Tag: Mazda News

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Fiat. Again.

I wrote a post about rumors of a Fiat/Mazda partnership in March and here we are several months later and the rumor of Mazda and Fiat working together has become a reality.

The official news is that Fiat is going to share Mazda’s upcoming Mx5 chassis in a new Alfa Romeo roadster of some type. Contrary to my other blog post on the topic, I am ok with this. Mazda will be able to re-coup some of the engineering and production costs from the Mx5 and I don’t see the Alfa and the MX5 really competing for the same buyer.

Reading between the lines on the announcement, I expect we will see the news of Mazdas being built in Fiat owned plants in the coming years and would expect it to be the new Skyactiv platform vehicles (aka Cx5 and new generation Mazda 3).

Assembling vehicles in the EU would benefit Mazda by allowing them to lower prices and be more competitive in the European market. Along with the Mazda plant being built in Mexico, Mazda has several bright spots in their production plans that will compliment their great sales numbers making them more competitive on the global market.

I do have some doubts about the quality of vehicles being built outside of Mazda plants in Japan. The Mazda 6s built in the auto alliance plant in Michigan seemed to be ok but the reliability stigma around Fiats and Alfas from the 70s and 80s makes me question the alliance’s long-term value.

Officially Fiat has said it does not want to purchase a stake in Mazda and wants to finish the Chrysler purchase in the near future. I’m not too sure I believe the statement offered by Fiat but at this point we will have to wait and see what happens.

There is an interesting side story in all of this. Mazda has agreed to have Sollers in Russia build the Cx5 and Mazda 6 for the Russian market. This deal was made after a deal for Fiat and Sollers fell through to have Sollers build vehicles in a joint venture.

With this move, the Mexico plant, and the agreement with Sollers in Russia, I see a great path for Mazda to move forward on and I look forward to seeing how this goes.

-Derrick

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The Journey from Concept Car to Production

the recently released Mazda CX5 has been met with rave reviews for both its styling, ride quality and fuel efficiency and initial sales of the vehicle reflect that. In Japan Mazda has sold 8000 units in the first month with an expectation of only selling 1000.

When the first rumors came out about the CX5 years ago there was picture of a vehicle released which you can see below.

The picture was essentially Mazda 3 with Mazda 2 headlights and some changes made to the body of the vehicle to give the general idea of what Mazda was shooting in a small cross over SUV.

The actual concept compact SUV was since designed fresh from the ground up with no hand-me-down components so when the vehicle concept debuted, the Minagi, it reflected Mazda’s transition to the KODO style.

There are several styling effects on the car which you can tell would not make it to production, for example the mirrors and the bar across the headlights, but it really showed what the CX5 was going to be.

The released CX5 below is the final production vehicle which has been on sale now for a month.

Almost all of the body styling from the Minagi concept stayed on the production vehicle. The headlights were changed to meet government regulations and the showy mirrors were replaced with something more practical that would survive a hit from another car, wall, or inanimate object.

For the replacement of the current Mazda 6 we have been teased with pictures and concept vehicles but looking at them you can really see what we are going to get for a new Mazda 6. Mazda showed off the Shinari concept car back in 2010 seen below.

This was a great concept vehicle with really accentuated Kodo styling shown off in a very aggressive way. This is also a pretty big jump from the current Mazda 6 styling that makes the current Mazda 6 it look really dated.

The Takeri concept which was introduced last fall at the 2011 Tokyo Auto Show was confirmed to be the redesigned 2014 Mazda 6 by Mazda executives at the 2012 New York Auto Show.

In this concept vehicle, the roof line grew from the chopped top look for the original concept as well as some cleaned up styling areas around the front bumper and the grille area.

Looking at the jump between the Minagi and the CX5 you can get a good idea of what the new Mazda 6 will look like when it is released. The headlights will be changed a little bit, the mirrors will get changed to a different style and DOT crash bumpers would round out the changes.

Based on the release of the Cx5 and the what we can see of the Takeri concept, the new Mazda 6 will be a good-looking car. The production version of the new Mazda 6 will be unveiled this fall at the 2012 Paris Auto Show, and the car will go on sale in spring 2013..

-Derrick

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Rumors of a Fiat/Mazda Partnership

There have been some new stories surfacing lately of Fiat showing interest in partnering with Mazda or Suzuki.

Although Mazda’s U.S. sales are surging this year, up 48% through February, the company has forecast a 1.2 billion dollar loss after the appreciation of the yen and the losses it faced due to last year’s tragic Tsunami.

Mazda President Takashi Yamanouchi said last month that the company was “aggressively “looking for a partner and at the Geneva International Motor Show early this month, Fiat Chief Executive Officer, Sergio Marchionne, said he’s searching for a third partner after merging with Chrysler Group LLC to help reduce development costs and boost sales in fast-growing countries, and said teaming with either Suzuki Motor Corp. or Mazda Motor Corp makes sense.

