Electric Mazda CX-30 unveiled

 New model a sister ship to battery-pure MX-30 about to go on sale here.

The CX-30 EV at the Shanghai motor show, above, is a derivative of the petrol edition popular with Kiwis (below) that appears to run the same drivetrain as the MX-30 Electric (bottom) about to release in New Zealand.

MAZDA’S electric vehicle family has doubled, but chances of one day seeing the ‘second child’ CX-30 in New Zealand alongside the battery-fed MX-30 about to go on sale here seem slim at best.

The fully mains reliant version of the CX-30 unveiled at the Shanghai motor show yesterday would conceivably attract Kiwi interest, as the petrol versions on sale here are popular sellers.

However, Mazda Japan has made clear the new car – called CX-30 EV - is for China only at this point.

That point is reinforced by it being set to be produced solely by the brand's Changan Mazda joint venture in Nanjing, China, rather than in Japan, the sourcing point for all Mazda NZ’s passenger product.

Despite having very different body styles – the MX-30 being more rakish and noteworthy for having pillar-less freestyle doors, which open outwards from the central B-pillar point – the MX-30 and the CX-30 are closely related.

 Both are based on a common architecture, also shared with the Mazda3, and physical dimensions are very close.

The MX-30 formats in two distinct drivetrain provisions – there is one model designed to run with petrol engine-assisted hybrid and another that avails in full electric. Both are destined for New Zealand availability, pricing yet unknown.

The CX-30 EV also appears to share technology with the expressly battery MX-30 Electric.

The MX-30 MX Hybrid, meantime, is powered by a 2.0-litre, four-cylinder petrol engine paired to Mazda's M Hybrid system, producing maximum outputs of 114kW and 200Nm through a six-speed automatic transmission sending power to the front wheels only.

The addition of the mild-hybrid system means the model's official fuel consumption figure is reduced to a claimed 6.4L/100km on a combined cycle.

The MX-30 Electric looks much the same as the mild hybrid car, save for some subtle electric badging on the exterior and a combined AC/DC charging point where the fuel cap would normally be – on the rear right-hand side of the vehicle.

The electric model is powered by a 107kW/271Nm electric motor on the front axle and boasts a 35.5kWh lithium-ion battery pack mounted beneath the floor. It is thought the CX-30 EV has the same powertrain. 

The MX-30 Electric is capable of up to 200km on a single charge according to the World harmonised Light vehicle Testing Procedure (WLTP). The CX-30 EV is thought to have the same range, which is notably lower than some key competitors, like the Hyundai Kona EV, which has 484kms on WLTP.

Styling differences between the CX-30 EV and regular model that Kiwis know are minimal, though the placement of the battery pack under the floor means the electric model rides somewhat higher than its petrol-powered counterpart. It runs on 19-inch wheels and has 'e-SkyActiv' badging.

 It is not clear if the CX-30 EV could provision as the MX-30 Electric also ultimately will, with a petrol-fed rotary engine range-extender drivetrain.

CX-5 family adds second turbo model

New sports-themed SP25T is a $2800 cheaper alternate to full-out Takami

NOW there are two – derivatives of Mazda’s top-selling CX-5 sports utility, that is, with a fiery turbocharged 2.5-litre petrol engine.

One outcome of a mild refresh of the model line is that the 170kW and 420Nm SkyActiv-G 2.5T that has previously restricted to the flagship $61,795 Takami is now also under the bonnet of a new introduction to the family.

At $58,995, the SP25T is effectively a Takami that presents with a bit less plush – so, no leather or sunroof - than the top dog and a slightly sportier ambience, the pair being mechanically identical and both delivering a maker-cited 0-100kmh time of 7.7 seconds.

The engine’s outputs are 30kW/168Nm more than the naturally aspirated 2.5-litre petrol engine offered in mid-spec models.

Mazda NZ says a feature of the SP25T trim is a blackout theme – appropriate, the brand feels, in a country where the national sporting colour is black.

The exterior elements include black metallic alloy wheels and piano black exterior mirrors, while the interior gets black deluxe leatherette/suede seat trim along with a black decoration panel. To set off the black, red stitching has been added to seats and steering wheel.

David Hodge, Mazda NZ managing director, believes the SP25T grade will add to the CX-5s’ solid reputation. 

“With the blackout features it will appeal to New Zealand motorists who want all the great features of the CX-5 but in a sportier package.  It will certainly make a statement on the road.”

Other changes to the CX-5 line up include the addition of privacy glass to GSX models and turbo badging on the SP25T and Takami grades. All models now feature wireless Apple CarPlay as well as Android Auto, though via USB.   

One revision that has appeared overseas will not get here until year-end. That’s the adoption, in high-end models, of a 10.5 inch Mazda Connect infotainment display. For the interim, the upgrade cars will maintain the previous line’s 8.0-inch interface.

The enhanced screen has been on US-market CX-5 models since last August and has a faster processor.

