Mazda may be better known for making stylish crossovers and one particularly tiny little roadster, but the Japanese automaker still builds a truck. And despite the pickup segment becoming increasingly crowded, Mazda has confirmed that it plans to make another one. The next-generation BT-50 is coming, with the company’s Australian managing director, Vinesh Bhindi, confirming there’s a future for the workhorse.

Asked whether Mazda needs a BT-50 in today's increasingly fragmented truck market, Bhindi responded in an interview with CarsGuide with a simple "yes." When asked if that means a new one is coming, he again said "yes."

The current BT-50 arrived in 2020 and is essentially an Isuzu D-Max underneath its Zoom-Zoom styling, a departure from the Ford Ranger underpinnings of its predecessor. Mazda has already confirmed that it doesn't develop trucks entirely on its own, so the most obvious route for the next-generation model would be to continue its partnership with Isuzu.

That would make a next-generation BT-50 closely related to the next D-Max, which is expected to arrive around the same timeframe. The current partnership therefore looks like the path of least resistance, although Mazda hasn't officially announced the technical details yet.

Mazda's chief designer Eiji Kimoto isn't saying much about the new truck either. He designed the current BT-50 and is also working on its replacement. " That's about as close to a teaser as we're getting for now.

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