Mazda drives its own way

Mazda wants to keep you in the driver’s seat.

While other car companies rush to embrace autonomy, the relatively small independent Japanese manufacturer that has based its image on ‘zoom-zoom’ says it intends to keep the driver in charge of its cars and keep them fun to drive.

And in the same vein it is determined to continue with the internal combustion engine as long as possible, using electrification in a supporting role as emissions standards become more stringent.

Those two key tenets of Mazda’s future planning were laid out by one its most senior global executives, Masahiro Moro, to motoring.com.au in an interview at the recent New York auto show.

“I think autonomous driving is an important technology but how we deploy and how we use that technology is different from a leading company,” said Moro, who moved from global chief of marketing and sales to be president of Mazda North American Operations on January 1.

“We still believe that because fun to drive is an essential value for Mazda, always the driver has to meet in the centre.

“Drivers enjoy driving. Assistance supports and helps them enjoy then drive.

“Autonomous driving technology helps if anything happens with the driver, he becomes unconscious or is feeling bad or so on. Then the technology of autonomous driving will override to pull over or go home.

“So this is the way we will use autonomous driving technology – still a human-centric approach.”

Moro’s statements came at the same show where Renault-Nissan global boss Carlos Ghosn told media and industry members that the alliance would launch at least 10 vehicles with significant autonomous capability by 2020.

Ghosn also reiterated his faith in the eventual dominance of automotive electrification, which he regards as inevitable in the age of global warming.

But Moro reiterated Mazda’s commitment to developing its ICE technology into a second-generation SKYACTIV II family. As previously reported these engines will feature homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI). which will play a key role in reducing fuel consumption by up to 30 per cent.

The improvement would continue to make the ICE relevant and responsible and appeal to driving enthusiasts, Moro predicted.

SKYACTIV II technology is set to start appearing in production Mazda models from 2017.

“Mazda’s customers will come to our models… it could be emotional choice or it could be combined with a very rational choice as social requirements get severer,” he said.

“I think it is only a good thing we use the internal combustion engine with a more efficient solution because it is much cheaper [than electrification] with big benefit.”

But Moro conceded that ever-tightening emissions regulations would eventually mean electrification would become integral to Mazda’s vehicle line-up.

However, Mazda’s ICE technology would continue to play a role because of its efficiency he predicted.

“Toward 2025 we have to deploy electrification all the time,” he said. “So it is good if we have a very efficient internal combustion engine because the electrification system will be small.”

Having fully split with Ford at the end of last decade, Mazda has managed to stand alone with only around two per cent of the global automotive market. SKYACTIV technology has proved to be a technical success, forming the basis for a highly-regarded family of cars and SUVs.

Australia is one of the company’s shining lights globally. Mazda commands an 11.2 per cent sales share and sits second overall in this market.

“Mazda Australia is a kind of ideal state of business,” Moro said. “I would like all of the company to be [like Mazda's] Australian business.”