BT-50 a passenger car with a tray

Mazda NZ has explained background to how it set pricing for its new one-tonne ute. They’ve made it part of their passenger car family.

DETERMINATION to align the BT-50 more naturally with its passenger models was a reason Mazda NZ gave when successfully winning head office approval to site the one-tonner into a price zone that has proven significantly different to that occupied by its Isuzu doppelganger.

That impetus also explains why the Auckland-centre distributor has bypassed worksite-biased variants in the D-Max family and focused purely on double cab automatics wellsides, in three rear-drives and three four-wheel-drives, formatting in GSX, GTX and Limited. 

The BT-50 rear-drives placing respectively at $47,490 GSX, $51,490 and $53,990, with the four-wheel-drive versions adding an additional $7000, leaves them undercutting their Isuzu equivalents, most obviously at flagship level, where the Limited 4x4 sites $14,500 below the top D-Max X-Terrain. The latter has additional body styling enhancements that, when added to the BT-50, do not reduce the gap significantly.

 Isuzu Utes New Zealand, which released its range a month before the BT-50 launch yesterday, has been asked to share its thoughts about Mazda NZ’s strategy, but has not responded.

While BT-50’s pricing also leaves it looking good against the category-dominating Ford Ranger and Toyota Hilux, it’s the situation that exists between it and the D-Max that is most likely to create chat as the models are essentially one and the same under different skins.

Identical chassis, drivetrain, closely linked for bulk interior architecture and built in the same factory in Thailand, on a common line. Mazda was able to implement its own exterior styling, so few panels are shared, and had responsibility for the cabin’s look, but the ute is primarily enough of an Isuzu project for Mazda NZ to refer to their brand as being a customer.

David Hodge (pictured), Mazda NZ managing director, said he could not speak to how Isuzu chose to market the D-Max, but confirmed that BT-50 negotiations were conducted solely with Mazda HQ in Hiroshima, took more than a year and were based on persuading that aligning the BT-50 as not only a workhorse but also a lifestyle alternate to the CX-designated sports utilities would bring growth.

The caveat from persuading Japan to give the green light is that the big factor that has driven the ute market, willingness to discount, will be absent from the sales process for this one.

“Traditionally the (ute) segment has been about a high recommended retail and a high discount, and it’s been that way for a very long time,” Hodge says. 

“I think most retail buyers have not had to pay the full RRP for a long time and, if they were, they were probably paying too much.

“With passenger cars, certainly Mazda passenger cars, we’ve tried to make our pricing more transparent, and having our retail price close to what the transaction price is. We’ve now followed that example with the BT-50. 

“We don’t expect there will be discounts, but we think … we will have no problem selling it to buyers wanting to pay the price we ask. We think it is a fair price and still offers bloody good value for money.”

They’re not outright selling the BT-50 as a car, or even a straight out car alternate, but the intent is to sell it in the same way they would a passenger vehicle.

Says Hodge about the type: “It was once pretty much solely the vehicle for farmers, tradies and those in the construction industry.

“While they are still a very important buying segment … we wanted to create a truck that was equally capable of being a tough workhorse and also doing the business of transporting the family in comfort to outdoor leisure activities.

“A design that shines equally in all situations, all the way from rough off-road settings to passenger car-like comfort for active weekend life-stylers and families.”

Mazda NZ is confident a fresh step of now including the BT-50 in the Mazda Car programme that has previously been for passenger models, will pay dividend. The old model was subject to a less generous process than now. Buyers of the new benefit from the same cover that has been provisioned the make’s cars: So five years, 150,000km factory warranty and a fixed priced servicing programme, also over five years, in which any scheduled workshop time will never cost more than $250.

That servicing cost cap is a big driver for building trust, Hodge says. “Some of these services can be really, really expensive. If a customer feels they are being looked after by a dealership then they are more likely to want to stay with a brand.”

There’s a third identified strength with the latest model: It’s improved safety. Hodge says it is “as safe, if not safer, than any other new car on sale today.”

As much as Mazda NZ anticipates growth, and has established sales targets, it has no intent of making these public. The outgoing BT-50 was generally languishing at fifth on the annual ute sales roster, but with the new model offering so much more, and with the Holden Colorado – which usually held at third place behind Hiliux and Ranger even after its maker announced in February it was departing from the market – now out of the picture, it’s clear every lower-placed performer will see opportunity to move up.

Hodge doesn’t disagree, but he and product and sales planning manasger Tim Nalden say BT-50’s success will not be measured by chasing share; it’s more about customer satisfaction. 

“We’ll just accept where the market puts us,” says Hodge. “WE have a really successful passenger range, so we’re not heavily reliant on the BT-50. It sits alongside our passenger range as an extra vehicle, so we have a complete range. It’s not our do-or-die model.

“We’re pretty confident we are going to do alright with our truck, but the volume is what the volume will be. We will have limited amounts that we can get from the factory. It’s not a tap we can turn on quickly. We can increase volume, but it will take a while.”

