell for any dealer.
The MX-30 is still on sale in Europe, including as a plug-in hybrid range-extender EV that uses an 830cc single-rotor Wankel engine to recharge the battery while on the move.
The new nomenclature suggested by the trademark filing is different from what Mazda uses right now, but easier to understand, in this writer’s humble opinion. However, if a battery-powered Mazda6 will ever become a reality is anyone’s guess.
When the company announced the end of production at its Japanese factory earlier this year, the press release wording was rather bleak and suggested that the CX lineup of crossovers would fill the gap left by the 6’s retirement. Furthermore, Mazda ruled out a next-gen rear-wheel drive 6 sedan in 2022, which is not great news for people who love sedans.
But how many sedan lovers are there, anyway? Seeing how everybody seems to love crossovers and SUVs nowadays, would you buy a battery-powered Mazda mid-size sedan? Let us know in the comments.
