Mazda, yet to jump on the EV or hybrid bandwagon, is at least taking steps to revamp their vehicles for the sake of the environment. And they also make promises to begin production on hybrids and electric vehicles, but not until 2015.
Yes, the brand that has you singing “zoom-zoom” after their ads air, is planning to focus on a more cost-effective venture for now, focusing on fuel efficiency and weight reduction in all of its vehicles with the goal to increase fuel efficiency 30 percent by 2015.
According to Mazda CEO Takashi Yamanouchi, “Our new gasoline engines will achieve the same fuel economy as current diesel engines, and our diesel engines will achieve similar fuel economy as existing hybrids.”
Mazda hopes that with these changes, they can offer eco-friendly vehicles that are more accessible to the mass market. Along with weight reduction to their fleet, Mazda plans to add improved aerodynamics and low rolling-resistance tires to their vehicles.
April 13th, 2009 at 2:15 pm
yeah right! you need to have a world economic crisis to make these giants to improve their products.
April 13th, 2009 at 3:53 pm
I feel the same way as the lad above. Shoulden’t have to take a world economic crisis for these guys to step-up there game.
April 13th, 2009 at 5:29 pm
My 2007 Mazda3 gets great mileage as it is. Sounds like their on the right track, even if they’re not dancing to the Lame hybird tune yet.
April 13th, 2009 at 6:48 pm
Mazda makes crappy cars engineered by ford for far too long…
they get fair gas mileage and arent horrible to drive either to the average lady, but real drivers can see and feel the difference quality engineering makes.
There is still no vehicle on earth as envirofriendly as a good quality toyota turbo diesel running on vegetable oil conversion…
theyre worth 2 or 3 million kms when well maintained, no lemons… and lower emissions overall than a hybrid with their horrid short life batteries and ridiculous engineering costs and disposal impact.
April 13th, 2009 at 10:31 pm
Want great mileage without gas – visit wwww.tesla.com & if you want to know why todays cars are not up to scratch rent or buy the DVD ‘Who Killed The Electric Car’. The technology has been there for many years – short sightedness & greed & ineptness & corruption & special interest groups have ensured the internal combustion engine’s survival, period.
April 14th, 2009 at 8:44 am
To adrian and Dj: Demand for ultra fuel-efficient vehicles hasn’t been that great up until gas went north of $1/L last year. You can’t fault the automakers for not making cars that nobody really wanted to buy up until then.
There’s far worse offenders on the fuel economy front than Mazda. A single Hemi-powered 4×4 Crew Cab Dodge Ram could easily burn 2 – 3 times the amount of gas to go the same distance as a Mazda 3 in every day driving. They’ll both carry the same number of passengers. Yet, even though the Ram is supposedly a “work” vehicle, there’s many a mom doing nothing more than driving the kids to soccer practice with their truck, and will never put anything larger than a sports bag on back.
Perhaps the problem isn’t with the automakers, but with their customers?
April 14th, 2009 at 1:57 pm
Though I’m a supporter of electric vehicles, I think that the gasoline engine has plenty of potential left in it to be more fuel efficient. It may possibly even be as efficient as a Prius, but of course, that all depends on your driving. If most of your driving is on the highway then yes, gasoline engine can match the Prius. But if it’s city driving, then no. Prius doesn’t burn any gas at all when in slow-moving rush hour traffic, whereas gasoline engine will be burning gas idling.
I think the largest factor in fuel efficiency now is weight. Cars shouldn’t weigh so much. I think that in order for Mazda to achieve that 30% improvement, they will start to minimize weight in their cars now. That, and their engines will probably be light as well (less force needed per a power stroke to push the pistons). I just hope Mazda doesn’t go the underpowered route and start making cars with very low power. Keep the power, but improve the fuel efficiency.
April 24th, 2009 at 3:52 pm
hey allen, of course i am blaming the automakers… these companies need to “import” their own vehicles from overseas. The jeep patriot suv/wagon in Australia has a nice diesel that gets 50mpg. much better than the 30 or so here in north america(over here you would find it only for the most expensive version).
you have to live outside north america to open your eyes. don’t tell me that there would not be a demand for a suv that has beter mileage and power than a gas powered ones.