In respect to this, Mazda NZ has still not had clarity from Japan about the plant’s operational status, which has been in question since Isuzu announced that production has curtailed, and might not restart until February, due to a Germany-based supplier of a vital part having been closed by Covid-19. Isuzu has intimated the vehicle cannot be built without a component only that supplier can provide. So it has closed the factory.

Well, apparently. Hodge says as far as Mazda NZ is concerned, the BT-50 is still in production until it is emphatically advised otherwise.

 “I cannot talk for Isuzu but everything we have been told is that our December production is firm. We have not heard anything about our January production but we will assume, until we hear otherwise, that this is also unaffected.”

Mazda drops BT-50 pricing bombshell

The Mazda BT-50 is out in fighting form, with a flagship whose position allows almost a small car-sized saving over its Isuzu equivalent.

 TWINS under the skin – but the Mazda BT-50 and Isuzu D-Max have proven somewhat less closely related when it comes to price, particularly at sales hot zone flagship level, where a $14,500 difference exists.

Focused purely on double cab automatics wellsides, Mazda’s mix comprises three rear-drives and three four-wheel-drives, formatting in GSX, GTX and Limited, the rear-drives respectively at $47,490 GSX, $51,490 and $53,990 and the four-wheel-drive versions adding an additional $7000.

So, three trim levels versus Isuzu’s four, no single or space cabs as in the partner’s mix and, so, fewer choices.

The line isn’t adverse to work, yet aims at a lifestyle-valuing customer chasing a reasonable passenger experience. It’s all about lifestyle balance, suggests product spokesman Tim Nalden.

“It’s rugged, it gets the job done … but it also offers new versatility outside of nine to five.”

On current trend, pure toilers aren’t requisite for volume expansion. Diesel utes achieve one in four new vehicle sales nationally, double cabs snare 94 percent of that volume and, within that, automatic uptake is high (86 percent). Three in every five utes sold in NZ are diesel, double cab and four-wheel-drive. So, what Mazda has now tailors very well to consumer taste.

And that’s where it gets interesting. Like its sister ship, BT-50 installs a remarkably high tech loading, particularly in respect to safety and driver assist. Like Isuzu, Mazda has felt need to raise its prices to account for this, yet at showroom level, the outcomes are quite different.

All weighing in Mazda’s favour? In scenarios of best specification equivalency with Isuzu’s models, the Mazdas seem to have price advantage.

That is most apparent when flagships are compared. Whereas Isuzu asks $75,490 for the high-tech and glam D-Max X-Terrain, Mazda NZ’s equivalent, the Limited, is a $60,990 vehicle.

The top choice models’ specifications are not identical; X-Terrain standardises with roof rails, fender flares, a rollout tonneau cover, rub liner and aero sports bar Mazda buyers will have to pluck from the accessories catalogue. Even after doing so, the BT-50 buyer is likely spending comfortably less.

The BT-50 enjoys keyless entry and start, a feature only on X-Terrain, in mid as well as high-grade trim; both flagships have part-leather seats but Mazda adds seat heating; the BT-50 is sold with a spare alloy wheel, where the D-Max ships with a steel spare and Mazda is confident it has an appealing warranty and servicing package, both five years and up to 150,000km (any service capped at $250), and five years roadside assist.

On top of that, both stand equally tall due to their maker (Isuzu) having gone to town on active and passive safety equipment in an attempt to establish technology and safety benchmarks.

Buy into either range and regardless of the variant you get eight airbags (including a segment-first “far side” restraint to separate driver and front passenger in a side collision), autonomous emergency braking, stop/go adaptive cruise, blind spot detection, lane departure warning/assist, forward collision avoidance, drive attention warning, automatic high-beam lights, rain-sensing wipers and a reversing camera.

The D-Max and BT-50 are the only two utes tested under the very latest ANCAP protocols; both achieved the maximum five score and, though other rivals have this too, their returns were achieved when the test was less stringent. The Isuzu just beat the Mazda on the Vulnerable Road User score (69 per cent versus 67), so it’s officially the safest one-tonne ute on the market right now.

Mazda’s pricing strategy is also bullish when compared for those for the Toyota Hilux and Ford Ranger, which are the dominant two choices with ute buyers, again resonating in the same formats Mazda brings, as well as the Mitsubishi Triton.

When comparison restricts to the top spec offers, the Limited undercuts the Ranger Wildtrak – and incoming $69,990 FX4 - but places $2000 above Hilux SR5 Cruiser, though Mazda’s spec is stronger, closer overall to Ford’s highest trim provisions and, in some instances, exceeding them.

However, the situation that exists with the BT-50 and D-Max is arguably most interesting, given that they are essentially one and the same under different skins. Identical chassis, drivetrain, closely linked for bulk interior architecture and are built in the same factory line, on a common line (which has closed until February due to Covid concerns).

