A 120-mile range and a £28k price tag. Is the MX-30 produced just to meet a quota?

Does the MX-30 have an identity crisis on its hands? Who is this car suitable for, if anyone and why was it made? These are things we can’t help but wonder when trying to understand Mazda’s recently released EV.

With an incredibly lacklustre range of just 124-miles and a rather shocking price tag of around £28,000, who is the made MX-30 for? Sure, it looks pretty enough and the interior is rather plush but in many other ways, the car just doesn’t make much sense. Despite verging into the territory of a family SUV at 4.4-metres long, it looks deceptively small and with its sloping roof and long bonnet could be mistaken for an extra-large coupe.

Furthermore, the car has rear suicide doors that can only be opened if the other door next to it is opened first. This means that potentially, the driver would have to exit and walk around the car to open the rear door on the passenger side. Sure, suicide doors are cool, even when they are at the detriment to function, just not on a Mazda SUV. If it was a Rolls Royce, it may be a forgivable offence.

So, why would Mazda release such a car in an increasingly competitive market with cars like the ID.3, Nissan Leaf and Mini Electric? The answer could possibly have something to do with CO2 quotas.

For example, European Union emissions standards require that an automaker’s fleet average must be below 95g CO2/km. If these standards are not met, fines could be dished out to punish the offending manufacturer. This is all part of a move towards a more enivronmentally-firendly way of motoring and reducing our pollution on a large scale.

With the MX-30 being Mazda’s first EV, it may have been the case that this car was rushed and the battery technology was not developed enough to offer a range better than a mere 124 miles. Now, with a car in its fleet that emits 0g of C02, Mazda’s average emissions would have been significantly reduced, thus potentially saving them from a hefty fine from the EU and other regulatory bodies in other parts of the world.

This is not an entirely new concept and has been seen before with other name brands. Aston Martin, for instance, released their most bizarre car as an attempt to bring down average emissions. The Cygnet was essentially a reskinned Toyota IQ and unlike the brand’s other ferocious sports cars, the Cygnet produced just 87hp and emitted 116g CO2/km.

Although the MX-30 is a little more subtle and doesn’t stand out from the rest of their portfolio anywhere near as much as the Cygnet did for Aston Martin, it’s easy to see how the MX-30 can be seen as a car made to meet a quota rather than a car made for a particular target consumer.

Are there other examples of cars that make you think ‘why was this put into production?’ – let us know in the comments!

If you enjoyed this, you may also like: ‘Aston Martin Bulldog: Weird Car of The Month

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