Mazda sold 1,358 CX-70 crossovers in the United States in October, up 295.9% from 343 a year earlier, and the model is on its way out anyway. Mazda decided last month to drop the CX-70 and offer a two-row version of the CX-90 for 2027, folding two near-identical nameplates into one. The jump in October says more about a collapsed comparison month than about a surge in demand.
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The 2026 CX-70 can still be ordered on Mazda’s website, and Autoblog expects its run to end once the two-row CX-90 reaches dealers. Mazda has given no arrival date. The odd timing, a model posting its biggest percentage gain of any Mazda in October while being retired, is the story behind the 296% figure.
October’s 1,358 CX-70 sales against a very weak base
Autoblog’s sales report puts October at 1,358 CX-70 units against 343 in October 2025, and says no other Mazda model had a bigger year-over-year jump. September had risen 96.7%. The base explains the size of the percentage: Mazda’s October 2025 sales release, republished from PR Newswire, shows the CX-70 selling 343 vehicles that month, down 86.4% from 2,517 in October 2024, in a month when total Mazda sales fell 32.6% to 25,161.
Year to date, the picture is less flattering. Autoblog lists 11,044 CX-70 sales through October 2026. The same Mazda release put 2025’s total through October at 12,599, so this year’s pace is about 12% lower despite the month’s spike. The CX-90 outsells the CX-70 by almost 30,000 units for the year, and Autoblog calls selling both a flawed strategy that only confused buyers.
Why the two models merge is simple to see from the spec sheet. Autoblog describes the CX-70 as a two-row midsize SUV and the CX-90 as a three-row one, nearly identical in size, design and powertrains, with seating as the only tangible difference. The Truth About Cars counted fewer than 14,000 CX-70 deliveries in all of 2025, a thin return for a separate nameplate with its own marketing budget.
Mazda’s October totals and the CX-90’s 4,620
The CX-70’s gain sat inside a strong month for the brand. Mazda sold 31,446 vehicles in the U.S., up 25% and the second-best October in company history, according to Autoblog’s tally. The CX-90 rose 114.6% to 4,620, the CX-5 gained 7.9% to 9,689, the Mazda 3 climbed 145.4% to 3,534, and the MX-5 Miata added 26% to 634. The CX-50 slipped 1.2% to 8,249 and the CX-30 eased 0.8% to 3,362. The non-hybrid CX-90 had its best October yet.
The comparison is again against a depressed month. Mazda’s October 2025 release shows the CX-90 selling 2,153, down 58.9% from 5,236 a year before, and the CX-50 at 8,351. The 2026 figures in this paragraph come from Autoblog’s reading of the monthly release.
A two-row CX-90 replaces the CX-70 for 2027
Autoblog’s report on the decision, dated October 27, lists the two-row CX-90 trims: the 3.3 Turbo Premium Sport at $46,880 and the 3.3 Turbo S Premium Sport at $53,540, against $48,080 and $54,740 for three-row versions. Each two-row price sits $100 above the 2026 CX-70 counterpart, though the equipment is not an exact match. The CX-70 itself offers a 3.3-liter turbocharged inline-six making 280 or 340 horsepower and a 2.5-liter plug-in hybrid making 323.
The rest of the 2027 CX-90 range gets more expensive. Autoblog lists the 3.3 Turbo Select at $39,700, the Preferred at $43,850, the Premium Plus at $50,670 and the Turbo S Premium Plus at $57,970, each up $400, while plug-in hybrid trims are unchanged and the destination charge holds at $1,645. Every 2027 CX-90 also gets a revised rear suspension crossmember and bushings plus a wider color palette. Autoevolution put the 2026 base prices at $39,300 for the CX-90 and $42,750 for the CX-70, a price ordering that, in its view, gave shoppers little reason to pick the smaller-seating model.
The Truth About Cars’ account of the end of the CX-70 adds that Mazda is dropping the CX-70 after two U.S. model years, that no two-row plug-in hybrid is planned for 2027, and that the CX-90 is built in Japan and faces a 15% U.S. tariff. The leak came a week earlier: autoevolution’s October 21 piece cited a Driving.ca report and said CX-70 and CX-90 sales through September were 9,686 and 34,999 units.
The decision follows a larger reset. Autoblog’s earlier report quotes Mazda President and CEO Masahiro Moro, speaking to Chugoku Shimbun, describing SUV changes on a scale unprecedented to date. Chief Financial Officer Jeff Guyton said improving American sales matters because the U.S. accounts for more than half of Mazda’s Large Platform sales. Mazda’s fiscal-year SUV target was reportedly 200,000 units, and the actual figure was 150,637.
Whether the merged lineup lifts the combined total is the open question. Mazda has not given a changeover date, and no executive has been quoted on October’s CX-70 numbers, so the 1,358 sales will probably be the model’s last strong month.
This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.
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