Mazda is developing a petrol engine that is as clean as an electric car

These days it feels strange to go a week without us having to talk about some new electric or hybrid model, or even about a brand that is already advancing its plans to electrify its models in just one or two years. But amid this mass arrival of hybrid and electric models, plus the ones still to come, some brands remain who believe that combustion engines still have plenty of life left.

Among those brands is Mazda, and its view is not something it has taken lightly or that comes from simple stubbornness; in fact, it has already shown us this with data recently. According to Mazda, in 2020 more than 80% of vehicles will still use internal combustion engines, and despite this these will remain cleaner than an electric model, as long as the latter continue not to use renewable energy to generate electricity. But let’s not kid ourselves: Mazda will also electrify its range from next year onwards.

But alongside its hybrid and electric models, Mazda will continue developing internal combustion engines that are very efficient, more and more so, and the best example of this is its Skyactiv-X technology. This new generation of engines will reach the market from next year: petrol engines characterised by being capable of igniting the fuel through compression, just as happens in diesel engines, so that we will have an engine as efficient as a diesel but with the emissions of a petrol.

In this way, Skyactiv technology gives Mazda an important foundation for continuing to develop internal combustion engines, capable of meeting regulations while being very efficient. That is why Mazda, in statements to Automotive News by the brand’s engine chief Mitsuo Hitomi, is in full development of the new generation of Skyactiv engines, petrol engines that, according to Hitomi, will be as clean as an electric vehicle. Logically we cannot take that claim literally, since an electric car’s emissions are zero, but, as we have said, Mazda takes into account the energy generation process for these models, which for now is not clean.

This third generation of engines, called Skyactiv-3, will arrive after the Skyactiv-X, and will aim to improve thermal efficiency by at least 26%, thus reaching 56% energy utilisation. Mitsuo Hitomi also says that, if it is still possible to reduce CO2 emissions by up to 25%, Mazda’s engines will be able to match an electric vehicle in terms of fuel savings.

The only thing Hitomi has not done is venture a date for the arrival of Skyactiv-3 engines, but unfortunately he has not, so we will keep you informed with future news on this. What is clear is that those of us who love the world of motoring have some very exciting years ahead in terms of engines and their technologies, perhaps not so exciting for whoever has to decide, a few years from now, which powertrain to put in their new car.