It has been reported that the facelifted Mazda6 will be headed to Malaysian shores very soon - as early as March or April this year.

Like the current car, the refreshed version of the D-segment model is slated to arrive in Malaysia, first in fully-assembled form, from Japan.

The often-reported, locally-assembled model, also facelifted, is apparently still on the cards and set to reach showrooms later this year.

Unveiled at Los Angeles last year, the new 6 gets a new front fascia, featuring revised LED projector headlights with Mazda 2-like daytime running lights, a more pronounced chrome wing, horizontal slats in the grille and new fog-light surrounds with chrome accents. The rear end has also been updated with new LED tail lights.

There are bigger changes inside, with a completely re-designed dashboard, new instrument cluster, cleaner switchgear layout, free-standing touchscreen hooked up to an MZD Connect infotainment system, an electronic parking brake as well as a new, off-white colour scheme option.

A Drive Selection switch has been added to the six-speed SKYACTIV-Drive automatic transmission, including a more responsive Sport mode and noise levels at cruising speeds have dropped by as much as 25%. The 2-litre and 2.5-litre SKYACTIV-G direct-injected, petrol four-pots remain un-changed.

Safety-wise, the i-ActivSense feature list has been expanded to include adaptive headlights, Lane-keep Assist System (LAS) on top of the existing Lane Departure Warning system and Driver Alert. The existing Smart City Brake Support (SCBS) and Pre-crash Throttle Control (PTC) now include rear obstacle and vehicle detection while Blind Spot Monitoring (BSM) has been updated with Rear Cross Traffic Alert (RCTA).