Mazda to go SkyActive

Jun 13 2011

It seems the engineers over at Mazda have experienced a dramatic shift in their philosophy.  They call this new way of thinking SkyActiv.  It means they will always try to retain the brand’s well known Zoom-Zoom fun factor, but they will also strive to make their cars more environmentally friendly.

Every new Mazda that will be built from now on will incorporate the SkyActiv principles of being more fuel efficient without having to resort to expensive and heavy hybrid or electric technologies.

They plan to achieve this by significantly reducing the weight of their cars and by using advanced engine technology that will deliver both more fuel efficient and more powerful cars.  In this way they hope to combat the perception that all “green” cars are uninspiring and dull.

Motoring journalists recently had the opportunity to put four new Mazdas through their paces on a private track in Mallorca.  The majority of them agreed that Mazda has indeed created cars that offered both an engaging driving experience and improved fuel economy.

What does this mean in real life?  If we take the example of a current 2-litre Mazda 6 TS: it has fuel economy of 40.9 mpg and CO2 emission levels of 159g/km.  The same car built with SkyActiv technology would result in fuel economy of about 48mpg and CO2 emission levels of 135g/km – an overall improvement of around 15%.

Looking at Mazda’s diesel models, the current 2.2-litre TS achieves 54.3 mpg with CO2 levels of 138 g/km.  Using SkyActiv technology, this will be improved to 65mpg and 110g/km.

Author - Louise Hutchinson
 

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