Recently, according to the Japanese publication "Car Watch", it was reported in detail that Mazda applied for some design patents for in-line 6-cylinder engines, as well as related vertically mounted rear-end models equipped with six-cylinder and four-cylinder engines. Technical information on the drive platform. According to Mazda’s recent financial report, it is also officially confirmed that Mazda’s new large-car longitudinal engine platform will be equipped with new 4-cylinder and 6-cylinder turbocharged engines, and will also be added to a 48V hybrid system in the future. .
Mazda also confirmed that it will launch a new SUV model in the U.S. market in the future, and it will be equipped with a hybrid system of Toyota's hybrid system. Looking at Mazda's current global market, in addition to diesel engines. In addition, only four-cylinder gasoline is available on all series of models, and the 2.5T power system that has been used for a long time has good power performance, but it is still too old. Therefore, the SKYACTIV? The launch in some markets also represents Mazda's further innovation in the engine field, so the new six-cylinder engine will be a turbocharged model of SKYACTIV?X in the future, which is very exciting.
According to Information in Mazda's relevant documents in 2019 has revealed Mazda's plan for a new longitudinally mounted rear-drive platform for large vehicles, which also includes a new in-line six-cylinder SKYACTIV?X gasoline engine and SKYACTIV?D diesel engine, I-Activ ?AWD four-wheel drive system and 48V mild hybrid and plug-in hybrid systems.
However, due to the certain impact of the epidemic, Mazda has slowed down its promotion progress, so we have just launched it in the Chinese market. The four-cylinder SKYACTIV? It is still promoting a stable transition to the 2.5T power system, and will put the new compression ignition power on the Mazda 3 model as a small-scale test. In the future, it will further cooperate with Toyota, that is, using Toyota's U.S. factory to produce Mazda's hybrid models. . The latest Mazda 2 model is the replacement of Toyota YARis. This is not the first time Mazda has done this in the form of cooperation, so it is not unusual to use Toyota's hybrid technology to launch Mazda models later. , and Mazda must provide engine and tuning technology in exchange.
When Mazda was still owned by Ford, many of Mazda's models used the same platform as Ford's models, and Ford and Mazda were on the same platform. The vehicles have similar characteristics in the field of suspension and control, so both Mazda and Ford are very experienced in this kind of shell replacement.
However, many of the plans for 2019 are not planned. There is no confirmation, but in the most recent annual report, we saw that Mazda officially displayed a new power system, which is expected to be officially installed on new models as early as 2023. From the photo, it is mainly divided into three parts: in-line We will explain each of the six-cylinder gasoline turbocharged engine (left), the naturally aspirated engine and gearbox combination equipped with an electric motor (middle), and the inline six-cylinder diesel engine:
First of all, whether Whether it is a gasoline or diesel engine, in order to meet the current stringent emission requirements, both are equipped with an EGR exhaust gas circulation system + GPF particle trap. The purpose is to reduce emissions, and this in-line six-cylinder gasoline engine will also use SPCCI Compression ignition technology. However, we still cannot see the design details of this engine, which means it is unknown whether it is equipped with a single turbine or twin turbines.
In fact, I want to add one thing about the Skyactiv-X technology. The 2.0L compression ignition engine we can see now not only uses SPCCI compression ignition technology, but also inside the engine. It also has a central engine similar to a mechanical turbine to meet the ignition requirements of compression ignition technology. The author has written about the technology of this engine in previous articles. Friends who need to know more can read it back. Therefore, whether the new six-cylinder turbo engine will continue to have this turbine built in, or whether it will use an external or twin turbo, can only be guessed at present.
