Mazda Canada found two bright spots in an otherwise difficult September. The CX-70 delivered 510 sales, setting a new September benchmark for the relatively young nameplate, while the MX-5 reached 64 units for its strongest September performance in 11 years. Both results point to pockets of enthusiasm for very different vehicles: one a large electrified two-row SUV and the other a compact two-seat roadster built around driving enjoyment. Yet the wider numbers make the story more complicated. Mazda Canada’s total September volume fell 19.3 per cent from a year earlier, even as the overall Canadian light-vehicle market was estimated to have grown. The result is less a story of a brand-wide surge than one of individual models finding momentum during a challenging year.
A Strong Headline Came During a Difficult Month
Mazda Canada sold 6,454 vehicles in September 2026, down from 7,996 in September 2025. That 19.3 per cent year-over-year decline makes the CX-70 and MX-5 milestones more significant, but it also prevents them from being mistaken for evidence of broad-based growth. Through September, the company reported 56,148 Canadian sales, compared with 64,017 during the same nine months of 2025, leaving year-to-date volume down 12.3 per cent.
The performance was unusually uneven across Mazda’s showroom. The CX-70 and CX-90 both recorded double-digit September gains, while the MX-5 edged higher. At the same time, Mazda3 sales dropped 26.5 per cent and CX-5 volume fell 28.9 per cent from the previous September. The CX-50 contributed no sales at all during the month. For a shopper walking into a Mazda retailer, the showroom might still appear full of choices, but the underlying sales report reveals a company navigating sharply different conditions depending on which model is being considered.
The CX-70’s September Record Has an Important Qualification
Mazda delivered 510 CX-70s in Canada during September, 25 per cent more than the 408 sold a year earlier. It was the model’s best September since its Canadian arrival. The comparison is particularly notable because the CX-70 is still relatively new: Mazda introduced the first model for the 2025 model year and began selling it in spring 2024. During September 2024, its first September on the market, Mazda sold 309 units. The progression has therefore been 309, 408 and now 510 across its first three Septembers.
Calling the result a September record is important because it was not the CX-70’s biggest month ever. July 2026 was stronger, with 622 Canadian deliveries. That distinction does not diminish the September result; it simply describes it accurately. Month-specific records are common in automotive sales reporting because buying patterns can vary significantly throughout the year. For Mazda, the more encouraging signal is that the CX-70 has now established stronger benchmarks across several consecutive summer and early-fall months rather than producing one isolated spike.
The CX-70 Has Been Building Momentum Through the Summer
September continued a pattern that became increasingly visible during the third quarter. Mazda sold 622 CX-70s in July, up 6.5 per cent year over year and a record for that month. August brought another monthly record, with 517 deliveries, 3 per cent above August 2025. September then produced 510 sales and a 25 per cent increase. Across the third quarter as a whole, Mazda says CX-70 volume rose 10.4 per cent compared with the same period last year.
There is still an important counterpoint. Through September, Mazda had sold 4,044 CX-70s in Canada, fractionally below the 4,060 delivered during the first nine months of 2025. That works out to a 0.4 per cent year-to-date decline. In other words, the strong third quarter has largely erased an earlier deficit rather than creating dramatic full-year growth. That may actually make the recent numbers more meaningful. Momentum appears to be improving as the year progresses, providing Mazda with a chance to finish 2026 more strongly than the year-to-date comparison initially suggests.
Mazda Has Broadened the CX-70’s Appeal
The CX-70 occupies an unusual position in Mazda’s Canadian range. It is the company’s largest two-row crossover and shares Mazda’s rear-biased Large Platform strategy with the three-row CX-90. For 2026, Canadian buyers can choose between turbocharged 3.3-litre inline-six mild-hybrid configurations and a plug-in hybrid. The standard-output inline-six produces 280 horsepower, while higher-output versions reach 340 horsepower. The plug-in hybrid is rated at 323 horsepower, and all versions come with all-wheel drive.
Mazda has also adjusted the financial proposition. The conventional mild-hybrid CX-70 starts at a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $49,750 before freight and other charges. In June, Mazda lowered the entry price of the CX-70 PHEV GS-SC to $48,999, bringing an eligible configuration below the $50,000 threshold used for a federal incentive of up to $2,500. Mazda lists up to 51 kilometres of electric driving range for the PHEV. That combination gives Canadian customers several ways into the CX-70 rather than forcing every buyer toward the same powertrain or price point.
The MX-5’s 11-Year Record Goes Back to a Memorable Launch
The MX-5’s September number is much smaller but historically interesting. Mazda sold 64 roadsters during the month, up from 59 in September 2025, an increase of 8.5 per cent. Mazda described it as the MX-5’s strongest September in 11 years. Looking back at the company’s records explains why: September 2015 was a much bigger month, when 108 MX-5s were sold in Canada as the then-new fourth-generation car arrived in showrooms.
That 2015 result represented a 272 per cent jump from September 2014 and was itself Mazda’s best September for the roadster since 2005. The 2026 figure therefore should not be interpreted as an all-time September record. Rather, 64 units represent the best September performance since the excitement surrounding the current-generation MX-5’s original launch. That is still notable for a highly specialized two-seat convertible more than a decade into the same basic generation. Most Canadian buyers need something more practical, which makes sustained interest in such an uncompromising small sports car unusual.
