Mazda says it has no plans to offer a seven-seater SUV based on the new BT-50 bakkie and targeting the likes of the Toyota Fortuner and Ford Everest.

As a reminder, the new BT-50 uses the underpinnings of the latest Isuzu D-Max, with the latter firm having developed (and now building) Mazda’s fresh-faced bakkie.

While Isuzu seems likely to reveal its new MU-X in the fairly near future, Mazda says it won’t follow suit.

“This deal is for BT-50 and to supply a [bakkie], and that’s where it begins and ends,” said Alastair Doak, Mazda Australia’s marketing director, according to CarExpert.com.au. “Obviously there’s a wider collaboration with Isuzu in Japan, but for us it’s just for BT-50.”

"We are not taking anything from MU-X,” Doak added, according to CarsGuide.com.au.

Late in September 2020, patent images previewing the design of the next-generation MU-X emerged online, giving us an early look at the new D-Max-based seven-seater SUV.

The next MU-X is expected to borrow the new D-Max’s ladder-frame underpinnings and is also in line to inherit the bakkie’s uprated 3,0-litre turbodiesel engine. In the D-Max, this powerplant generates 140 kW at 3 600 r/min and 450 N.m between 1 600 and 2 600 r/min.

Original article from Car