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Update: Mazda Diesel Still On Table

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2017 Mazda3

It’s frustrating sometimes to try to parse out just what an automaker is planning outside of its carefully constructed press releases. So, with that in mind, less than a week after I wrote a piece about how, based on comments from Mazda North America CEO Masahiro Moro, it seemed likely that Mazda’s diesel program was off the table for America, the CEO of the whole shebang, Masamichi Kogai, proved that completely wrong by saying in no uncertain terms that the automaker has not given up on releasing diesel cars in the US, and in fact has an internal timeline for doing so.

Kogai declined to give specifics on the timeline, but did say that he wanted to bring diesels across the water while he was still CEO. His comments were backed up by the general manager of Mazda’s vehicle development division, Hiroyuki Matsumoto, who said that he was confident that Mazda’s engineers would be able to achieve a balance between diesel performance and clean emissions which has been a problem for the automaker so far.

It seems possible that these balanced diesels might come with Mazda’s next SKYACTIV lineup, called SKYACTIV 2, which is due to be introduced in 2019 and is promised to create lighter, better-performing, and more efficient engines. Engineers will be increasing the compression ratio inside the engine to 18:1 from 14:1 to improve fuel economy, and the company mentioned specifically that a new gas engine in development now will be 30% more effective than current SKYACTIV engines.

So, if you are still watching for the coming of a Mazda diesel, hang in there—you have heard it from the man himself.

News Source: Automotive News