The Mazda CX-4 will make its debut at the Beijing Motor Show in April, after the Japanese manufacturer issued its first teaser for the car and revealed that it would be on its stand at the event.
The CX-4 is a coupe SUV that's designed to be a more style-focused stablemate to the successful CX-5. It sits on that car's chassis and underpinnings, but will feature a more rakish rear roofline that is likely to compromise the amount of headroom available for back-seat passengers. Despite this, there is some speculation that CX-4 could feature a third row of pop-up seating allowing two children to sit beyond five adults.
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The new model was previewed by a concept called Koeru that was shown at last autumn's Frankfurt Motor Show. Mazda has recent history of keeping the styling of its production models pretty close to that of the show cars, and the CX-4 looks like continuing that trend. The single teaser shows that it retains the distinctive crease in the C-pillar that featured on the Koeru.
Expect the CX-4 to be pitched closer to the CX-5 than to the CX-3, and to feature front- or four-wheel drive, and a mix of engines made up from Mazda's SkyActiv range. They should include 2.2-litre diesels of various states of tune, although it is conceivable that Mazda could use this model to introduce more potent versions of the smaller 1.5-litre diesel that we've already seen in the CX-3 and 3. The CX-4 is also some way off; we wouldn't expect sales to start until the first half of 2017.
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