Mazda to hustle hybrid

MAZDA has accelerated plans to produce its first hybrid vehicle family, but will not be in a position to compete with the cheapest petrol-electric pioneers in Toyota’s Prius and the Honda Insight for at least two years.

The company continues to maintain that greater environmental and societal gains will be made by two all-new direct-injection petrol and diesel engine families that will debut in the next generation of dramatically lighter new Mazda models from 2011.

Mazda says its forthcoming diesel will not only be less expensive to produce than what it calls ‘mild’ hybrids like the Insight and ‘full’ hybrids like the Prius, but will also undercut the price of the company’s relatively new 2.2-litre turbo-diesel – despite virtually matching the fuel-efficiency of the Insight.

At more than 20 per cent more frugal than the engines they will replace, Mazda’s upcoming petrol engines will form the basis for yet more efficient and affordable hybrids to follow from Mazda “in the early period after 2011”.

So said new Mazda Motor Corporation (MMC) president and CEO Takashi Yamanouchi last week during his first official visit to Australia since taking the top job on November 19 last year, when Ford effectively divested its controlling interest in the Japanese maker by reducing its share from 33.4 to just 13 per cent.

The news marks a shift in the product development plan for Mazda, which last June announced it would reduce the fuel consumption of its model range by 30 per cent between 2008 and 2015, primarily via new engines, lighter vehicles, more efficient transmissions and ‘mild hybrid’ technologies including an idle-stop system, which will debut this year in Japan and Europe.

When he visited Australia for the final time as Mazda president in August 2008, Hisakazu Imaki, who is now chairman of the MMC board, told media that Mazda would focus only on conventional technologies to reduce consumption and emissions before 2015.

Speaking in his only media engagement during a lightning visit to Australia last week, when he attended the dealer launch of this week’s new Mazda3, Mr Yamanouchi said Mazda was laying the groundwork to introduce a number of fuel-saving technologies when the global economic downturn improved in two years.

“Our future model cycle plan includes new petrol and diesel engines from 2011,” said Mr Yamanouchi on Friday. “If we develop hybrid using the improved base petrol engine it will provide better (emissions) performance than current hybrids, and perhaps by that time the public acceptance of hybrids will be greater than what we see today.

“Improved base engine technology from 2011 (will bring a) 30 per cent improvement from what we have today at a very low cost. If you add on the idle-stop technology, which we plan to introduce this year, that adds another 10 per cent.

“Down the road we have regenerative braking and other electronic solutions that we’re working on. As a next step we can forsee combining the improved petrol engines together with hybrid technology, which will provide even better performance than the current hybrid vehicles.

“Hybrid (will come from Mazda) in the early period after 2011 – that’s all I can say,” said Mr Yamanouchi following repeated questioning about Mazda’s hybrid model plans.

“Even if we wanted it to I don’t think the industry can change overnight. So the message I’m trying to give is that we are not denying hybrid. It is part of our future vision and we are working to ensure we have the basic technology to enable such technology. The first of these will be completed by 2011.

“The current economic crisis will continue for a year or two, so we are laying the groundwork for when the time comes after the downturn. That’s what we’re steadily trying to go forward with since I took over office as president.

“I’m basically telling my people inside the types of things you’re telling me.”

Global R&D chief Seita Kanai has also poured cold water on the prospect of Mazda joining the hybrid race soon, but at a media event in Tokyo late last month told Automotive News Europe (ANE) that Mazda lacked the finances to develop hybrids to rival those from Toyota or Honda.

The third-generation Prius, due on sale here in July, is expected to all but match the circa-$30,000 Insight on price in Japan, while the second-generation model will continue alongside it at an even lower price.

“We're in real trouble,” said Mr Kanai of rapidly falling hybrid prices. “It's a threat. We don't have the resources to get involved in that kind of competition,” he told ANE, before adding that the future of Mazda’s new I-Stop technology was undecided for the US because of its limited cost-benefit equation in long-distance, high-speed driving environments.

Mr Yamanouchi stressed that a greater number of similarly fuel-efficient but less expensive Mazda models would have a more significant impact on reducing total CO2 emissions than smaller numbers of hybrid models.

“Mazda has improved its fuel economy by 30 per cent since 2001. And we pride ourselves on the fact that Mazda has the highest number of vehicles applicable to the new environmental tax breaks (offered in Japan from April), as a result of the 30 per cent we’ve achieved so far.

“We want to reduce fuel economy between 2008 and 2015 by another 30 per cent because we expect all countries to have more stringent requirements and we want to be sure we can meet that.

From top: Mazda RX8 RE, Mazda2, Toyota Prius, Honda Insight



“Of course we admit they (hybrids) do achieve good fuel economy performance but there are cost issues and in terms of volumes they are still in limited numbers. If you just look at the hybrids that Toyota and Honda are selling, they represent only one or two per cent of all vehicles sold globally.

“We are not denying the current trend, but by 2015 we think there will be more consciousness of the environment and also the cost of such vehicles should come down to have greater number of such vehicles on the road.

“So our strategy is first to achieve a significant improvement and put priority on the base engine, and then subsequently to work on technologies like regenerative braking and hybrids.

“The rationale is that it provides less cost or load both to the customer and society and therefore we can provide environmentally friendly vehicles to a greater number of people,” he said.

Mr Yamanouchi said bench-testing of single-cylinder prototypes of Mazda’s new direct-injection petrol and diesel engines had revealed outstanding fuel economy gains.