It is not clear if suspension tuning is different between brands, but both offer same base level of performance of 140kW/450Nm from the 3.0-litre turbo-diesel four-cylinder engine. Quoted fuel consumption is the same for both, with an 8.0L/100km combined claim for the shared auto transmissions; so, around 20 percent more efficient than the preceding BT-50’s five-cylinder. 

Both utes have a maximum braked towing capacity of 3500kg – pretty standard for a 4x4 double-cab ute – and both have payloads of 1050 to 1080kg. 

Off-road wise, they share approach, departure and ramp-over angles of 30.5, 24.2 and 23.8 degrees, respectively and each is able to wade in depths up to 800mm.

Look inside either and the cabins are very well equipped. Each receives a 9.0-inch infotainment screen which runs wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto on top-spec models. A smaller digital read-out within the instrument cluster to provide key vehicle information. Entry-level variants in each range equip a 7.0-inch infotainment screen.

Dual-zone climate control, rear air vents, leather-appointed seats and keyless entry are other hallmarks in the higher-end models. 

 Fair to summarise that both new models are far advanced than their predecessors; all those extras unavoidably have to add to the bottom line. The old D-Max at full retail was positioned between $39,890 and $61,990, but an aggressive clearance over the last few months has delivered those editions for substantially reduced stickers. The previous BT-50, which will continue in some forms for months yet, was generally around $8000 less now.

The utes share few exterior panels because Mazda’s styling team has again worked to engender a tie to its car line; much more successfully than with the previous generation, which suffered from over-ambitious creativity and poor timing.

 Within 18 months of the last ute coming out, Mazda adopted a new styling ethos called Kodo which it still adheres to 10 years on. The old ute was right out of step; the new one not at all.

BT-50, D-Max okay for now as factory closes

Supply of the sister utes is considered strong enough to last the expected period when production of both is suspended, due to coronavirus.

MAZDA BT-50 is about to release here, following in tyre tracks of its Isuzu D-Max sister ship, which launched here in October.

 DISTRIBUTORS for the Isuzu D-Max and its Mazda BT-50 sister ship are confident they have enough stock here and en route to establish the utes in the market while the factory in Thailand making both is closed, potentially for at least three months.

However, the national sales operations for each brand have stopped short of commenting about the potential of supply of the technically-aligned models yet being affected at some juncture. 

All that is known for sure about the shutdown is that it has been caused by a third-party supplier being unable to get a vital component to Isuzu, which makes both vehicles, and that this will likely keep the plant closed until February, though that timeline is tentative.

Mazda New Zealand was today awaiting further information from head office in Japan.

At the moment, it has not been advised about whether the BT-50 is even directly impacted. It is on standby for any updates and says, for now, it’s business as usual.

Meantime, Isuzu Utes New Zealand has offered the following: “ Our understanding is there is a reduction in production due to the delay in component supply from Europe, and are therefore working with (the) factory to manage our future supply chain.” 

News of the situation comes as Mazda NZ is in the process of launching the BT-50 to dealers, with intent to publicly announce pricing and specifications when showing it to media on November 24.

A Mazda NZ spokesman expressed confidence today that even if there was to be an impact on New Zealand, it would not be felt immediately – or perhaps at all.

There is a big stockpile of vehicles in this country already because the model is of high priority “and we have forward ordered supply numbers accordingly.”

Isuzu Utes New Zealand, which released the D-Max in October, offered much the same thought.

“We have sufficient stock here in NZ with further arriving later this month, December and January,” said communications manager Kimberley Waters.

Isuzu Japan acknowledged the situation yesterday, saying had to ‘suspend’ assembly. Subsequent media reports say it stems back to a parts supplier in Europe being shut down due to Covid-19. Some outlets are suggesting the crucial item is an engine component from Germany.

The two utes were co-developed by Mazda and Isuzu and, though stylings and equipment levels appear to differ, they are identical in mechanical make-up; same 3.0-litre turbodiesel engine, same transmissions and a common platform.

Yet that doesn’t automatically mean Mazda is in the same pickle. Parts for the jointly-developed vehicles are sourced globally, so at this stage only the D-Max is absolutely known to be affected.

The D-Max line selected for New Zealand appears identical to that going to Australia, where Isuzu’s distributor has expectation of fall-out.

It has sent out statement regretting the vehicle’s production has been “temporarily put on hold” and explaining that this “unfortunate pause in vehicle production is related to one of our key component suppliers in Europe (producing unique components for our Australian-specification D-Max) has had to temporally close their manufacturing plant due to COVID-19.

“As a result we have had to suspend our D-MAX production in Thailand for up to three months, with a tentative recommencement of vehicle production of February 2021."

The models’ arrival and market impact in New Zealand is a big news story as the latest generation has been the first one-tonne utility to be accredited with a top-drawer five star safety score under a toughened test regime that independent scorer and national crash test agency, the Australasian New Car Assessment Programme, implemented in January. Other competitor utes with five star scores from ANCAP received these when the test was easier.

