Mazda Releases First CX-5 Photos

Mazda is the self-proclaimed "Zoom-Zoom" brand.  Silly tagline, sure, but there's some weight behind that: they've stuck behind stuff like the MX-5 for more than 20 years now, and they're still the only company in the world that bothers to develop and build Wankel rotary engines, which aren't really good for anything but having fun.

No brand exists on 2-seat sports car sales alone (although they do sell a lot of MX-5's), so Mazda has to make mainstream models that normal people will buy to keep the lights on.  They still manage to inject some of that Mazda "fun to drive" into them, though.  In the mid-sized CUV market, you can buy a Honda CR-V, which is a perfectly nice car - but the asthmatic thrum of it's 2.4L 180 horsepower engine will slowly bore you to death.  Or, you could buy a Mazda CX-7 Turbo.  Which has a mildly detuned 2.3 DISI under the hood, the same direct-injected, turbocharged torque monster that makes the front wheels of the MazdaSpeed3 hot hatch spin so freely.

Most buyers don't want a mid-size SUV that sucks down premium gas at a pretty rapid rate, but there are some, and Mazda builds cars for them.  All the cars they build are a little more fun that the big sellers in their respective segments.  One that's always stood out as a sore thumb, though, was the Mazda Tribute.

Not a bad vehicle, really.  But there's not much to recommend a badge-engineered clone of the Ford Escape.  The Tribute is gone now, and Mazda showed pictures of it's replacement - the CX-5, ahead of it's official debut at Frankfurt this year.  The most noticeable thing is how not-boring looking this new compact SUV is; it's the first production implementation of what Mazda calls it's "Kodo design language," previewed by the Shinari and Minagi concept cars.  The wide front stance, fluidic sculpting on the sides, and the gently sloping roofline make it a lot more interesting looking than previous Mazda SUV's.

Mazda has until recently been a ways behind in fuel economy, but their new SKYACTIV engine families (gas and diesel) promise low consumption and emissions with high efficiency and performance.  The CX-5 will be available with a 2.0L SKYACTIV-G gas engine, and a 2.2L SKYACTIV-D diesel engine.  Both sport 14.0:1 compression ratios (quite high for a gas engine!) and will be available in either standard or high-output trims.  As yet, there's still no word how much power and torque will be available with these.  The interior photo clearly shows an automatic transmission of some sort, but a manual transmission option is likely as well.  Mazda says the 2.2L diesel will produce less than 120g/CO2 per km, which should be good for those that pay taxes based on emissions.

Other than the handful of pictures and these details, that's all we've got so far.  the CX-5 makes it's full debut on September 13 at the Frankfurt show.