There will be no death toll for Mazda’s diesel dreams, at least not yet. Last week, Mazda Motor Corporation CEO Masamichi Kogai told Automotive News that the company is still working on entering the U.S. diesel market. (This happened at the unveiling of the revamped Mazda 3 sedan and hatchback in Japan.)
Is Mazda’s dream of a U.S. diesel engine more than a pipe dream?
According to CarAndDriver.com, Mazda’s CEO said there’s an internal timeline for introducing to diesel engine to the United States, but he would like to see the tech enter the American market during his time at the company.
Mazda has been trying to get its diesel engine certified for the U.S. market for a while now. In fact, the 2.2-liter powerplant was supposed to come here not long after the release of the current-generation Mazda 6 as a 2014 model. Did that happen? Nope. Mazda wasn’t able to meet U.S. emission standards AND maintain adequate performance at the same time.
Kogai told AN, “Environmental performance must be compatible with driving dynamics.”
Mazda isn’t just working on diesel these days, though. The company is also tinkering with its next generation of Skyactiv gasoline engines. Skyactiv 2 engines are anticipated to be 30% more efficient than the previous generation. But these gains in efficiency are probably making it more difficult for Mazda’s engineers to come up with a U.S. emissions-approved diesel engine that’s also impressively fuel-efficient. What a conundrum!
The good news is that it looks like Mazda has been able to lock down its comfort technology without much of a hitch:
New features are being added to #Mazda models for added comfort! https://t.co/rIWOofBWuIpic.twitter.com/RAfKP6nFVj
— Rosen Mazda (@rosenmazda) July 27, 2016
(H/T CarAndDriver.com.)