He said development testing was almost complete for Mazda's new "combustion technology", which will be produced in a range of engine displacements. At present Mazda offers direct-injection only on its diesel and turbocharged petrol (DISI) engines.

“From 2011 we will come out with improved base engines one after the other. Please look forward to that new technology. Development is nearly completed on that engine.

“The hardware is ready for operation and we are satisfied that it is meeting both the required economy and horsepower and torque – I’m very much looking forward to that myself.

“What we’re focussing on most is combustion technology - direct-injection. If you think about it if you can burn the fuel more efficiently in the first place you can eliminate or reduce our reliance on after-treatment like catalysts.

“We’re doing the research using a single-cylinder model. If you reduce the stroke on that engine it becomes a smaller displacement, high-speed type of engine.

“The base technology will be adaptable and flexible in terms of the number of cylinders and the displacement.

“For a very moderate increase in cost the new (petrol) engine will provide a 20 per cent improvement in economy, for the engine itself.

“The current diesel engine is almost as efficient already, but the new diesel technology we’re developing will be at lower cost than the current diesel and at the same time about 35 per cent more economical.

“Mild hybrid like the Honda Insight and full hybrid like the Toyota Prius are both more expensive, but they do achieve up to 40 per cent better fuel economy. So with our new petrol engines we will have similar economy to current diesels and the new diesels will have fuel economy comparable to hybrid vehicles.”

The new Mazda president said that, as a result, Mazda would contribute a greater CO2 reduction than all hybrids combined.

“Toyota is now selling about 600,000 (hybrids) globally annually and Honda has just come out and its capacity is just 250,000, which is about one or two per cent of the global vehicle volume.

“Assume that in 2015 about 10 per cent of all vehicles sold globally are hybrids, which is six million units. But since these vehicles will have 40 per cent better fuel economy, globally they’ll contribute to a mere four per cent reduction in CO2 output.

“But Mazda’s strategy relates to the remaining 90 per cent, with a fuel economy improvement of 30 per cent. So the amount of CO2 reduction we can achieve is 27 per cent, or seven times greater.

“When hybrids are 20 per cent they will contribute eight per cent and we will contribute 24 per cent (or three times the benefit).

“Our basic policy is to provide all customers with cars that have the joy of driving and environmental performance at affordable prices. This is one of the key points, because it signifies in numbers our strategy,” said Mr Yamanouchi, who added that Mazda’s next-generation direct-injection engine technology would be made available to other car-makers, “of course at an appropriate fee”.

Mr Yamanouchi said the technology that powers Mazda’s Premacy hybrid, Japanese domestic fleet leasing of which began on March 25, would be applicable to plug-in hybrid and even fuel-cell electric vehicles.

He said the Premacy hybrid was 40 per cent more fuel-efficient than the RX-8 Hydrogen RE sportscar, which was first released to Japanese fleets in February 2006 and underwent its first overseas tests in October 2008 in Norway, where hydrogen refuelling infrastructure is well advanced.

“The technology already developed in the Premacy can be applied to various applications including to plug-in hybrids or fuel cell vehicles,” he said. “In the future we will use that technology to gradually migrate into more electric type of vehicles.”

The dual-fuel rotary that powers the RX-8 and the Premacy’s electric motor emits only water when run on hydrogen, but Mr Yamanouchi confirmed that, far from abandoning its trademark rotary engine in the interests of reducing Mazda’s CO2 footprint, the company was developing a new larger-displacement rotary engine for future Mazda sportscars.

“We believe that the rotary engine has unique features to it, (but) we only forsee putting the engine in vehicles that can actively promote its unique features,” he said.

“We are developing a rotary engine with a higher displacement than the current engine that will be more efficient.

“I can’t divulge the specifications but due to the configuration of the combustion chamber we will always need some sort of after-treatment for the rotary engine, like a catalyst.”

The Mazda chief said the company’s new rotary engine would not just serve future sportscars from Mazda, but could also power a range of eco-vehicles should hydrogen infrastructure become more widespread.

“We don’t have grandiose dreams of the rotary replacing all types of engines,” said Mr Yamanouchi. “(But) The rotary engine has the capability to operate with very low-octane fuel, including alcohol, so it is well suited to hydrogen.

“It’s an engine that’s necessary for the type of cars that require that type of engine, (but) if hydrogen infrastructure becomes available quickly, the hydrogen rotary will be the simplest way to capitalise on hydrogen fuel.

“If the availability of hydrogen infrastructure continues we will be very well placed.

We are developing a new rotary engine because it has both the potential to provide performance as well as being eco-friendly,” he said.

Mr Yamanouchi denied suggestions Mazda could be left behind in the race to develop fully electric vehicles (EVs) by the likes of Chinese car-makers, and that vehicles powered exclusively by batteries still faced many hurdles, including environmental and residual value issues associated with battery replacement.

“If you look at what China or by the same token president Obama is saying, basically they have in mind a (EV) timetable after 2020.

“Of course they may go ahead of that but for EV the biggest job-stopper is batteries. Current hybrids too use batteries and the cost of the batteries is the highest cost.

“As you recharge the batteries their performance reduces and when they become used cars you will probably need to replace the batteries, so unless you do that the trade-in price will drop dramatically.

“So I don’t deny that maybe what I’m saying is wrong, but right now the societal cost of such a thing is extremely high. Just putting on a battery to a vehicle will not allow you to sell it,” said Mr Yamanouchi.

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