Mazda's world-first engine tech coming to Oz
Japanese car-maker to deploy ultra-efficient engines in Australia before 2020Mazda is working on new petrol engine technology that could do away with spark plugs altogether, and claims fuel consumption will be reduced by a whopping 30 per cent.
The new engines are tipped to be deployed in the next-generation Mazda3, expected to break cover in late 2018, just over six years since the current model premiered. And Australian customers are likely to be among the first in the world to use the new second-generation SkyActiv engine tech.
The new engine is also claimed to comply with ever-tightening global emissions regulations which have already cost companies such as Volkswagen tens of billions of dollars in fines, after it tried to cheat its way around the regulations.
"It's a global engine," Mazda Australia's managing director Martin Benders told motoring.com.au.
"We'll see that in Australia in due course and it's designed to take us to the next generation of emissions with cleaner emissions and better fuel economy."
Mazda's new HCCI or Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition technology is believed to remove the need for a spark plug, which is what usually ignites the controlled explosion in petrol car engines, thus providing power by pushing a piston.
You can read more about the HCCI process that raises the compression ratio to a diesel-like 18:1.
It's not clear if the new HCCI tech will lend itself to turbocharging but Benders confirmed the new technology is production bound for the "later part of the decade".
"That's where it's going to end up [in production vehicles] — if they get it all sorted, yes. It's for the next-generation vehicles," he added, adding that the sparkplug-less engines will work their way into the Mazda6, Mazda2 and SUV models.
"It'll rotate in when as we roll into all-new models."
It's not clear if servicing costs will be reduced due to the lack of spark plugs. When pressed on the subject of zero spark plugs, Benders wasn't keen to provide an unequivocal answer.
Asked if the HCCI technology would completely spark plug-free, he responded, "Yeah sort of. Watch this space."
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