A breakthrough into entirely new territory: a utility that gives total flexibility combined with the looks, style and comfort of a premium passenger car. Work, leisure and family time- they're all exactly what the new BT-50 is engineered for.

Exterior Design

The styling of the current BT-50 is characterized by neat, modern lines; it's a well-balanced, functional look for a utility. With the all-new model, Mazda pursued a more dynamic shape that would more clearly express the Zoom-Zoom brand DNA.

The designers created a new exterior design from scratch. The bold, original design theme, which was finalized by the designers after exhaustive consideration, and the new styling, which is based on revolutionary proportions that are blended with great functionality reflect the athleticism that's common to Mazda passenger cars.

Consequently the design stirs a desire to experience the Zoom-Zoom driving enjoyment that's unique to Mazda. Key to this are a powerful-looking front-end design that inherits elements of the Mazda family face; a side design that represents a revolution in utility architecture; and a rear-end design that clearly differentiates the new BT-50 from other utility and makes it immediately recognizable as a Mazda.

Front-end design At the front of the all-new Mazda BT-50, the designers sought to create a strong, confident-looking facial expression that would inspire pride and pleasure of ownership; and they avoided the boxiness that tends to characterize the front-end designs of pickups, instead pursuing a contoured, sporty design like that of a passenger car.

To emphasize the five-point grille that's a major feature of the Mazda family face, the designers made the five-point shape bigger by evolving the design such that the headlamps meet a chrome-plated bar that runs along the top of the bumper.

The front face looks concomitantly bigger and stronger. Also, the designers took advantage of an increased overall width and an overfenderless design to position the headlamps closer to the sides, thereby creating a look of dependable stability.

The headlamps units have a boomerang-theme, passenger-car-like design. With large main reflectors that give some of the best illumination in the class, they combine an exquisite shape with great functionality.

The front bumper has a thick, heavy look, with pillar-like forms that give an impression of being firmly planted on the ground; it forms a visually strong base for the five-point face. It also meets the conflicting functional needs for class-topping pedestrian protection, an ample approach angle, and superior cooling performance and aerodynamics.

Side design

With the side design, the designers made a break from traditional utility roportions by creating revolutionary architecture.

The new BT-50 is more than 200mm longer than the current model; it's at the top of the class in terms of overall length. The designers took advantage of its length to create a more pronounced wedge-shape profile than is possible with conventional utilities, thereby evoking a lion driving itself forward with a release of pent-up strength.

When the body is seen from the side, its look of solidity communicates sportiness and gives a sense that the vehicle has a sturdy, dependable structure with great cargo-carrying capability.

The designers increased the wheelbase even more than they increased the overall length; the wheelbase is the longest in the class at 3,220mm. As a result, the volume and position of the cab look even better balanced.

With the Dual Cab model, the dividing line between the cab and cargo box does not interfere with the rear wheel arches; the resulting appearance is neater and more attractive. The front fenders reflect an evolution of the Prominent Fender designs seen on many Mazda passenger cars. Called Dynamic Prominent Fenders, their contours continue in strong body-side feature lines toward the rear of the vehicle resulting in a more three-dimensional, sturdy-looking form.

Rear-end design

Partly since the rear end of the all-new BT-50 will be seen for long periods by people in following vehicles, the designers focused on creating a highly distinctive appearance. Noting that all competing models had vertically aligned rear combination lamps, the designers created the category's first horizontally aligned rear lamp housings and positioned them such that they straddle the dividing lines between the side panels of the cargo box and the tailgate.

The rear lamp housings are designed to give a sense of speed and motion thanks to a sporty design like that of the rear lamps on Mazda passenger cars, and they have clear outer lenses and red inner lenses for a fresh, high-quality look.

The sporty design theme that's common to Mazda vehicles and the bold, chrome-bar-look lamp design combine to give a luxurious, sophisticated look like that of a high-grade sport utility vehicle. Whereas conventional pickups are hard to tell apart from a distance, the new BT-50 is immediately recognizable as a Mazda thanks partly to its rear-end design.

The parts of the rear lamp housings on the tailgate are simply design elements; they do not contain bulbs. Consequently, driving the new BT-50 with the tailgate open to accommodate long items of cargo does not involve any rear-lamp-related functional or legal problems. Also, the middle of the tailgate protrudes further rearward than the sides and forms the rearmost part of the vehicle. If the vehicle is accidentally reversed into a loading platform or other obstacle, the parts of the rear lamp housings on the tailgate are not likely to get damaged.

