Future Cars - Automobile Reviews of Mazda's Hot Cars and Concept Cars

Mazda Canada - Hot Cars will bring diesel to Canada in 2012 with Sky-D and Sky-G technology

Posted on September 21, 2010 by admin

The new location for Mazda's Future Cars is ust North of Germany’s vibrant capital city, inside what use to be a key piece of the East German propaganda machine, we are huddled inside a large sound stage. Mazda needs the space because with us is the entire research and development staff for hybrid technology at Mazda Motor Corp. Well, not exactly all of them, but the room is stuffed with Mazda engineers, Future Cars product planners and Mazda executive types. They outnumber the journalists at least five to one, so it seems certain that something big is about to happen with the latest Mazda Concept Cars, that we’re about to be told a hugely important story.

Now back in the days when devoted, fanatical, committed Communist Erich Honecker ran East Germany with an intolerant fist (1971-1989), this sound stage was part of a larger television and movie studio complex whose primary role was to do Goebbels-like work in support of the former German Democratic Republic, not to promote the next hybrid, so to speak.

I, of course, am wondering if the Mazda automobile reviews people see the irony in bringing a handful of journalists to a former propaganda factory to tell us details about what can only be described as the reinvented and reinvigorated Mazda? The Mazda Concept Cars produced in the future will continue to build on the Sky-D and Sky-G program through Mazda. This is on my mind as the conversation turns to the Sky-D and Sky-G program at Mazda – as in “the sky is the limit.”

Are Future Cars, Hot Cars?

Mazda officials say they picked Berlin for the briefing and test drive for a short list of compelling reasons to launch their hybrid technology. Berlin is a city fast turning into the most vibrant urban center on the Continent. Most Mazda concept cars types see Berlin as a kind of metaphor for Mazda – the car company now freed (since 2008) of Ford’s influence is now turning into the most vibrant mainstream car maker in the world. That’s the idea, at least, Sky-G and Sky-D technologies will only help continue to catapult the next stage of hybrids through the Mazda concept cars web of influence.

Also, the nearby autobahn allows us to test drive Mazda prototypes at high speeds without risking jail time. Then there is Mazda’s important and influential European R&D center in Germany. As one Mazda executive says, “The speed of evolution is faster here in Europe than in other markets, so we keep in close touch with R&D here.”

Mazda's Future Cars, then, are moving fast, but not into electric vehicles (EVs) and gasoline-electric hybrids.

While producing Mazda Concept Cars we have found that in a nutshell, Mazda’s top product development brains tell us that spending a lot of money on developing EVs is a silly waste of money. These are not hot cars! No ne actually comes out and says those exact words, but R&D head Seita Kanai bluntly states that he does not think the number of electric vehicles on the roads worldwide in 2030 will be much different than in 2020. And in 2020, EVs will account for a sliver of global sales – a few percentage points of market share. This is not enough to steer Mazda to create the next concept cars with the EV technology.

Hybrids, gasoline electric hybrids? Kanai’s boss, Mazda president and CEO Takashi Yamanouchi, had this to say about hybrids at last spring’s New York Auto Show: “Hybrids are costly and although sales are stronger in the U.S. and Japan, globally they are not so successful. Of the 60 million vehicles built a year, just one per cent are hybrids.”

That’s not to say Mazda does not have an EV and hybrid program in place. It does. Kind of. In March, Toyota and Mazda announced a deal in which Toyota will supply hybrid technology under license to Mazda. Yamanouchi at the time said the first objective is to provide the technology in vehicles for the hybrid-hungry Japanese market. In the longer term, Yamanouchi said, Mazda hybrids could reach the North America, but gave no timetable. This still has the Mazda Concept cars backing but is skeptical because of the lack of timetable.

As Kanai says in Berlin, “We have a plan to introduce (hybrid technology) gradually, starting from simple devices. The more complex a device is, the more costly it becomes.”

Constrained by its size and the limitations of its resources, Mazda is continuing the vast majority of its R&D effort into refining good, old internal combustion engines (ICEs). That’s where real-world gains can be made in future cars, effective ones that are affordable and make total sense to the everyday customers Mazda courts.

The day-long briefing and test drive in Berlin is all about how, why and when Mazda will launch its new Sky family of gasoline and diesel engines. The first Sky-G (for gasoline) engines will come to Canada and the United States in 2011. In 2012, a completely new model will not only introduce the full power train developments, but also chassis and body advances designed to strip out weight to further improve fuel economy and lower emissions. Automobile Reviews say that Mazda won’t say which vehicles will get the Sky power trains first, but the entire lineup will be Sky-ing by the 2014 or 2015 model year.

By cutting weight and improving power train efficiency, by adding stop-start technology and even regenerative braking, Kanai and colleagues plan to improve Mazda’s fleet-wide fuel efficiency by 30 per cent above 2008 levels by 2015. Also, Mazda will keep refining the internal-combustion engine, pushing for additional gains in future cars.

The diesel story is the best part of it all for future cars. The Sky-D engine will come to Mazda Canada and the U.S. in 2012, boasting the same level of fuel economy as mild hybrids, but at considerably less cost. Hybrids are surely coming, but first Mazda wants new engines and ever-lighter concept cars to be the focus of a smart and economical “green” push. Since the Sky-D and Sky-G design by Mazda. Eventually, and with Toyota’s help, Mazda will introduce some sort of hybrid power train. Then EVs on the future cars Mazda has in mind.

“We will be ready,” said Yamanouchi in New York. “We have electric vehicle research under way at the moment – and remember Mazda launched its first EV 40 years ago.”

Automobile Reviews say it’s the new Sky-G and Sky-D engines that have everyone at Mazda so excited. Automobile Reviews also believe that they think the super-refined, highly advanced internal combustion Sky-G and Sky-D engines will give Mazda a clear edge over all its rivals – from Toyota to Honda to even BMW.

We know this: the first Mazda diesel coming to North America will be a mid-sized vehicle. Yamanouchi, the CEO, has said that, though he has not said whether it would be the redesigned Mazda6 or a crossover SUV such as the CX-9.

Robert Davis, Mazda’s North American R&D expert, says Mazda’s proprietary catalyst system does not require systems to meet emissions standards. The 2.2-liter Sky-D is expected to boost fuel economy by 20 per cent, while increasing horsepower and torque by some 50 per cent. The direct-injection 2.0 Sky-G, will initially boost fuel economy by 15 per cent. It will be the core gasoline power train in future cars for Mazda.

“Out technology is not about jumping directly to electric vehicles,” said Kanai, adding, “We believe technology should be affordable for all customers.” So the Sky-D and Sky-G design will continue to move forward with the Mazda concept cars to eventually offer an additional 'hybrid' design.

Courtesy of theglobeandmail.com