F
ew landscapes in the UK, and arguably Europe, can rival the formidable terrain found on the Isle of Skye. Sandwiched between mainland Scotland and the Outer Hebrides, Skye and the surrounding highlands can be reached with relative ease from Inverness, which is a leisurely twohour drive to the west. With sound reasoning, Skye was deemed an ideal location for Mazda to launch the first of their sixth generation of vehicles - the CX-5 crossover SUV. Starting at £21,395, at first glance the CX-5 seems to be a lot of car for the money, although the top-spec 2.2 AWD CX-5 will set you back a not inconsiderable £28,395. This just about brings the CX-5 into the firing line of the lower ranks of the considerably more desirable Range Rover Evoque range. This launch was about much more than a new competitor in an already crowded (but growing) market segment, however. The CX-5 is the first Mazda to house not only the Japanese maker’s new, efficient SkyActiv technology but it also exhibits Design Chief Ikuo Maeda’s vision for Mazda’s future design language: KODO. With the tag line ‘Soul of Motion’, KODO derives its character from theMinagi concept car seen at the 2011 Geneva Motor Show. Incidentally, Minagi was the last Mazda overseen by Laurens van den Acker, recently appointed vice-president of corporate design at Renault. In recent times, the trend has been for the Japanese and far-eastern manufacturers to invest heavily in hybrid technology. It was, after all, pioneered on a production scale by Toyota when they launched the first Prius in 1997, which seems a very long time ago now. Western companies, on the other hand, have traditionally taken a more conservative stance in regard to their drivetrains, preferring clean, efficient diesels that are cheaper to build and maintain buyer confidence. VAG have been hugely successful using this formula, and this is perhaps the reason why companies like PSA Peugeot Citroën have been forced to bring hybrid vehicles to market earlier than they perhaps would have liked, in an effort to compete.