Mazda Takeri will become new 6

The all-new Mazda 6, due to go on sale in January 2013, will be extremely close to the Takeri concept car shown at the Tokyo motor show.

Sources at the highest level have revealed to What Car? that apart from some minor details such as door handles and mirrors the new 6 will look almost identical to the striking Takeri concept car. The new 6 will be the second car to use the companys Kodo design language, following the new CX-5 SUV.

It will eventually be available in three bodystyles: hatch, saloon and estate, and like all future Mazdas will use Skyactiv technology. This new tech is designed to reduce fuel consumption and emissions, by using lightweight construction and high-tech diesel and petrol engines. It will include a stop-start system and a new brake-energy regeneration system called i-Eloop, which claims to improve fuel efficiency by up to 10%.

In future, cars such as the new 6 will also employ more electrification, Mazdas research and development boss, Hirotaka Kanazawa, told us. A plug-in hybrid version is likely within five years and such technology will also be used on the CX-5.

He also revealed that the company is considering using range-extender technology, similar to that fitted to the new Vauxhall Ampera, where a petrol engine powers a battery when the charge runs out. The engine used for this could even be a new version of Mazdas rotary engine, last seen in the RX-8. Rotaries are good for range extenders because they are compact, light and powerful he said.

However, despite being on the brink of putting an all-electric Mazda 2 on sale in Japan, the company has no plans to sell it elsewhere or produce bigger all-electric cars.