Words: Richard Edwards
Published 25 August 2026
The Mazda 6e has been awarded a five-star ANCAP safety rating as the electric sedan launches in New Zealand this week.
The rating, published against 2025 test protocols and valid to December 2031, applies to all variants. In New Zealand that means the single high-specification grade Mazda has chosen for this market, priced at $58,990.
The 6e scored 93% for adult occupant protection and 93% for child occupant protection, against five-star thresholds of 80% in both categories. Vulnerable road user protection was rated at 74% and safety assist at 79%, against thresholds of 60% and 70% respectively.
Standard safety equipment includes dual frontal, side chest and side head airbags plus a centre airbag between the front seats, autonomous emergency braking covering car-to-car, vulnerable road user, junction, backover and head-on scenarios, emergency lane keeping, and speed sign recognition.
The 6e is built in China by the Changan Mazda joint venture. Testing was carried out under ANCAP’s partnership with Euro NCAP, and the rating applies to all 6e variants sold in Australia and New Zealand.
The rating lands as the 6e launches here this week, completing a story that began with the sub-$60k pricing leak in May.