Whereas pickup tailgates are typically flat, a character line that forms a continuation of the lines of the Dynamic Prominent Fenders runs across the all-new BT-50's tailgate, giving it a contoured look and extra strength.

Wheel designs

The 17-inch aluminium wheels featured on XTR and GT models are newly designed and have a multi-spoke design for lightness and rigidity. The spokes are split into a "V" formation toward the rim. The "V" formations combine big-looking curves with solid-looking, flat surfaces that widen toward the rim, so they not only communicate power and motion but also embody the kind of craftsmanship that befits a high-grade vehicle.

As for steel wheels, a new 16-inch, centre-mini-cap type with a stronger-looking design has been created.

Cargo-box design

Since utilities are expected to have good cargo-carrying capability, the side walls and tailgates of their cargo boxes tend to have flat exterior surfaces and look accordingly thin. With the new BT-50, by contrast, the side walls and tailgate of the cargo box have double-wall cross sections and contoured outer panels, which create an extremely strong, chiselled look without compromising cargo capacity.

Interior Design

With the all-new Mazda BT-50's interior design, the designers responded to customers' comments by striving to create a refined, sporty cabin that has an even more passenger-car-like look and feel than the exterior and forms a personal space for users.

Rather than using the design methodology behind existing utility cabins, they created completely new architecture and used it to realize a cockpit design that's consistent with Mazda's next-generation design language. They pursued high quality in every detail of the cabin.

The most notable characteristic of the interior design is the thinking behind the design of the space. The designers adopted a structure that smoothly connects the central portion of the instrument panel with the floor console, thereby asymmetrically dividing the left- and right-hand sides of the front-seat environment into a wraparound cockpit for the driver and a comfortable space for a passenger.

This structure is unprecedented among utilities. It gives the driver an emotionally appealing driving environment like that in a passenger car. On XTR and GT models the unique spatial composition of the cabin is highlighted by four silver-metallic decorative mouldings (one on each door and one on each side of the floor console).

The mouldings on the driver's side form a moderately tight bracket around the driver's area, and their lines converge toward the meter hood in a way that creates a sporty look and feel. The silver-metallic moulding on the passenger's side of the centre console meets a line that runs upward and sideways across the central portion of the instrument panel, and the silver-metallic moulding on the passenger's door curves gently toward the top of the instrument panel; together they create a dynamic sense of openness.

Instrument panel

The driver's side of the instrument panel looks sporty as it's centred on a compact meter hood and is deeply contoured around the meters. The centre stack runs seamlessly into the floor console such that the visual motion continues toward the back of the cabin.

There's a Multi-Function Display (MFD) at the top of the centre stack. It gives easy to read indications of audio information, the time, and vehicle-related information. There's a circular jog pad lower in the centre stack. It's flanked by functional, attractive audio control panels that are shaped like open wings.

The left-hand audio control panel has mode buttons. The right-hand audio control panel has buttons arranged like a numeric keypad for intuitive operation.

The climate control unit is below the audio control panels. It has three large, easy-to-use dials in a horizontal line. In XTR and GT models with dual-zone climate control air conditioning the dials have built-in temperature displays so users can check and adjust the temperatures more quickly and easily.

Meters

The meters have a new design in which the bezels of the speedometer and tachometer are linked in the middle of the meter hood. Compared with a typical design in which the speedometer and tachometer are separate, the new design makes the meter dials brighter and easier to see and has a fresher appearance.

The ends of the cylinders facing the driver are sharply inclined for a sportier look and feel. The meters have white backlighting and highly legible graphics. A trip computer is positioned in the centre of the meter cluster. It gives indications including the average fuel consumption, instantaneous fuel consumption, distance to empty, and average speed. Compared with the current tripmeter, it's illuminated in a more orange-like colour for a sportier look and greater legibility.

Steering wheel

The steering wheel has a sporty three-spoke design like that of steering wheels in Mazda passenger cars, but its centre spoke is thicker as an expression of strength. The rim has a simple, ergonomically optimal cross-sectional shape. The switches on the steering wheel are shaped for intuitive operation.

The steering wheel on XTR and GT models is covered with leather.

Shift knob

The shift knob is positioned higher than that of a conventional utility. A relatively short distance from the steering wheel allows sportier driving since the driver can reach the shift knob with shorter movements. The shift knob has an ergonomically optimal shape for ease of use.

Interior trim

There are three available seat trims dependant on grade. The range-topping GT model comes with sporty but functional perforated leather. XTR models feature sport cloth while XT models feature standard cloth.