Electrified Mazda BT-50 confirmed, but customers will determine if launched before 2030
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Every single model in Mazda’s showroom – including the BT-50 ute – will be electric or have hybrid assistance by 2030.
Mazda has confirmed its entire Australian line-up – including the BT-50 dual-cab ute – will have some form of electrification by 2030.
However, for the time being, the brand says electrification in the ute segment is in its infancy and doesn't expect to offer a hybrid or electric Mazda BT-50 until the market demands one.
That position puts it at odds with the Federal Government's incoming New Vehicle Emissions Standard (NVES), which will set CO2 targets that car makers must hit or face fines.
At present, the current-gen, high-spec Mazda BT-50 SP, with a combined-cycle CO2 output of 207g/km, sneaks in under the 210g/km 'type 2' category limit for light commercial vehicles for 2025. However, unchanged, the model will fall afoul of the NVES after 2026.
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Mazda Australia managing director Vinesh Bhindi told Drive the brand will meet the market on electrified utility vehicles, but it'll be driven by demand, not by legislation.
"By 2030, the [entire] Mazda portfolio will be electrified in some form, and that includes [utes]. But, especially in the ute segment, it’s early days," Mr Bhindi told Drive.
"From our point of view, when we talk to customers in the showroom… there are some basics that they need to tick off."
"It’s got to be fit for purpose, it’s got to have that towing capability, it’s got to have payload capacity, it’s got to represent a compelling value proposition."
"If you don’t have those foundations, then design and all the rest of it doesn’t really matter."
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"So I think this segment will evolve. It’s not as mature as say, what we see in the SUV and passenger cars, when it comes to electrified technologies.
"But in terms of the ute, I think we are at a very early stage, and as time moves on, if the market says those technologies are important, critical, and is accelerating, well we’ll explore our options there."
The hybrid ute market is indeed in its infancy, but is ramping up with the upcoming BYD Shark 6, JAC T9 plug-in hybrid (PHEV), and a plug-in hybrid version of Australia’s best-selling car for 2023, the Ford Ranger.
Mazda's 2030 goal of having a complete showroom full of hybrid or electric vehicles is at least half a decade in the future.
When pressed on what that means for Mazda and the NVES in the meantime, Mr Bhindi suggested Australian EV uptake may still not achieve significant adoption to warrant a hybrid ute beforehand.
"I just don’t know whether even by 2030 there will be a significant acceleration," said Mr Bhindi.
"I do understand that the government has done a model in which they haven’t released, apart from saying they have got an ambition by 2030 that a percentage would be battery EV. But which other market around the globe has been able to achieve that?
“But if we do, I can tell you Mazda in Australia, we will have battery EVs, we’ll have hybrids, we'll have more plug-in hybrids, we’ll have mild hybrids, and at the same time offer [internal-combustion engines]," said Mr Bhindi.
"We’ll meet the market. That’s our plan. It’s the customer who decides, not legislation."
The post Electrified Mazda BT-50 confirmed, but customers will determine if launched before 2030 appeared first on Drive.