The Roadster Has Had Other Strong Months in 2026
September was not the MX-5’s only noteworthy result this year. In July, Mazda Canada sold 227 units, the model’s best July in 20 years and its second-highest July result since 1991. August cooled to 93 sales, slightly below the 96 recorded one year earlier, before September returned to year-over-year growth. Across the third quarter, MX-5 sales increased 5.2 per cent, while the year-to-date total reached 973 units, 1.8 per cent above the comparable 2025 figure.
There was another factor worth acknowledging. Mazda advertised a $3,000 Event Bonus on eligible new 2026 MX-5 soft-top models purchased or financed or leased and delivered during September. It would be inappropriate to assume that promotion caused the September increase without transaction-level evidence, but an incentive of that size can clearly affect the value equation for a seasonal convertible. For someone contemplating a roadster as summer winds down, several thousand dollars in manufacturer support may make an emotional purchase easier to justify before cooler weather arrives.
The MX-5 Still Offers Something Increasingly Unusual
The MX-5’s persistence is easier to understand when its specifications are considered alongside the market around it. The 2026 Canadian model uses a naturally aspirated 2.0-litre four-cylinder producing 181 horsepower and 151 lb-ft of torque. A six-speed manual transmission remains standard, and the entry-level GS soft top is manual-only. Canadian pricing begins at $35,700 before Mazda’s listed $2,095 freight and pre-delivery expense and applicable taxes and fees.
None of those numbers are designed to win a horsepower competition. The attraction is the formula around them: two seats, rear-wheel drive, comparatively low weight and direct driver involvement. Mazda has repeatedly refined the fourth-generation MX-5 since its 2016-model-year introduction rather than replacing the basic concept. Higher trims can add Bilstein dampers, a limited-slip differential and a track-oriented stability-control setting when equipped with the manual transmission. For buyers who remember when modest power, light weight and a manual gearbox defined an affordable sports car, the MX-5 remains one of the few new vehicles still built around that experience.
CX-90 Growth Strengthens the Case for Mazda’s Larger Vehicles
The CX-70 was not Mazda’s only larger SUV posting growth. September CX-90 sales reached 888 units, up 12 per cent from the 793 delivered in September 2025. Third-quarter volume increased 13.8 per cent, while year-to-date sales reached 7,227 units, an 11.6 per cent improvement. That makes the CX-90 one of Mazda Canada’s clearest areas of sustained expansion in 2026 rather than a model experiencing only an occasional strong month.
Its performance has been building for much of the year. June produced 1,220 CX-90 sales, which Mazda described as a new all-time monthly record, representing a 51.6 per cent increase from June 2025. July then brought 1,147 units and a 37 per cent year-over-year gain. Taken together with the recent CX-70 results, the figures suggest Mazda’s larger-platform vehicles are becoming increasingly important to its Canadian business. These products also allow Mazda to compete at higher price points and with electrified powertrains while retaining conventional gasoline-engine options for buyers not ready to make a fully electric transition.
Mazda Is Still Losing Ground in a Canadian Market That Grew
The broader Canadian market makes Mazda’s September decline harder to overlook. DesRosiers Automotive Consultants estimated that Canadians purchased roughly 168,000 new light vehicles during September 2026, about 3.4 per cent more than in September 2025. Mazda, by contrast, fell 19.3 per cent. The comparison is not perfectly like-for-like—industry estimates and individual manufacturer reporting methodologies can differ—but the direction is clear: September was not simply a weak month across the entire Canadian auto industry.
Some of Mazda’s largest-volume models contributed to the gap. The CX-5 remained the company’s Canadian bestseller, with 2,498 September deliveries, but that was down 28.9 per cent from 3,514 a year earlier. Mazda3 sales fell from 1,417 to 1,041, while CX-30 volume dipped 3.7 per cent to 1,453. There is better news in the longer view: the CX-5 remained up 4.5 per cent year to date and the CX-30 was up 2 per cent. September’s headline records therefore sit within a business experiencing both real strengths and substantial pressure.
The Missing CX-50 Explains a Major Part of the Bigger Picture
One number stands out more than any other in Mazda Canada’s report: zero. Mazda recorded no CX-50 sales in September 2026, compared with 296 a year earlier. Through the first nine months, only 168 CX-50s had been reported, compared with 7,639 during the same period of 2025. This is not simply evidence that Canadian consumers abruptly stopped liking the crossover. Mazda suspended production of CX-50s intended for Canada beginning May 12, 2025, while continuing production at the Mazda Toyota Manufacturing plant in Alabama for the U.S. market.
The decision came amid Canada-U.S. auto tariffs. Canada has maintained a 25 per cent tariff on non-CUSMA-compliant vehicles imported from the United States and on the non-Canadian and non-Mexican content of qualifying U.S.-built vehicles. With CX-50 supply effectively removed from Mazda’s Canadian mix, comparisons with periods when thousands were available become unusually distorted. That helps explain why the CX-70 and CX-90 matter so much now. Their recent growth cannot erase Mazda Canada’s overall decline, but it demonstrates where customers are moving within a lineup reshaped by trade policy, product availability and changing buying priorities.
