  We generalize the idea of the axion to an extended electroweak gauge symmetry
setup. We propose a minimal axion extension of the Singer-Valle-Schechter (SVS)
theory, in which the standard model fits in $\mathrm{SU(3)_L\otimes U(1)_X}$,
the number of families results from anomaly cancellation, and the Peccei-Quinn
(PQ) solution to the strong-CP problem is implemented. Neutrino masses arise
from a type-I Dirac seesaw mechanism, suppressed by the ratio of SVS and PQ
scales, suggesting the existence of new physics at a moderate SVS scale. Novel
features include an enhanced axion coupling to photons when compared to the
DFSZ axion, as well as flavour-changing axion couplings to quarks.
