Yes, that's right. In fact, as early as 20 19, Mazda applied for a series of new engine patents, including an "in-line 6-cylinder" engine that we rarely heard of. As we know, the existing 6-cylinder models on the market, such as Reiz, Volkswagen flagship Touron, and even the GT-R, an advanced or performance car, all adopt V-type 6-cylinder arrangement. Now Mazda suddenly develops inline six cylinders, which is really incredible.
Just like the question of which is better, V 12 or W 12, straight 6 or V6, it will lead to the same discussion. There is no doubt that the result is similar. In-line six-cylinder engine has only one crankshaft, which is not only simpler in structure and more balanced in design, but also very long in engine volume. After the popularity of V6 engine aimed at reducing engine volume, this engine was abandoned by most automobile manufacturers. Of course, there are exceptions. Among them, BMW, the most persistent one, recently updated the straight 6 engine S58 with China 6 emissions and installed it on X3M, X4M and other models. In addition, Mercedes-Benz's brand-new M256 engine and Jaguar Land Rover's latest Ingenium series engine actually adopt an in-line six-cylinder layout.
According to foreign media reports, Mazda is currently developing skyactivi? -? X and skyactivi? -? D two sets of power systems, which are planned to be applied to the brand's future large-scale cars/performance cars, including the concept sports car suspected of the future "RX-9" which caused extensive discussion earlier. In the patent application documents, we can also see the design sketch of this straight 6 engine. Its structure is very compact, which means that the capacity of a single cylinder will not be too large, and the engine has also introduced new exhaust technology. There is a passage in the patent application that says, "An engine exhaust structure is provided to ensure the exhaust efficiency, and the engine size can be reduced by changing the exhaust port structure." This structure does not use an independent exhaust manifold to collect the exhaust gas discharged from each cylinder, so that the size of the engine can be changed at will, and the cost of independently manufacturing various exhaust manifold molds can be reduced.
At present, it is widely rumored that Mazda's new sports car RX-9 will use this turbocharged inline six-cylinder skyactive? -X engine, the maximum horsepower will be 350 to 450, and the rear-drive layout will make Mazda brand return to the ranks of performance cars and become a strong competitor of the new Toyota Supra. Although compared with many brands, this kind of operation will make people feel idiotic, compared with Mazda itself, this kind of behavior is always more scientific than the previous obsession with developing rotary engines. June 5438+last year 10, Mazda's chief designer Yanfu Maeda (Ikuo? Maeda) admitted that in the era when more and more attention is paid to electric vehicles and high-efficiency hybrid vehicles, it may be considered irresponsible to launch "high-performance vehicles with rotary engines". "For a new sports car, the turbocharged inline six-cylinder engine may be the perfect combination of performance and efficiency, even if this model does give up the rotor engine used in all previous models."
I have to say that although Mazda has not been favored by Chinese people, it has been vacant for a long time after RX-7 in terms of performance cars. However, under various positive signals, it is not impossible for this brand to continue to rejuvenate its new machine.
This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.