The picture from Mazda for Kiwis leaves potential buyers in the dark – not so the one for North America.

THE DIFFERENCES are night and day – that’s plainly the case with Mazda’s share of another sneak preview of a design element of the impending CX-90 large sports utility, set to fully revealed next month.

Having first revealed a look at the left side front wing, Hiroshima has now taken its spy camera to the car’s rear end to share a view of the tail-light design – but with a twist.

What’s interesting this time is that different markets get a different ‘first look’.

The one sent out for New Zealand is an after-dark image (at top), giving little away save for the tail-light’s illumination pattern. For North America, on the other hand, the similar angle shot (second down) also revealed today is in daylight, so lending a much better look at not just the metalwork – but also a new badge. It’s presumed the cars are the same in both markets.

As reported recently, CX-90 is a new nameplate for a large and premium family cruise liner that could well sit above its largest current offer, the CX-9 people carrier, with more room and more zoom-zoom. 

Talk of it running a new turbocharged six-pot petrol has been rife, but that’ll be at flagship level.

The US market image clearly shows so much more, notable that ‘eSkyActivPHEV’ badge. Which confirms that other editions will achieve the naturally-aspirated 2.5-litre plug-in hybrid four-cylinder mill shared with the smaller, but similar silhouetted CX-60, also due to be on sale in NZ next year, probably in the second half.

CX-90 should be the first Mazda to use the new turbocharged 3.0-litre inline-six, expected to be augmented by a 48-volt hybrid system, to support a desire to move even more toward the premium end of the market.

As said, no-one should be surprised if the six-pot places above the dearest edition of the three-row CX-9 NZ has known, the $72,090 Takami.

As for the PHEV? We know that this mill in the CX-60 application produces 244kW and 500Nm, the engine contributing up to 143kW and the 100kW electric motor provisioning the rest. The electric that can produce 250Nm of torque from a standstill. Mazda has suggested 0-100kmh in just 5.8 seconds.

The electric motor draws power from a 17.8kWh lithium-ion battery mounted in the floor of the car within the wheelbase. Mazda quotes an electric range of up to 63 kilometres in CX-60, depending on specification.

CX-90’s status as a NZ range citizen was confirmed last month by Mazda NZ but it has not shared when the car will get here.

The United States is a key market and media there are speculating CX-90 will be the make’s new range-topper, and so have more luxury features than its current crop of SUV models does. They also believe all-wheel-drive will be standard.

CX-90’s architecture is expected to also spawn a two-row SUV, the CX-70, which could be for North America only. Just like the CX-50 is.

 Meantime, CX-90 is also expected to be the first model demonstrating a proprietary painting technology, Takuminuri, used to develop a new special colour, Artisan Red Premium.