Hot on the heels of the launch of their new 67-horse 1.4-litre diesel Mazda 2 (something about that doesn't sound right), the triple-Zoom meisters have announced their intention to go green. Mazda says they'll spend a good part of the next two years fitting their cars with hybrid engines and stop/start technology (presumably nothing to do with the key or brakes). As What Car? points out, Mazda has already shown its commitment to the environment by building and leasing the Japan-only RX-8 Hydrogen RE, which runs on either high-pressure hydrogen or gas. Does this mean the brand will stray from maximum-bang-for-the-buck? The same What Car? article reveals Mazda engineers' fanatical efforts to reduce the Mazda 2's weight to increase efficiency and (we hope) performance. So there is hope.
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I’ve been fearful of this for a while, absolute brand dilution. Mazda already offers some pretty efficient vehicles, the 3 gets something like 35 mpg highway, but it is the sporting soul that has defined the brand and popularized it.
I can just picture the geniuses at Ford putting this one together…
“Hmm, what is a perfect complement to an affordable performance brand? Daring design? Impressive fit and finish? No, no, I think eco-friendly gas mileage is where it’s at, didn’t you see the focus group results? Maybe we’ll make performance hybrids, like the hot-selling Honda Accord V6 hybrid…”
Brand dilution? Yeah right, it’s simply keeping up with the times. As long as the results from this move still handle like a mazda and don’t cost through the nose then there is no brand dilution.
Think about it, who else is going to make a hybrid that a pistonhead might even consider driving?
Now if they would just bring the 2 over here.
I’d definitely consider a Mazda 6 hybrid, if it used the current system as seen in the Mazda Tribute hybrid (i.e. a Aisan hybrid drive “transmission”).
Please please please make it possible for the rig to tow 1500 pounds instead of “towing not recommended.”
Mazda reliability came out on TOP in a UK study I saw last year – ahead of Toyota and Honda.
Plus Mazda = fun in a way that Honda kind of hints at and Toyota is planning to work at in the future.
Mazda has been pretty successful at pulling off the zoom-zoom thing throughout there range, at least the image is like that. I don’t see why they couldn’t pull this off and have a winner. What’s wrong with new ideas and thinking outside of the box, this might be the car all of us have been waiting for and didn’t even know it, ok that’s a stretch.
I have a slightly related question that might make for an interesting editorial. Why are a lot of brands going to this single number model naming? I don’t have a problem with the number thing just that it becomes confusing when many brands do the same thing. Mazda 2,3,5,6, etc.; BMW 1,3,5,6,7-series; Audi A3,4,6 & S’s; Pontiac’s G-numbers; I know there are more just can’t think. To the average buyer that’s not a pistonhead like the rest of us this has got to be confusing.
67 Horse Mazda 2 is actually a Ford Fester TDCi,so I suppose it had to come. There is a TDCi Mazda6 too.
i have a blown 94 rx-7 -i would love to jam that rotary/hydrogen hybrid in it- i was only getting about 14 mpg with premium, i wonder if they could make a diesel work in a miata?
Technically, it’s not a single-number name. The name of, say, my Mazda 6 is actually “Mazda6”, with the number squeezed together with the name, the idea supposedly being that people would remember the brand name better than, say, Mazda 626.
From my perspective as a Mazda fan, all I can tell the marketeers is that if you make a Great Little Car, people will find out who makes it when they want to buy it.
Screwing the intentions of the marketeers I just call my car the “6” and my friend’s Mazda3 the “3”. We know what car we have. No one has any pretensions of driving Bimmers.
As for Pontiac, they should go talk to Alan Mulally. “Grand Prix” says “Pontiac” better than G8.
I think Mazda can use hybrid systems and still maintain their sporting character and relative pricing by sharing Ford’s hybrid system. Instead of calibrating the hybrid system for maximum fuel economy, they can use a different control scheme to maximize performance.
That just betrays the point of a hybrid, doesn’t it?
Nah … it would still be a bit more efficient than a gas only car, if only for the regenerative braking & whatnot.