Real Quotes from Mazda’s Global Sales and Marketing General Manager
Once again Motoring.com.au has brought some rotary rumors to surface thanks to an interview with Yasuhiro Aoyama, the General manager of Global Sales and Marketing. So what did Yasuhiro say that is so revealing?
“this is a very fantastic idea, 2017, [for] a new rotary.”
followed by
“We celebrate the anniversary of rotary in 2017; 50 years. Then 2020 is the Olympics in Tokyo and the 100th anniversary of Mazda,”
When prodded for more info and whether we would see a halo car in 2020 he was quoted as saying: “We will defy convention”.
In order to prevent us from expanding on his words without the proper quotes let us list them all here:
“We have our own definition of sports and our own definition of how to get Jinba Ittai, the oneness between car and driver – and we do not have to necessarily compete with segments or competitors,” he said.
“We won’t follow them just for the sake of it.” [in reference to other car companies]
“We are indifferent to the successes that our rivals are making; we need to make our own success and forge our own way forward.”
And one of the quotes that I find most exciting was this:
“Lightweight is one of the core elements for our sports cars to have high performance, so all of the vehicles for the next generation will be like this,” he stated.
What could this all mean? Well that Mazda again has neither confirmed nor denied the idea of an RX-7 in 2017, and that it “is a very fantastic idea”, and that it it will definitely be a lightweight vehicle. We also know that he is hinting at something in 2020? Possibly a halo car? Possibly the RX-9 that they trademarked awhile back. (source)
Nonetheless, we are already stashing our pennies so that once we have official word, we can start yelling “Take my MONEY!”
-Spencer
What Mazda said that Will Have you Saying “Take my Money” December 18th, 2017Derrick Ambrose
How Mazda, a Strange Recycling Symbol and Dorito Chips all Connect
What is this symbol? And how is it connected to Mazda? On first look it appears to be somehow symbolizing recycling, or Rotary Engines, and if that was your guess, you aren’t really wrong. But, there is certainly more.
This is the logo for a Motorcyle Company known as Van Veen that produced cycles from around 1972 until 1981. Van Veen was run by Henk Van Veen a dutch importer of motorcycles who had a crazy idea to cram a rotary engine into a motorcycle. So, he chose a bike, a Moto Guzzi V7 as the frame, and then an engine.
Now, contrary to much of what you see on the internet (such as wikipedia) stating that his first prototype used a Comoto Rotary, Van Veen actually chose another engine. A Mazda rotary.
The first engine this slightly crazy man decided to cram into those bikes was none other than the same engine that Mazda used in their RX2, the 10a.
Though the initial prototype used this engine, Van Veen sadly began instead using the Comoto rotary instead.
Alas though, after just a few years of selling his OCR 1000 wankel rotary bike, the company stopped producing them in 1981. As much as we wished he continued to use the Mazda engine, he did not, but that original prototype still exists. If you happen to read Dutch, check out more here: https://cybermotorcycle.com/docs/downloads/vanVeenMotorRijwiel.pdf
Though we never got to see them use the Mazda engines for production, or later start using the RX7 engines (boy that would have been awesome!), there have been others that have followed in Van Veen’s path and built Mazda rotary cycles.
Here is a custom built 13b powered rotary bike by Rodney Aguiar.
Who knows, maybe one of these days Mazda will even start making rotary motorcycles! After all, they did start by making 3 wheeled cars!
P.S. Don’t forget your love of Dorito engines.
-Spencer
Mazda, Motorcycles and Dorito Chip Goodness September 13th, 2018Derrick Ambrose
Renderings, Concepts, Images and Rumors about the Next MX5
Mazda recently released an official image of the next 2016 Mazda MX-5 Miata. Sadly, it is blanketed. So though we can tell the overall shape of the car (spoiler alert, it looks like a car) we can’t see much else. What we can do though is speculate.
Here is the official Mazda image:
Now, though we all probably want a fancy, blanket draped MX-5, I have a feeling that some of us plan to actually drive it, and not keep it under wraps in our garage. So, I decided to pull from the web some next generatino renderings of the MX-5. Which one do you think most resembles Mazda’s official image?
But, moving on. If you’ve had enough of renderings, let’s check out the engine. This shot of an engine bay is supposedly from a source that found the little Miata mule at a port on the west coast months ago. The big news here is that it’s a turbo. The question, is if this is going in the Miata for real, or if it’s going in the Fiat/Alfa since Mazda has partnered with them. (source)
So, though we leave you today with nothing but more rumors and speculation, we again see some pretty solid evidence of a good looking, and possibly turbocharged, 2016 MX5 Miata.
Oh, and don’t forget this video from Mazda.
(P.S. do you hear a turbo?)
