Although electrification (with both hybrid and 100% electric cars) is something very present at the gates of 2025, there are manufacturers who have no intention of abandoning fossil fuel so soon. Volkswagen is clear that it will maintain gasoline engines, something shared by companies like BMW with its new generation engines and even a Toyota reference in hybrids that continues to bet on hydrogen.
Another company that has faith that we will continue using combustion engines for a long time is Mazda. Although there are countries in which the overtaking From electric to gasoline is a reality, the Japanese company is working on a new version of its Skyactiv engine.
Your name? Skyactiv-Z and although we don’t have too much data, the first looks at this engine are very promising.
Skyactiv-Z, Mazda’s combustion bet against electrification
The financial results of companies are usually very long and boring documents that, however, sometimes allow us to find some very valuable piece of information. Recently, for example, Nintendo presented its results, which has allowed us to see how Nintendo Switch sales are going and details such as that Nintendo Switch 2 will be compatible with previous generation software.
Something similar has happened with Mazda, since, in the latest quarterly results, one name has shone: Skyactiv-Z. The company intends that this new generation of the gasoline engine be the replacement that its popular Skyactiv-G and the less implemented Skyactiv-X are needing. In this way, the Japanese company would have a single version of its engine, which would make things easier on the design table and assembly line.
As we say, there are not too many details about this new generation, but it is known that it will be a four-cylinder engine that, in the future, will give way to a six-cylinder engine. The intention is for it to be an extremely efficient enginemaintaining great driving performance, but also a low emissions rate as it is very efficient at both low and high revolutions. From Motor1 they say that Mazda is designing the engine to meet the requirements of the European authorities of Euro 7 and level 4 of the US EPA.
It will achieve this thanks to a combustion method classified as lambda factor 1. Lambda, or ‘λ’, is a Greek letter that represents the equivalence between air and fuel. When λ is equal to 1, the amount of air is perfectly balanced with the fuel during the combustion process, so all the fuel needed is burned, reducing emissions and maximizing performance.
The bad thing is that we should not expect the first Mazdas with the Skyactiv-Z engine in the short term, since it is estimated that the first models will arrive sometime in 2027 and, therefore, the company is not sharing more details.
Image | CEFICEFI
In WorldOfSoftware | There are great advances in synthetic fuels for cars. The problem is that no one believes in them.
