Mazda 6 to live on in Australia after death in Japan

Mazda will keep the lights on in the Japanese factory which builds the slow-selling Mazda 6 sedan and wagon for Australia, even after production ends for Japanese showrooms in April 2024.

The car maker has confirmed reports the Mazda 6 will be dropped from the line-up in Japan amid declining sales, to focus on more popular and more profitable CX-badged Mazda SUVs.

Mazda has advised the production line in Japan will continue to run for markets such as Australia – as well as a factory in Vietnam that builds the Mazda 6 for buyers there.

The list of markets that continue to sell the Mazda 6 is becoming increasingly short, as it was dropped in the US in 2021, and in the UK and China in 2023.

"We will continue to build Mazda 6 in Japan for Australia and some other markets. This also remains unchanged for its local assembly in Vietnam," a Mazda Australia spokesperson told Drive.

Reports of an all-new Mazda 6 – with six-cylinder engines and rear-wheel-drive underpinnings from the CX-60 and CX-90 SUVs – are becoming increasingly unlikely to come to fruition.

Sales of the Mazda 6 in Australia tallied 1528 examples last year, up from 1511 vehicles in 2022 – but down from 3647 in 2017, 6558 in 2012, and about 12,700 cars in 2003, its first year on sale.

In Japan, more than 226,000 Mazda 6s – branded as the Atenza until 2019 – have been sold since 2002.

"The Atenza/Mazda 6 has been well received by many customers over the years, with a total of 226,437 units [to the end of December 2023] sold in Japan," Mazda Japan sales boss, Kazuyoshi Todo, said in a media statement translated from Japanese.

"The Mazda 3 sedan and CX series wagon will take over the role of the Atenza/Mazda 6, and we will continue to deliver a lively experience to our customers through driving pleasure that is in tune with the times."

The current Mazda 6 is 12 years old, launched in 2012 and updated regularly throughout its life – including a heavy facelift in 2018 which added turbo-petrol power, and various specification updates in the years since.