Max score for Mazda sister ship

What’s good for the D-Max is good for the BT-50, our crash testing agency decides.

DIFFERENT badges, same basic engineering, technology and design – and it’s paid off for Mazda’s twin to the Isuzu D-Max in crash testing. 

A month after determining Isuzu’s soon-to-release new one tonne ute was worthy of a maximum five star score from a crash test that became tougher this year, the national crash testing agency has decided the BT-50 that is a co-development of that model should achieve the same score. 

Surprised? Well, there’s potential you might be because, even though the sister utes are both on the top rung, it’s questionable the Mazda can claim utter category-first equality.

Mazda’s ute scores just slightly lower for impacts regarding pedestrians and cyclists in the vulnerable road user criteria due to the different nose design.

That in itself might seem an interesting outcome as, when it came to assessing the Mazda, the New Zealand Government-funded and NZ Automobile Association-supported Australasian New Car Assessment Programme didn’t put one into the wall, as occurred with the D-Max. 

Rather, the outcomes determined for the Mazda accrue from the agency extrapolating results from the D-Max test and also giving consideration to technical data provided by Mazda.

All this means the BT-50 carries the exact same ratings for adult occupant protection (83 percent), child occupant protection (89 percent), and safety assist (81 percent).

The safety system on the Mazda, like the Isuzu, consists of a comprehensive suite of tech such as AEB, adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning with steering assist, blind spot monitoring and advanced speed assist, and many others. 

ANCAP’s rating applies for all BT-50 models.

Isuzu will have a head start on leveraging the score, with the D-Max expected to be on sale within the fortnight; timing which gives it around four week’s head start over the Mazda, this to honour an international agreement between the makes that gives Isuzu first dibs on strength that the ute is their basic design and comes from their factory.

Current BT-50 to keep selling beside new

The old and new models will be side-by-side for at least five months.

OLD will remain selling beside new when Mazda here releases the latest BT-50.

Talk of at least some variants from the present model family remaining on sale for months beyond the new rig’s arrival has been tacitly confirmed by the national distributor.

 While Mazda New Zealand isn’t keen to discuss specifics of how and when everything will unfold, it has confirmed the two generations will sit together and also not denied this is planned to occur from November until next March. 

Conceivably, it’s a strategy that seems to be mainly to answer demand for models other than those in a dual cab configuration, which is the only format the new vehicle will initially provision in.

Thought that the distributor might also be undertaking a plan to lessen the sticker shock that has come with the new model’s sister ship, the Isuzu D-Max, seems less likely now that BT-50 pricing for Australia has been released.

Assuming – and it’s sometimes not a good idea to – that our neighbour’s positioning has some relevance to what will happen here, then the Mazda would seem to be in stronger position than the Isuzu models. 

On today’s exchange rate, the 11-strong BT-50 line starts at the equivalent of $NZ47,694, for a dual cab chassis four by two in XT automatic form, and tops at $64,889 as a dual cab pick up four-wheel-drive auto GT.

The Isuzu line runs from $49,990 to $75,490 here. 

Mazda NZ product and sales planning manager Tim Nalden has indicated that NZ market pricing is still being sorted.

“We’re still obviously working through that as it’s coming out toward the end of the year.”

He did not want to go into the details of the product strategy, beyond acknowledging the current and incoming vehicles will be together for a while.

“We just think there’s potential for the current model.”

What helps Mazda NZ with this is that the new BT-50 and the existing vehicle come from different plants in Thailand.

The one incoming built in Isuzu’s plant in Thailand, off a line that has been dedicated to making the Holden Colorado and the previous D-Max.

The present BT-50, of course, was developed with Ford, and comes from the AutoAlliance factory which will continue to make the Ranger for the next year.

One potential selling point for the D-Max is the impressive score it achieved in crash testing by an independent assessor recognised and funded by our Government and the New Zealand Automobile Association.

Ironically, that five star accreditation meted the D-Max after it flew through a tougher test than older utes faced to achieve their equivalent scores won’t be of use to Mazda.

Although the BT-50 and D-Max and identical in technical make up and are sure to be closely related in their engineering, it is understood by Nalden that the Mazda will have to undergo an entirely separate crash test so as to achieve a wholly bespoke rating.

31,000 fewer registrations in 2020 predicted

Mazda NZ’s boss disagrees with some recent assessments but also holds belief that the new vehicle market is in a rough ride.

david Hodge: Mazda is in good shape to weather tough conditions.

 NEW passenger and commercial vehicle sales in 2020 will likely be down 20 percent over last year, a drop of almost 31,000 registrations. 

 This assessment is from Mazda New Zealand’s boss, who holds that crunch time is coming.

If David Hodge’s prediction for this degree of calendar year-on-year decline is realised, it will represent the biggest drop since 2009, when new car sales plummeted 28 percent as the local economy tanked amid the global financial crisis.

