The Nissan Murano can be said to be the very first crossover – combining the practicality of the SUV with the sportiness of a coupe. This is Mazda’s offensive at the new North American automobile market’s thirst for crossover SUVs, the Mazda CX-7.
The Mazda CX-7 began as a concept called the Mazda Crossport Concept back in 2005. The sporty crossover SUV obviously takes it’s styling cues from the Mazda RX8. I can testify whatever made the RX8 look so hot still looks delicious in a SUV form factor.
The 5-seater crossover SUV features a turbocharged 2.3 litre 4-cylinder direct injection engine making 244 horsepower. Three trim levels are available – Sport, Touring and Grand Touring. All trim levels come with the turbocharged engine, 6-speed sportshift transmission, 18 inch alloy wheels, vented disc brakes on all 4 wheels, ABS, Dynamid Stability Control, traction control, and 6 air bags.
Mazda Motor Corporation held a ceremony yesterday to mark the start of the Mazda CX-7′s production at Mazda’s Ujina Plant 2 in Hiroshima. Approximately 700 staff attended this event. Targetted at the North American market and specifically engineered for it, the Mazda CX-7 will arrive in North American Mazda dealerships in Spring 2006. We should be seeing grey imports by Naza soon after.
But one cannot help but wonder if Mazda’s offensive is too late, as even Nissan is cutting down it’s truck and SUV production in the face of a sales slump in the USA. Maybe that’s why the ‘crossover’ formula has been adopted here.
It’s not an SUV – it’s a crossover! 
Related Posts: Mazda Crossport CX-7
After dabbling for years in the IT industry, Paul Tan initially began this site as a general blog covering various topics of personal interest. With an increasing number of readers paying rapt attention to the motoring stories, one thing led to another and the rest, as they say, is history. An avid electronic gadget aficionado as well as big-time coffee lover, he's also the executive producer of the Driven motoring TV programme.
murano's younger brother? but murano looks meaner. cx-7 reminds me of rx-7, lol
Is it using the same engine as the Mazda 6? From what I've heard, the Murano runs on the X-Trail's engine. Can anyone confirm?
the aircond vent looks el-cheapo…. but sigh… who am i to complaint? wait till we get it here in bolehland first!
The 2.5 Murano likely runs the 2.5 X-Trail engine. The 3.5 Murano runs the Nissan 350Z's engine but with different tuning.
looks nice…an rx8 mpv i would say..wonder how much it would cost us to have one?
Wahlaueh,
what a mean machine… it is equally sexy as RX8… P1, when u can produce one like that… wait….'mang mang tang lah' (cantonese)…
Looks like a stretched up RX-8 lol.
Looks small and practical. More so than the Murano.
I also wonder about the fuel consumption, what with the high price of petrol nowadays. Maybe a diesel option would be wiser?
Anyways, it looks great and I want one.
this CX-7 shared the same platform as Ford & Lincoln new Crossover.
how much it would be??? i will consider one.
It looks great. Got a back view of that car? How much would this cost and will it ever be here?
that's a sleek 'crossover' man.. just what murano needs.. a niche competitor
250k if it ever hit our shores…
i really hope tis car would come in soon n hope the price range is about 180k – 200k it gonna blow off murano n harrier…i juz feel the interior abit too simple…
I like Mazda..hope they will bring in M3 and M5 soon..