Until Next Time
-Spencer
All the 2016 Mazda MX5 Renderings We Can Find September 13th, 2018Derrick Ambrose
We talk a lot about the next Mazdaspeed, will it be AWD, will it be FWD, will it be a 3? the 6? a 2? Though little is known or confirmed, I want to point out a few things we DO know as a fact.
Mazda has been working on their SkyActiv D engines for a few years. They have already shown their SkyActiv D engines, they even race them. What many people fail to realize it that the SkyActiv D runs in the Mazda 6 with a two-stage turbocharger.
The two-stage turbocharger gives you the best of both worlds, it will run a smaller turbo in the low RPM range in order to give you more power and cut emissions, then at higher RPM ranges it flips a lever and runs the bigger turbo to produce more power with no noticeable lag between the two. According to Mazda’s own website “SKYACTIV-D utilizes a two-stage turbocharger in which one small and one large turbo are selectively operated according to driving conditions.” (Source)
What else do we know? Well, Mazda has been actively racing the SkyActiv D engines in several endurance races. This is a mildly modified version of the SkyActiv D that is known to put down about 400hp.
So why would Mazda try and rework a new regular gas powered engine with a turbocharger for the next speed? Why not take the 400 hp Two-Stage turbo diesel that they already have, and pull a little power from it, and release it as a street legal vehicle?
More questions: Why has the SkyActiv D release been delayed? Is it emissions related? According to Mazda their engines pass with flying colors, no treatment necessary. So it can’t be that. In fact when the SkyActiv D was delayed Mazda spokesman Jeremy Barnes was quoted as saying: Skyactiv technology can meet it [emissions] — and it can — but the challenge is engineering a car that delivers the kind of performance that a Mazda needs to have and we’re unable to do that given where we are right now.”
Wait a minute. So what you are saying is that the 2.2L passes emissions, (source) but doesn’t have enough performance? If Mazda has already passed the emissions testing for the engine then why delay it. We know they have released it in the CX-5 in other markets, they even confirmed they will be releasing it in the Mazda 3 in Australia come September. (Source) Along with this the CX-5 has been selling in Japan at a rate of “four 2.2L SKYACTIV-D purchases for every one 2.0L SKYACTIV-G.” (Source) So why would they work on a turbo gasoline variant when the Diesels (which already have a turbo) are already clearly being sold at such a significantly greater rate? My answer? I don’t think they will.
So what’s the delay. My guess is that they plan on announcing the SkyActiv D release date at the same time as the performance oriented version, the Mazdaspeed SkyActiv D which may be a variant of the engine seen above. Even the SkyActiv D that is currently running in the CX-5 pushes 310 lb ft of torque and 173 hp. Still impressive, especially that torque! Imagine bumping the hp by even 100 and the torque would be incredible!
Last but not least, check out these two videos from Mazda that were released almost 2 years ago. Starting at minute 2 they say some interesting things.
https://youtu.be/cK5SQkEUBdo?t=2m
“An exceptionally high redline or 5200rpm. When we were done we had created a beast … delivers the driving performance of a 4.0L V8.”
A 4.0L V8!! Just do a quick google search for standard HP from common 4.0L V8s and you should be more than impressed with the results. Is this Mazda teasing us and we just failed to notice?
In the long run, whether we get a Mazdaspeed version of the SkyActiv D or not, I can’t wait until it hits our shores for good. Let’s hope it’s soon!
Until next Time,
-Spencer@CorkSport
2016 Diesel Mazdaspeed 3 Rumors December 18th, 2017Derrick Ambrose
We all know Mazda has been working on Diesels for the US market, and that they have already been released in Europe, Australia and other places. We also have seen Mazda’s electric Demios (Mazda 2). Well, now we have just heard from torquenews.com that Mazda might be releasing a Diesel Hybrid.
Mazda hopes to release a vehicle that can hit a greater gas mileage than the Prius C (50mpg) which is the leading seller in Japan (known as the Aqua). Of course, we are doubting that even if this wonder vehicle gets created that we would ever see it in the US, but we can hope. At this point we are still hoping for Mazda to simply release the Diesel CX-5 and Diesel Mazda 6.
Would you trade the extra emissions of a diesel vehicle, for the extra emissions it also produces? If you keep an eye on the current cars that Mazda is racing, we see that the most prominently featured are all diesels. Whether it is the several Mazda 6’s racing with their Skyactiv-D engine, or the Mazda Prototypes #00 and #70 (source) Mazda is definitely focusing on their diesels.
Ultimately we know one thing, the Hybrid Diesel won’t be making it to our shores anytime soon, and it’s unlikely it would make it before their standard diesel.
Mazda to Offer Diesel Hybrids September 13th, 2018Derrick Ambrose
