All-Wheel Drive Variants Of The Next-Gen Mazda3 and Mazda6

The Mazda3 and Mazda6 will strongly compete in their respective segments. However, they are missing AWD.

During the latest interview Mazda’s North American operations CEO told that they has not provided all-wheel drive on the 3 or 6 because of packaging issues with the cars. The higher-end 6 sedan would benefit from AWD. It was also mentioned that all-wheel drive cannot be combined with the 2.5-litre turbo engine added to the car for the next model year.

The CEO considers that they are not able to combine FWD and the 2.5-litre turbo. There is a layout issue with the sedans that does not allow deploying a 4-wheel drive on the Mazda2 and Mazda6. Because of the huge demand, 80-90% of the premium sedans are marketed with AWD.

DWD is a premium queue for American customers, so the CEO asked their R&D department to consider the possibility of FWD capability accommodation in future.