Kiyora concept shows off Mazda's small car moves

First shown at Paris, Mazda's cool Kiyora concept will make a comeback for this year's Tokyo motor show. Kiyora -- apparently a Japanese word describing 'clean and pure' -- shows off Mazda's developments in lightweight, efficient motoring with a claimed 3.1L/100km consumption average.

The Kiyora city car, along with the SKY drivetrain range scheduled for 2011, are efforts to demonstrate Mazda is committed to reducing its global fleet's consumption ratings by 30 per cent, by 2015.

Arguably the Japanese company lags behind counterparts in terms of hybrid or even widespread diesel offerings, let alone electric vehicle aspirations like Nissan or Mitsubishi.

Aimed at "young urbanites", Mazda's city car concept uses carbonfibre in its shell construction for weight-saving benefits, and a 1.3-litre petrol engine with six-speed auto and stop-start function. Mazda claims sub-90g/km CO2 emissions for a similarly equipped small car modelled on the Kiyora -- in the form of a super-efficient Mazda2 or Mazda mini car.

Market research for the small coupe uncovered "opportunities to address future unmet customer needs," according to Mazda. The 2+2 seater, or two-seater with boot, is potentially Mazda's super-small city car offering to customers otherwise looking at the Toyota iQ or smart fortwo.

As for simple energy saving features like stop-start, Mazda's SISS -- for Smart Idle Stop System -- was introduced in Europe only this year and Mazda has no plans to offer cars with the function in Australia.

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