I can see the benefit of partnering with another manufacturer to increase the production base outside of Japan. The exchange rate has been hard on Mazdas profits despite setting sales records in several markets around the planet and increased sales in North America. Mazda is currently building a plant in Mexico to service the Americas. It is a completely owned Mazda production facility and it should benefit Mazda greatly over the next few decades but the outlay of initial cash is pretty heavy at 500 million USD.

With the extra capacity at the plants in Europe that Fiat offers Mazda could leverage a better position and reduce costs and prices of vehicles sold there. If it was just a deal worked out with Mazda have vehicle produced in Fiats plants it would be a good match. Fiat would have the extra capacity used up and Mazda would not have the investment of a new production plant. Cars built in Europe would also avoid the import duties thus making Mazdas more attractive with lower prices.

Recently Fiat partnered with the cripple Chrysler group and they appear to have the ship turned around now and headed in the right direction.

If this partnership comes to be, only time will tell if it will benefit both Fiat and Mazda in the end.

-Derrick

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Mazda Motorsports Hour to Debut On New Velocity Network

Mazda has supported more road racers over the past decade than any other automaker and is now stepping up the support to include extended TV coverage on the new Velocity network.

Velocity is the cable network created by Discovery communications that provides high-octane programming for its viewers with programming geared toward events, with live auctions and world rally championships and real-life adrenaline-pumping shows.

The Mazda Motorsports Hour will be hosted by award-winning motorsports broadcaster, Rick Benjamin and will include 24 shows that be broadcast from April through November with content that will include feature races from the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear and Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship – two tiers of the Mazda Road to Indy Ladder – and SCCA Pro Racing’s Playboy MX-5 Cup. Joining Benjamin in the booth will be racers Randy Pobst for the MX 5 Cup, and James Hinchcliffe for Star Mazda and USF2000. Todd Lewis will be the pit reporter.

A competitive field of more than 30 cars are expected at each of this year’s 11 SCCA Pro Racing Playboy Mazda MX-5 Cup races. The spec series based on the popular auto platform has served as a launching pad for young drivers as well as a place where veteran racers can find intense competition at a good value.

Drivers who show promise and success on the track in any of these series throughout the season qualify for additional chances to learn additional skills at being a professional driver and earn “MAZDASPEED Motorsports Scholarships” that include off-track developmental competitions and feature the creation of business plans and sponsor development processes upon which the driver moves to the next step in their racing career.

“Hardcore fans know that some of the most intense action can be found in the Playboy MX-5 Cup, Star Mazda and Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship. But if you weren’t at the race, you are left to take our word for it. Now, thanks to a partnership with Velocity, and Carolinas Production Group, fans can enjoy the action on a regular basis from their living room,” noted Jim Jordan, Alternative Marketing Manager, Mazda North America. Retrieved from Mazda Media, https://www.mazdausamedia.com/content/mazda-teams-velocity-2012-us-tv-broadcasts.

To find Velocity on your local cable system, go to Velocity.com.

Gwynne-

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More Turbos from Mazda

CorkSport likes to be in the know on what Mazda is up to so I spend a good deal of time keeping in touch with my contacts at Mazda headquarters and searching the internet for clues on what Mazda is developing. I recently ran across a fascinating bit of information looking up patent applications with the US patent and trademark office that gives us a very interesting clue as to what Mazda may have in store for us in the future.

Mazda had a patent approved on January 12, 2010 for a forced induction engine with two sources of boost. The patent refers to an electric driven compressor (electric supercharger) which disengages when the engine reaches a pre-determined mid-range RPM point at which point the engine switches over to an exhaust driven compressor (a turbo charger).

This could be really handy for a small displacement engine when you want to get a large amount of power. The electric supercharger gives the engine the necessary boost to get the mid-range where the engine can then develop enough exhaust flow to spin the turbocharger.

This is the same theory used for a twin turbo charged engine but with instant boost from the electric supercharger. It can give a small displacement engine a decent torque improvement and the turbocharger will add the benefit of top-end power.

The whole idea gets even better with a variable vane turbine that would adjust to the engine speed. The faster the engine speed the more exhaust volume, allowing you to get the most out of the turbocharger efficiency.

This whole patent has the fingerprints of 2015 Mazdaspeed 3 written all over it if you ask me. You would still be getting the smaller, eco-friendly, SkyActiv engine but when you put your foot on it there is a big turbocharger lurking to give you gobs of torque just like the current Mazdaspeed 3.

I will give a word of warning though, not all things which have patents ever see the light of day, but the fact that Mazda spent the time and effort to patent this idea with the US patent office, gives me hope we will see a version of this patent in the next 3-4 years.

-Derrick