There have long been rumblings of Mazda introducing a new breed of engines that would succeed the philosophical first step established with their current SkyActiv range of motors, using cylinder compression high enough to ignite petrol without the need for a spark plug.
We thought Mazda was on the verge of unravelling their new creation last year in what we suspected would be an all-new Mazda6, but that prediction did not come to bear. Instead, Motoring now reports that it will power an all-new fourth-generation Mazda3.
The engine, potentially revolutionary as it is, is said to have its reveal booked for the HCCI tech forum later in August. The car in which it will find its first home, however, will only be unveiled at this year’s Tokyo Motor Show in October - at least in its early prototype or concept form.
As you’d imagine, Mazda would want their new series of engines (SkyActiv II) to permeate across as many models in their existing line-up as possible, bringing potentially substantial improvements to power and torque outputs while, thanks to the more efficient/complete combustion, produces reduced emissions and requiring less fuel and maintenance.
The new Mazda3, despite featuring all the usual improvement areas expected of a major iteration, won’t be developed on a new platform as it was previously suspected. Rather, it will be constructed using an evolution of the SkyActiv-Body technology and architecture that was first introduced with the Mazda CX-5 and is currently used for the Mazda3 (BM).
The Japanese automaker was likely considering bringing an all-new Mazda6 to market to coincide with the new engines, but opted instead to accelerate the development of the Mazda3 given its position as the company’s top seller globally.
Given this pattern, it’s likely that the all-new Mazda6 and a future fifth-generation Mazda2 will heavily based on their predecessors under the skin, sporting evolutionary improvements throughout. Mazda obviously feels their current platform(s) have a lot more left to give, and given their impressive balance of light weight, torsional rigidity, durability, and dynamics, it’s not hard to see why.
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