It’s been years since Mazda sold a truck of any kind in the US, but the automaker would need support to bring one back.
Mazda once sold a pickup truck in the U.S., but you’d have to go back about 15 years to find it. Even then, it wasn’t entirely Mazda’s own—it was essentially a Ford Ranger with Mazda badges and a unique grille. That model, the Mazda B-Series, disappeared in 2009, just a couple of years before the compact Ranger was dropped from the U.S. lineup.
Now, with Mazda gaining traction in the North American market, the idea of a new truck is back on the table. In a recent interview with Car and Driver, Mazda CEO Masahiro Moro hinted at the possibility—but made it clear it wouldn’t be simple. For one thing, Mazda currently doesn’t have a truck platform of its own.
“We could work with other OEMs to get it,” Moro said. “Our industry coverage is only 50 percent because we don’t have a pickup truck. It’s a good time to think about our future portfolio.”
That comment may reveal more than it seems. Mazda already partners with another OEM—Isuzu—for the BT-50 pickup, a mid-size truck based on the Isuzu D-Max. Built in Thailand, the BT-50 is sold in select markets like Australia and is offered in single, extended, and double-cab configurations, with both two- and four-wheel-drive options. The current generation launched in 2020.
Still, the BT-50 isn’t exactly compact, and since the Isuzu D-Max isn’t sold in the U.S., Mazda would need to do far more than rebadge it to make it work stateside.
Interestingly, Moro also brought up the rotary engine—long rumored to return beyond its role as an EV range extender. While many expect it to power a future sports car, the idea of a rotary-powered compact pickup is intriguing. That would echo the early days of the B-Series in the ’60s and ’70s, when Mazda’s truck served as the base for a Ford-badged model.
For now, nothing is confirmed. But Moro’s comments—and the popularity of compact pickups like the Ford Maverick—suggest Mazda might be seriously thinking about getting back into the truck game.