Last year’s accrual of 154,479 new passenger and light commercial vehicles was already a decline, being 4.3 percent off the 2018 tally.

Regardless that the last three months has seemed rosy for registrations, the market year to date was down 24 percent at the end of August, Hodge notes.

It will remain tough though he also contends his own brand is in good shape, all things considered, to weather what’s ahead.

For one, he says, his make has steered clear of an emerging national stock shortage scenario of concern to the distributors’ representative body, the Motor Industry Association. 

In respect to the surge in registrations over the past three months that has hastened the depletion of the national new vehicle stock pile to apparent verge of exhaustion, Hodge reminds that some of this is down to orders from April and May – when the industry was frozen by the national lockdown - coming to fruition.

The BT-50 is Mazda’s next new model here and is considered a crucial vehicle.

He respects the MIA’s reasons for offering a view about the increasingly parlous state of stock availability, and doesn’t absolutely question the accuracy of figures being bandied, but says it isn’t representative of his own brand’s status.

According to the association, new vehicle distributors normally carry up to 100 days’ stock for vehicles and large parts, but this has reduced by around 50 percent, to just over 11,000 units – the lowest in at least eight years and half the tally held in April. The situation for commercial models is said to be worse, that stockpile have quartered to under 5000 vehicles by the end of last month.

“Maybe 100 days is right as an industry average, but it’s not our situation. We have a shorter pipeline (for stock) against, for instance, the European brands.

“We are comfortable with our stock levels. We are lean, yes, but our stock pipeline is full, absolutely chocka.

“We have no problem at all with the number of vehicles coming to us.”

He wondered if Mazda had advantage over many other makes, or at least those unable to source from Japan, where production was virtually back to normal, or as close as it could be with working conditions being adjusted for coronavirus safety measures.

Mazda NZ takes cars from two plants in Japan and the BT-50 is from Thailand.

“Our plants are as close to 100 percent as is possible. The Japanese plants lost a shift the other day because of a typhoon, but other than that they are at full shifts.”

Hodge says Mazda production been relatively unaffected by coronavirus so the supply pipeline is full.

The commercial sector is now of high interest to Mazda NZ, as it plans a November release for the new-generation BT-50, by and large a doppelganger for the Isuzu D-Max that goes on sale on October. 

That model comes from the Isuzu plant in Thailand where, Hodge says, the impact of Covid-19 has not been huge. Also, the local workforce was in good readiness.

“They are accustomed to wearing masks, so that wasn’t unnatural for them, and they (Thai people) are not hand-shakers, so there’s another factor that probably makes them safer.

“I think the Thai plant did shut down for a while but that was demand-driven, not health-driven.” 

Hodge says the country going into lockdown in April was a stress for the motor industry and enforced that the car business at distributor level was essentially a “big money go round, money in, money out. 

The ‘money’ in suddenly curtailed “and it was a hard stop. But the money out kept happening as we still had a pipeline of cars and a commitment to the plant for vehicles we ordered and had to pay for.

“It was an issue of liquidity and we worked hard with local banks here. We had strong backing relationships and that’s what saw us through that initial shock.” 

After that, it was a waiting game. “We carried on work from home and though we didn’t sell anything we had a launch (the CX-30) at that time.” It also maintained a parts supply, initially to emergency services but gradually to the general public as shutdown conditions eased.

“Once we got out of Level Three, then to Level Two it was rally business as usual and when we got to One it was ‘yay, everything is back to the way it was.’

“But during April and mos of May the industry basically stopped. It didn’t go in a decline or anything, it was a hard stop. Same for the entire economy.” 

The tourism, aviation and hospitality sectors had a “bloody good stomp” and were still quite sore, still, he suggested, “but the rst of the economy basically has largely carried on.” 

The apparent rush in new vehicle sales in June, July and August was more perceived that actual, he suggested. The April and May activity also had influence.

“A lot of the sales in June, July and August were people who were going to buy in April and May. That has just helped top up those months.” 

The science of SPCCI explained

Raised compression and ultra-lean air:fuel ratios are at the core of an innovative combustion control process set to debut here soon. The new SkyActiv-X petrol engine will power flagship additions to the Mazda3 and CX-30 line-ups. 

A small displacement Roots-type supercharger assists with the high volume of air needed for ultra-lean combustion.

‘CROSSOVER’ has become a modern automotive buzzword.

Mazda has developed a crossover engine – one which runs on petrol but has combustion characteristics more closely aligned to diesel.

And to emphasise the achievement it’s applied the X-suffix to its SkyActiv nomenclature.

The new 2.0-litre SkyActiv-X delivers the throttle response and revving characteristics of a petrol engine with the high torque and low consumption attributes of a diesel.

It’s a practical application of the Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) petrol engine principle in which a very lean air:fuel  mixture reacts spontaneously to heat and pressure during the compression stroke.

