Mazda to unveil new BT-50 pickup in Australia


Mazda is set to take the wraps off of an all-new compact pickup next month at the Sydney Motor Show in Australia.
Although the automaker has only released a single teaser image of the new truck, it appears to offer a much more rakish shape than the automaker's current B-Series crew cab trucks (the international-market B-Series is unrelated to North America's Ford Ranger-based B-Series).
The BT-50 is not expected to deviate much from the dimensions of the current truck, which offers both regular, extended and crew-cab variants with a variety of bed lengths depending on market. The global B-Series competes against the likes of Toyota's HiLux pickup in a primarily commercial and agricultural market.
Mazda says that the BT-50 will be offered in both Australia and Europe, although the automaker will almost certainly offer the truck in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Africa and South and Central America.

It will eschew its Ford Ranger underpinnings for an Isuzu platform.

With good reason, you might not necessarily associate Mazda with pickup trucks, but the Zoom-Zoom company has been making utes since 1930 when the three-wheeler Mazda-go was launched. Several little trucks with a three-wheel setup followed, with the Type-CA four-wheel truck launched in 1950. Mazda has set up a dedicated page for its centenary that goes through all of the models launched in the last 100 years, and some will be surprised to find a plethora of trucks.

Fast forward to 2006, it’s when the first-generation BT-50 was launched using the underpinnings of the Ford Ranger. Five years later, the second-gen truck arrived, and now Mazda is getting ready to introduce its third iteration of the workhorse. Teased ahead of a June 17 premiere, the all-new BT-50 will eschew the Ford hardware to ride on the same platform as the new Isuzu D-Max.

It’s expected to use a four-cylinder 3.0-liter turbodiesel engine with 188 horsepower (140 kilowatts) and 450 Newton-meters (332 pound-feet) of torque sent to the road via six-speed manual transmission or an automatic with the same number of gears. There could also be a lesser 1.9-liter diesel with 148 hp and 350 Nm (258 lb-ft) also inherited from the Isuzu D-Max pictured below.

While the underpinnings will be carried over from Isuzu, the BT-50 is expected to get a different look in line with Mazda’s design language. It remains to be seen whether there are plans for multiple body styles to echo the D-Max, which is offered as a four-door extended cab, two-door single cab, and four-door double cab, along with a choice of rear- or four-wheel drive.

After lingering for quite some time in the market, Mazda finally gives the BT-50 pickup truck a full revamp for its third generation. Revealed via a live stream event hosted by Mazda Australia, the Japanese ute joins the pickup truck fray that's starting to heat up across the globe.

As expected, the 2021 Mazda BT-50 carries the marque's proprietary Kodo design language, which makes the all-new truck resemble its crossover sibling, the Mazda CX-9. Combining utility and luxury in a sultry-looking package, the BT-50 is initially available in dual-cab body style for its global reveal.

Probably the biggest revision with the BT-50 is with its underpinnings as it now sits atop an Isuzu platform, specifically the Isuzu D-Max that it's based on. As such, it drops the previous Ford engine for a new four-cylinder 3.0-liter turbodiesel engine with 188 horsepower (140 kilowatts) and 450 Newton-meters (332 pound-feet).

Power is sent to the wheels via a six-speed manual or automatic transmissions, available in both 4x4 and 4x2 flavors. A less powerful and smaller engine is expected to be added to the engine options for lower trims before it goes on sale in Australia towards the end of this year.

Apart from its underpinnings and engine, the 2021 Mazda BT-50 also shares its 9.0-inch touchscreen infotainment and climate controls with the new Isuzu D-Max that was launched in Thailand last year. The whole cabin design, however, is pure Mazda, so expect the same finesse in design execution in this utilitarian pickup truck.

Mazda hasn't announced the pricing for the 2021 BT-50, as well as its availability in other markets, but it is said that it will be built alongside the D-Max in Thailand. See the press release below for more details about the third-generation Mazda BT-50.