Mazda 6 Reborn As The Rear-Wheel Drive, Electric EZ-6

Photo: Mazda

The Mazda 6 is dead and has been for years. Don’t worry, though, it’s back, and this time around, it’s rear-wheel drive, which officially makes it the best Mazda 6 ever. Sorry, Mazdaspeed 6. Along with rising from the dead, it also has a new name — the Mazda EZ-6. Oh, and did we mention it’s electric?

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OK, so among enthusiasts, an electric car probably won’t be considered the best Mazda 6 ever made, but the good news is, if you’re not ready to go all-electric, Mazda plans to offer a plug-in hybrid version, too. The press release didn’t give many details on the plug-in hybrid EZ-6, so it’s not clear if it has a rotary range extender like the Mazda MX-30 e-Skyactiv R-EV or if it’s a more traditional gas engine.

Either way, it doesn’t really matter if you live in the U.S. since the EZ-6 appears to only be planned for sale in China as part of Mazda’s partnership with Chongqing Changan, which officially makes it forbidden fruit.

Photo: Mazda

According to Mazda, the electric EZ-6 has a perfect 50:50 weight distribution, although it doesn’t say anything about how the engine on the plug-in hybrid changes things. It’s also about two inches longer than the old Mazda 6, coming in at 193.7 inches.

Mazda says the electric version should have about 373 miles of range, which sounds impressive until you realize that’s using China’s CLTC rules, which are even more generous than the already-generous WLTP rules in Europe. If it was tested by the EPA, we wouldn’t be surprised to see the EZ-6’s official range in the U.S. come in under the 300-mile mark. Meanwhile, Mazda says that if you opt for the plug-in hybrid, you should be able to drive more than 600 miles on a single tank.

While we won’t get the EZ-6 in the U.S., Mazda says customers in China should expect production to begin by the end of the year.