To-date HCCI has been considered impractical for production vehicles because they work in a narrow range of conditions. Variations in atmospheric pressure, temperature and fuel quality can result in destructive pre-ignition and detonation.

Mazda’s clever solution has been to add spark control to an engine that theoretically shouldn’t require a spark plug along with a world-first application of in-cylinder pressure sensors.

The SkyActiv-X engine achieves both spark ignition and compression ignition and can move between modes.

Mazda calls the technology SPark Controlled Compression Ignition (SPCCI). The new engine has a very high 16.3:1 static compression ratio and operates at extremely lean air:fuel mixtures.

The theoretical ideal for gasoline engines is to burn a 14.7:1 air:fuel ratio - known as stoichiometric - which defines that all fuel is burnt without excess air.

SkyActiv-X can operate at ratios more than twice as lean (higher than 30:1) – a scenario in which a spark plug would be unable to ignite the lean mixture.

SkyActiv engine production is now at full steam

In SkyActiv-X the spark plug is used to initiate and control combustion. As the piston is compressing the ultra-lean mixture the engine control systems are monitoring cylinder pressure and combustion is initiated with a small and precisely timed atomised fuel charge being injected close to the spark plug.

When ignited it creates an expanding fireball (Mazda calls this an air piston) that rapidly raises the pressure and temperature in the combustion chamber to the point where the much leaner mixture is ignited.

Mazda says size and timing of the fireball is being constantly altered. At cold start and under high revs/high load conditions the engine primarily works in spark ignition mode.

Across a range of normal driving conditions, it is estimated the engine operates in SPCCI mode about 90 per cent of time.

The extremely lean mixture burns cooler which in turn reduces temperature differences in the cylinder head, piston and cylinder walls. The cooler combustion also significantly reduces the formation of nitrogen oxides (NOx).

Along with less fuel the engine also requires more air for which the solution is a small displacement, belt-driven ‘‘Roots’’ type supercharger.

Mazda's MZ-D Connect centre display provides confirmation of when the SkyActiv-X engine is running in SPCCI mode.

In common with the familiar SkyActiv-G 2.0-litre direct injection petrol unit, the SkyActiv-X measures 1998cc displacement.  The engines share much of their block and bore/stroke architecture but a new cylinder head has been designed for SkyActiv-X.

Peak power is 132kW at 6000rpm (compared to the current 2.0-litre SkyActiv-G developing 114kW) along with 224Nm of torque at 3000rpm (up from 200Nm and arriving 1000rpm earlier than current SkyActiv-G engines).

When its powering a six-speed auto Mazda3 hatch on 18-inch alloy wheels the fuel consumption is rated at 5.8L/100km (WLTP test procedure) and Mazda estimates an overall consumption improvement in the region of 15 to 17 per cent along with corresponding CO2 emission improvements.

There’s also a Mild Hybrid contribution to the SkyActiv-X efficiency equation with a belt-driven 24-volt integrated starter/generator system. It assists with engine starting, initial movement away from stationary and bolsters the lower portion of the torque curve.

Hybrid output is rated at 4.8kW of power at 1000rpm with a 60.5Nm torque boost at just 200rpm.

To support the new engine characteristics the gear ratios have been altered. The SPCCI engine doesn’t conform to a normal pattern of increased fuel usage as engine revs increase so shorter gear ratios allow the engine to rev a little higher and provide improved response and a sportier character.

While Mazda has achieved a petrol engine breakthrough with its SkyActiv-X technology, the company says diesel engine vehicles will continue and there is a second generation SkyActiv-D diesel family expected to be announced in the near future.

the Mazda3 (above) and CX-30 are first candidates for this new engine technology.

Sky’s the limit for innovative powertrain

As NZ introduction nears, it’s timely to remind what a breakthrough this tech potentially represents.

Mazda is now hinting the SkyActiv-X tech won’t restrict to the 2.0-litre engine likely to provision to NZ drivers soon.

“IT is a combustion technology – and that combustion can work on any size of engine, so it doesn’t need to be a 2.0-litre; it can be in other things…”

As New Zealand ramps up to receive our first Mazda vehicles with the brand’s SkyActiv-X engine technology, this comment from the marque’s marketing director in Australia is a good reminder about the full potential of the world’s first production-ready petrol that uses compression ignition.

For now, two models off a common platform have adopted what Hiroshima formally calls it’s SPCCI – for spark plug controlled compression ignition – tech: The Mazda3 and the CX-30 crossover.

Those cars run together in every market where SkyActiv-X places; including in Australia, though there the introductions are staged. The road car first, from this month, and the CX-30 following in September.

Will that double act also provision in New Zealand? All odds favour that outcome, but the local distributor isn’t yet ready to make an announcement. Media have been notified of a conference dedicated to SkyActiv discussion will occur in four weeks’ time.

