Mazda 6e: A Little Bit Chinese, But Fully Electric

If you've ever sat in the old Mazda6 and thought to yourself, "Well, this is the Japanese answer to bread – reliable, plain, and monumentally unexciting," then brace yourself. The new Mazda 6e has arrived. And it’s electric. And, yes – it’s partially Chinese.

Despite what the badge says, the Mazda 6e is no ordinary Mazda. It’s a Changan-Mazda hybrid – not the kind with two drivetrains, but the kind where Mazda’s engineers sketched the exterior, and Changan did… well, literally everything else. Which sounds about as reassuring as saying you decorated the cake and your cat baked it.
And yet – surprise! – it actually seems to work.

In Germany, it starts at €44,900, making it cheaper than a Volkswagen ID.7 but more than a Tesla Model 3. But here’s the kicker: even the base version comes fully loaded. And not “sort of loaded” like a cup holder and one speaker. We’re talking a 14-speaker Sony audio system, panoramic roof, a 14.6-inch touchscreen, adaptive cruise control, head-up display, and an entire battalion of active safety assistants that track your every move like surveillance cameras in Tallinn’s Old Town.

And that’s just the start. The base car comes with a 69 kWh LFP battery, 258 horsepower, and a 479 km range. Honestly, even a real horse would give up before that. If that doesn't impress you, there’s also an 80 kWh NCM version, offering 552 km of range, albeit with slightly fewer horses (245). Still, very much a grand tourer – just one that hums instead of roars.

So while Volkswagen is still holding long meetings wondering why their cars feel like high-tech refrigerators, and Tesla is desperately trying to convince us that a rear-wheel-drive Model 3 with cloth seats is somehow premium, the Mazda 6e is sitting in the corner, nibbling lamb fillet from a Nappa leather seat and calmly declaring, "Gentlemen, I’ve arrived. And I’m ready."

This, then, is a new chapter in motoring: a Chinese-built car that isn’t ashamed of itself.