Mazda’s new longitudinal hybrid system (middle)
It is not difficult to see that the one with an orange cable in the middle is the hybrid system assembly, between the engine and the gearbox An electric motor is connected. Mazda did not provide more detailed hybrid technical specifications, but it is certain that this system is another plug-in hybrid system in addition to the 48V hybrid system. The mild hybrid will completely use Toyota's patented planetary gear technology, which greatly reduces its own development costs and circumvents many hybrid technology barriers. For Mazda, the hybrid SUV models that will be launched on a large scale in the United States in the future will have more advantages than other brands. In particular, Mazda's own models have a better reputation than Toyota's, especially in terms of luxury. Therefore, this Totally a very positive situation. I believe that the current plug-in hybrid system will be used on many Mazda models in the future.
In addition, according to the latest 2021 annual report, Mazda is also further promoting the development of electrified platforms and a new generation of pure electric platforms, but it does not seem to have any outstanding features, and Mazda itself Generally speaking, its disadvantages in the electric field are too obvious, and it will not be able to catch up with other brands in a short time.
In fact, Mazda’s core market will not change. After all, its main sales rely on China and the United States. However, these two markets have their own goals. In the core of the U.S. market, the brand value and services will be improved, and cooperation with Toyota will be strengthened. That is to say, the joint venture factory between the U.S. and Toyota will be used later to produce hybrid models. This is also Mazda's long-term strategy in the United States. One of the development strategies, but these operations are more about accumulating funds and resources, and we look forward to making efforts again in 2023.
For the European market, Mazda is still very promising, mainly to improve efficiency. From the pictures, we can see that the core is hybrid and pure electric EV models. This basically allows us to maintain smooth communication with local service providers and sales channels. As we often say, the main thing is to maintain it. How much can be sold depends on the situation, but we cannot lose this market.
It is different for the Chinese market. The title says: The goal is to make China the most important market. In the next two years, the short-term focus will still be on maintaining the two domestic partners FAW and Changan, while at the same time flexibly deploying and producing new products and models (no wonder compression ignition engine models are only sold on an order basis), and adding more sellers , optimize sales network and improve sales performance. It is expected that in 2023, it will enhance its model and brand strength through new large car products in the Chinese market, and strive to achieve annual sales of 400,000 vehicles or higher (this mysterious confidence!). So in the short term, Mazda's changes in the Chinese market are not big. Don't worry, let's start analyzing the most important aspects of the car model.
First of all, it can be predicted that the new large-scale platform will replace the current Mazda6 (Atez) and CX-5 models in the future. As for previous news, the CX-5 will become the CX-50 in the future. But according to current reports from the US media, the CX-50 may be a crossover version of the CX-5, and may be equipped with a new 2.0L compression ignition engine. It will most likely be the CX-4 specially supplied to the Chinese market. Subsequent versions of the model. Moreover, this car may fill the price gap between the CX-5 and CX-9 in a short period of time, and subsequent hybrid models in cooperation with Toyota will most likely use names like CX-7, and may be positioned as large crossovers. The SUV model is expected to be put into production in 2022.
What we know so far is that the model equipped with a new rear-wheel drive platform and a new engine will not be released until 2023 at the earliest, and the time it will be put on the market is not yet known; and more Importantly, Toyota currently does not have a rear-wheel drive large car platform, so more speculation is that Toyota will be the first to use this platform for Lexus and some Toyota models. Therefore, it will not endanger the current Mazda 6 or even Mazda CX-9 models for the time being, and it is hard to say whether future CX-5 models will use this large car platform. Therefore, we can’t see Mazda’s rear-wheel drive models competing with BMW for the time being, but Mazda’s driving-focused philosophy makes the “Japanese BMW” worth looking forward to.
However, my personal opinion is the same as most media speculation, that is, in the future, from Mazda 6 to CX-5, CX-8 and CX-9, they will all use this platform and be equipped with new engines. and four-wheel drive system. On the one hand, it can continue the design of the practical Mazda Vision? To maintain product competitiveness, especially for power systems, the current cost of compression ignition engines is too high. This is why Mazda uses 2.5T engines for transition in many foreign markets, so the new platform that is fully used does not need to additionally target newer models. Researching and developing multiple models greatly saves costs. Why not?
This article comes from the author of Autohome Chejiahao and does not represent the views and positions of Autohome.