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With the reveal of the Shinari concept earlier this week, Mazda has now released an additional selection of photos of the car, making us love this design even more. Giving us a glimpse at the next Mazda6, the Shinari is also a design concept for all future Mazda models as the Japanese automaker moves away from the old Nagari design language to this new style, known as Kodo.
The new style of Mazda is a collaborative effort between Mazda's design studios in the U.S., Germany and Japan.
In addition to the exterior design of this car, Mazda also aims to make a big push in improving its interiors, which are already quite impressive. Derek Jenkins, design director for Mazda North America even commented that the Japanese automaker wants to compete with BMW and Audi in terms of interior quality.
Mazda has not said when we expect to see the new design language first used in a production model and gave no hints that this Shinari sports coupe would make it to production – although we can certainly hope.
Expect to see the Shinari debut on a larger scale at the Paris Auto Show in just a few weeks time.
Mazda is betting that their new lineup of SKY direct injection gasoline and diesel engines will help raise the company's fleet fuel economy by 30% by 2015.
Mazda, which has long refrained from hybrid cars, claims that the next generation 2015 Mazda3 with a SKY-G gasoline engine and a Sky-Drive 6-speed automatic will get 40 mpg on the highway, up from 33 mpg. The Mazda6 will get a SKY-D diesel engine that will get 43 mpg on the highway, a bump from 30 mpg on the current car.
While Mazda said that the first SKY-G powered car will arrive in 2011, they were tight-lipped about what car would receive it. Signs point to the next generation MX-5 as the most likely candidate.
Despite the investment in the SKY powertrains, Mazda said it would introduce a hybrid in the near future, with technology licensed from Toyota. "We have a plan to introduce [the technology] gradually, starting from simple devices," Seita Kanai, director of r&d for Mazda Motor Corp. told Automotive News. "The more complex a device is, the more costly it becomes."
Mazda is planning for its future with a new multi-purpose platform that's being designed to underpin the majority of vehicles in its lineup. According to a report by AutoCar, the new spaceframe will be adaptable in order to accommodate new versions of anything from the Mazda3 to Mazda6 to CX-7. There are even suggestions it could be used for the next Mazda2 sub-compact.
The new platform could be used for as many as 800,000 vehicles in a 1.2 million vehicle company.
Mazda's plan is to find efficiencies as it has become clear that Ford's decreased involvement in the Japanese automaker means it will need to fend for itself instead of relying on donor-platforms.
In addition to the new platform, Mazda is also reportedly working on an "advanced" (dual-clutch?) six-speed automatic transmission and two new Sky diesel engines. There's also talk of a new four-cylinder gasoline engine with a super-high 14:1 compression ratio and 4-2-1 exhaust manifold.
The new engines are reportedly already meeting the upcoming Euro6 emissions regulations and Mazda plans that they will be competitive for up to a decade.
Mazda officials are considering using a diesel powerplant for the next-generation Mazdaspeed3 hot hatch. According to Car & Driver, Mazda USA product boss Robert Davis made the comments at a decent technology seminar hosted by the Japanese automaker.
Davis did say that were the company to go this route "performance wouldn't be degraded". That's somewhat reassuring, but as to how to achieve such an outcome wouldn't be easy. And changing the characteristics of the relatively high-revving hatch to a diesel beast with even more torque steer doesn't sound attractive at all.
One of the reasons Davis is even considering the switch is that he believes the younger buyers choosing a car like this don't have the negative perception of diesels that the older generation does.
More reassuring is new that Mazda has already begun testing a turbocharged version of the new Sky gasoline engine – just in case the diesel thing doesn't pan out.
Mazda has just unveiled its new Shinari four-door sports coupe in Milan, Italy. The vehicle will set the design tone for all future Mazda models.
Recently Mazda announced it would move away from the Nagare design language that has inspired its recent smiley-face models. This new design language will be called Kodo – a Japanese word for soul of motion.
The new style was a collaborative effort between Mazda's design studios in the U.S., Germany and Japan.
In addition to the exterior design of this car, Mazda also aims to make a big push in improving its interiors, which are already quite impressive. Derek Jenkins, design director for Mazda North America even commented that the Japanese automaker wants to compete with BMW and Audi in terms of interior quality.
Mazda has not said when we expect to see the new design language first used in a production model and gave not hints that this Shinari sports coupe would make it to production – although we can certainly hope.
Expect to see the Shinari debut on a larger scale at the Paris Auto Show in just a few weeks time.
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