Mazda6 Grand-Am Racer to Showcase SkyActive-D

Mazda taking a page out of the Audi playbook with a diesel racer at the Rolex 24 at Daytona to highlight the arrival of the diesel Mazda6 in North America.



Between the Miller-cycle engine in the Millennia, the rotary in the RX-7 and the world's smallest V6 that was shoehorned into the MX3 hatch, Mazda has an extensive and proven track record of developing and marketing innovative approaches to the internal-combustion engine. And for the first time, it will offer a diesel in North America. We're talking about the new Mazda6, which the Japanese automaker has confirmed will be available Stateside with its SkyActive-D 2.2-liter diesel engine.

We can't tell if you yawned or not at that piece of news, but either way, you may find this next big more exciting. Mazda has announced that it will campaign a racing version of the Mazda6, complete with diesel power, in the Grand-Am series next year. The racing league, which is preparing to merge with the American Le Mans Series, will allow the diesel-powered Mazda6 to campaign in the GX class for experimental technologies. Previewed by this solitary rendering, the Mazda6 racer will pack in more than 400 horsepower from a racing-tuned version of the SkyActive-D that will share 60 percent of its components with the production powerplant.

It's scheduyled to debut at the headline Rolex 24 at Daytona, the American endurance racing classic that traditionally kicks off the new racing season in late January or early February of each year. Of course this won't be the first diesel racing car, Audi having dominated Le Mans for years with its TDIs and Seat having done the same in the World Touring Car Championship. Bringing diesel power to racetracks in the US, however, could put Mazda and its new SkyActive technology on the map for American racing fans... and potential customers.

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Mazda to Build a Toyota-Branded Sub-Compact Based on the Mazda2 in Mexico for North America

Toyota is preparing a new sub-compact model for the U.S., Canada and Mexico that will be based on the Mazda2, with manufacturing to take place at Mazda’s plant in Mexico. The factory is currently under construction and is scheduled to become operational within the fiscal year ending March 2014.

The two companies made the announcement today stating that the as-of-yet, unnamed model will begin production around the summer of 2015 at a pace of 50,000 units per year and will be sold through Toyota dealerships in North America.

"Through the agreement, TMC [Toyota Motor Corporation] aims to strengthen its North American vehicle line-up, while Mazda aims to increase production efficiency and contribute to its profitability," the two Japanese carmakers said in a common statement.

It is believed that the Toyota model will be based on the next generation of the Mazda2, while speaking to Autonews, Toyota spokesman Dion Corbett clarified that it will be a new offering that will not replace another model in the brand's range (the Yaris in particular). "This is part of our attempt to broaden the North American lineup," said Corbett.

While Mazda is building the factory in Mexico, Toyota said it will invest "an appropriate portion of production equipment costs and development costs related to the Toyota vehicle and also an appropriate portion of costs related to the plant’s production-capacity increase".

 

PHOTO GALLERY

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Mazda Sports Car Chief Says RX-7 will Return in 2017, Produce 295HP

If Helen of Troy was the face that launched a thousand ships, then the Mazda RX-7 is definitely the car that has launched a thousand rumors about being resurrected since its discontinuation a decade ago.

Even though it was replaced by the more practical, and still rotary-engine-powered, RX-8 in 2004, the hardcore RX-7 still holds a special place in the hearts of many sports car lovers around the world.

Since August 2011, when production of the RX-8 ceased, Mazda, the sole champion of rotary engines, does not have such a model in its line-up.

RX-7 fans will nevertheless be delighted to hear that the Hiroshima-based carmaker’s chief of sports car division Nobuhiro Yamamoto told The Motor Report during the launch of the revamped MX-5 roadster in Australia that the RX-7 is set to return in 2017.

The year coincides with the 50th anniversary of Mazda’s first Wankel-engined model, the Cosmo Sport, in 1967. Yamamoto, who also led the development of the 26B engine that powered the 787B to victory at Le Mans in 1991, said that specs of the fourth-generation RX-7 are not yet carved in stone.

The 1.3-liter 13B Renesis that powered the RX-8 will be dumped in favor of a development of the 16X, a 1.6-liter unit that despite being unveiled five years ago, hasn’t been used in any of Mazda’s production models yet.

According to Yamamoto, by using a special catalyst the new engine won’t have a problem meeting the stricter Euro VI emission regulations that will come into effect in 2017.

He added that the 16X motor is capable of producing 295HP (300PS, 220 Kw) – and that’s in normally aspirated form. Since his priorities are instant throttle response and linear power delivery, turbocharging is not very high in his agenda.

Yamamoto didn’t completely rule it out, though: “At this time, it has not been determined. Maybe later in life it will be turbo, but to start with maybe not”.

Built on a modified version of the next-generation MX-5 platform, the 2017 RX-7 “would definitely be lighter” than the third-generation model and “probably around the weight of the Toyota 86”, which means about 1,250 kg (2,750 pounds).

This will be made possible by the extended use of lightweight materials like aluminum. Carbon fiber won’t be employed due to its high cost, and hybrid or KERS systems are off the cards, too, because Yamamoto believes that the engine “for a pure sports car, it must be internal combustion.”

Although the GT86 was mentioned, Mazda’s sports car chief said that the new RX-7 won’t come cheap as it’s designed to be a premium product.

Source: Carscoop

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