Mazda Koeru Concept foreshadows 2017 CX-6 crossover

Mazda had a 5-passenger crossover at one time called the CX-7. It opted to let the model die and focus on the three-row CX-9 and smallish-compact CX-5. Likely a good move by the company that has limited resources. However, the Audi Q5, BMW X3-sized segment is heating up, and Mazda is readying a new entry with just two rows.

We converted the millimeters to inches, and the Mazda Koeru Concept has identical length and width to the Audi Q5, the premium compact crossover segment leader (neck and neck in sales with the slightly smaller Lexus NX200t). This makes sense for Mazda since its compact CX-5 is almost large enough, but not quite, to fit into that segment. If Mazda is going to add a new vehicle after the subcompact CX-3, this is the best segment for it to dive into.

Mazda has not said anything about engines and transmissions yet. Our guess would be a four-cylinder turbo displacing between 1.8-liters and 2.3-liters. No existing U.S. Mazda engine would be a good fit for this vehicle. The transmission will be an automatic with some form of self-shifting. We would not rule out a CVT, but so far Mazda has stuck with geared automatics. One fun off-shoot of this could be a sharing of this new engine with a new MazdaSpeed3.

Don’t be fooled by the images showing the car so low to the ground on twenty-inch wheels. It will be toned-down for the final production version and the name Koeru will be forgotten in place of the CX scheme.