Just who is the 2023 Mazda CX-60 for? Mazda shares who is buying its first truly premium SUV, and who it would like to join the club in the future as it predicts strong supply

The Mazda CX-60 is the first car in a new chapter for Mazda as a brand. No longer content with playing around the edges of the luxury market, the popular-in-Australia Japanese juggernaut has fully committed to the premium act.

This brings with it higher prices (between $59,800 and $87,252 before on-roads), as well as a new rear-biased platform and all-new engines, but who is it for? Are consumers really ready to pay Lexus NX or Genesis GV70 dollars for a Mazda?

Speaking to CarsGuide at the launch of the CX-60, Mazda Australia boss Vinesh Bhindi said the CX-60 was largely for those ready to step up from something like a CX-5, and initial demand indicated as much.

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"The strategy behind how we positioned the CX-60 is that it would sit above CX-5. What we found in our customer research is as customers go through their lifecycle, their earnings improve and they want to reward themselves with something better," he said.

"When they reached the top of the CX-5 range, and there was no need for a three-row SUV like the CX-8 or CX-9, that's where CX-60 comes in - it's for our customers who might be looking for the next step."

When queried on earlier comments on the brand hoping for a 50 per cent split of new buyers to current customers, Bhindi explained that would come later as cars become available for test drives.

"Our focus has been contacting existing customers through our database. That's the most obvious audience to talk to, and we've definitely pulled in some new buyers too," he said.

No longer content with playing around the edges of the luxury market, the popular-in-Australia Japanese juggernaut has fully committed to the premium act. (image: Tom White)

"That 50 per cent number was from expressions of interest, a lot of those prospects are waiting for test drive, so I think the initial orders will mostly be from [existing] Mazda buyers."

Bhindi alluded to the fact that the brand had seen interest from those who might come out of a Lexus or BMW, for example.

And which one of the CX-60's three all-new engines will be the most popular? The petrol 3.3-litre straight-six (209kW/450Nm), according to a presentation seen at the launch, but not by a huge margin, with the diesel inline-six (187kW/550Nm) making up 35 per cent of the expected sales mix, and the 2.5-litre four-cylinder plug-in hybrid (241kW/500Nm combined) making up a further 20 per cent, leaving petrol with a narrow lead of 45 per cent.

CX-60 program lead Kohei Shibata explained the brand was seeing a return to diesel in Japan, Europe and elsewhere.

"Things are shifting toward electrification, but when it comes to long range driving, there's definitely a benefit to driving a diesel," he said.

Are consumers really ready to pay Lexus NX or Genesis GV70 dollars for a Mazda? (image: Tom White)

Will the CX-60 be hit by long wait times which many popular mid-size SUVs have been plagued with? Apparently not, according to Bhindi, who said: "Supply shouldn't be a major issue for us."

"Delivery time won't be that long, a matter of weeks instead of months," he said.

This rings true for much of Mazda's range, with the CX-9, CX-8, CX-5, and BT-50 maintaining "plentiful" stock, as Mazda continues to buck the industry trend - though the CX-9 large SUV will be discontinued this year.

The brand has confirmed it will expand its range in Australia with the CX-80 and CX-90 large three-row SUVs both based on the same large rear architecture which underpins the CX-60, both of which will commit further to Mazda's new and more ambitious price point.