Mazda Will Unveil New EV Prototype At Tokyo Motor Show

Mazda will unveil an all-electric vehicle at next month’s Tokyo Motor Show, Auto News reports.

According to Mazda spokesman Yoshikazu Nagai, a number of electric prototypes will be on hand at the auto show and available for test drives. Interestingly, the prototypes will use the skin of the CX-30 compact crossover but feature the new EV architecture underneath.

Nonetheless, Nagai confirmed that the vehicle will be a “brand new model” and not simply an electrified CX-30, even if the powers-that-be at Hamamatsu have yet to disclose what shape the actual vehicle will take.

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It is reported that the prototypes present at the Tokyo Motor Show will feature a 35.5 kWh battery pack and a single electric motor that’s good for 142 HP and 195 lb-ft (264 Nm) of torque. There’s no word yet on what kind of range drivers can expect, but the small size of the battery leads us to believe that it will probably sit somewhere between 100 miles (161 km) and 150 miles (241 km), roughly on par with the new Mini Cooper SE.

Auto News reports that the new EV will be sold in both all-electric and range-extender guise. The former will target markets such as Japan, Europe and China, while the latter will be aimed at America, where customers usually demand greater range from their electrified vehicles. Plus, this could be the one to feature the new rotary engine which Mazda has been developing over the past few years to act as a range-extender.

All of the engineering work that has gone into the new Mazda EV, that’s rumored to launch next year, is said to have been done internally, meaning it is separate from the development work the automaker is doing alongside Toyota, Subaru and Suzuki as part of their electric vehicle consortium.