The story of the CX-8 is a rather unremarkable one. Mazda once had an MPV, the Mazda8, which was actually marketed with the tagline, “the idea of a sportscar – inherited by a minivan.” It was, in every sense of the word, a mom mobile that that very tagline was delivered by a middle-aged woman in Japan. But as the company shifted its attention to all things KODO and Skyactiv, they found themselves with an opportunity: should they make something pleasing to soccer moms or should they make a three-row SUV? Focused group studies and likely, simpler engineering costs dictated the latter, and thus, the CX-8 was born.