Anyway, when Mazda Australia staged its press introduction to the cars last week, marketing head Alistair Doak made a good point by reminding that simply because SPCCI – and the mild hybrid involvement it also delivers (more on this in a bit) dubbed Mazda M Hybrid - only packages for now in a 2.0-litre four cylinder form doesn’t mean it cannot reach into other displacements or cylinder counts in the future.

compact crossovers and SUVs are on a sales roll, so a SkyActiv-X provision in the well-received CX-30 is a logical enhancement.

Doak provided the comment that introduces this story as a response to being asked whether the new 2.0-litre four-cylinder could power a vehicle as large as the Mazda CX-9, as an example.

He went on to suggest hinted that Mazda might choose to upscale SkyActiv-X to an engine of larger displacement. But equally true, he suggested, there was no reason the maker couldn’t develop a smaller engine employing the same process.

Which means? Sorry, Doak – doubtless because he is a former motoring writer – was too canny to fall into letting out any secrets in respect to future rollouts.

However, he hinted that the option likely won’t remain the preserve of flagship models in the Mazda3 and CX-30 ranges for long.

Currently, he said, there were no plans to expand SkyActiv-X in other models, “but it’s certainly available to us in Mazda3 and CX-30. It’s available in Europe in those models, across all grades… or most grades…

“So there is that availability… should the desire from customers be there. But ultimately, it’s up to us, from a marketing and brand point of view to tell the story, and explain what SkyActiv is,” he explained. 

“If people like that story, and are curious, then hopefully they’ll come and test-drive, and hopefully they’ll buy.

“If the demand is there, then absolutely, we’ll meet that demand. But we haven’t started yet, so it’s very much a hypothetical at this point.”

SkyActiv-X is certainly a new chapter, in that it marks the start of Mazda’s corporate goal to reduce ‘well-to-wheel’ emissions by 50 percent from 2010 to 2030.

It has been in production since last August, and was first revealed to the world in 2018, so you might wonder why it has taken so long to get here.

reduced emissions are a strong plus point with SPCCI.

Coronavirus likely hasn’t been much help but even before that global calamity Mazda had determined to focus first on servicing western Europe, for simple reason that countries there encourage low CO2 engines. The Mazda3 hits that button, if not quite as effectively as a hybrid, with a claimed emission of 127 grams per kilometre. 

Sure enough, the make has seen a brisk take-up of the technology in those initial target markets, to the point where the acceptance rate has been much higher than it anticipated.

"Since we launched the engine, we are seeing a very encouraging feedback: 60 percent of the orders for the Mazda3 are currently for cars equipped with the Skyactiv-X engine, as well as 45 percent of orders for the Mazda CX-30 crossover," Mazda Europe CEO Yasuhiro Aoyama said last August. That rate has not decreased since then and the demand has stretched Mazda’s capabilities.

Still, it seems to have now found ability to service our part of the world. Our neighbour reckons it can achieve good supply of the Mazda3, which it takes in manual and automatic formats, and the CX-30, which it will achieve purely in auto. NZ might be even more selective and take just the auto.

SPCCI’s potential to deliver will be eagerly monitored. For one, everyone will be keen to establish the value aspect; a focus that becomes important because this is a premium priced engine, more expensive than the ‘regular’ four cylinders that provision in the two models in 2.0-litre and 2.5-litre formats.

In our neighbour’s case the SkyActiv-X models cost $NZ3300 more than the priciest 2.5s. It’s expected Mazda NZ will do as other markets have and package the powertrain into its plushest trim level, which in this market is called Takami. That’ll be a new fit out for the CX-30, where the current trim line tops with a Limited provision.

As said, SkyActiv-X uses compression ignition typical of a diesel, but with a petrol engine which the brand says helps blend the high-revving character of a petrol engine with the fuel efficiency and torque of an oiler. 

Capable of both spark ignition and compression ignition, the engine can utilise the two types of combustion while operating in tandem.

To further maximise fuel efficiency, the engine features an integrated, belt-driven starter generator and 24-volt lithium-ion battery which assists the engine and recoups lost energy during deceleration. 

The addition qualifies this to be considered the first hybrid offering in Mazda’s local line-up. Next year, of course, it seems set to deliver its first electric car, with the MX-30.

As explained in previous stories, the attraction of SkyActiv-X is that it presents an intriguing ‘cake and eat it’ proposal – decent pep and yet also potential to deliver very good parsimony.

European numbers show the new 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine will generate 132kW and 224Nm of torque, while fuel economy of 4.3 litres per 100km from the manual is getting close to Toyota Prius levels of efficiency. Be aware that this figure is the result of Mazda using the NEDC testing regime, a format that has now been largely shelved on grounds it’s results are difficult to achieve in everyday driving. Using the now preferred 'real world' (WLTP) fuel economy formula, the claimed consumption is 5.4L/100km.

Still, that thrift and the power outputs place it above the existing 114kW/200Nm 2.0-litre unit and, while the 2.5-litre engine has more punch, with 139kW/252Nm, it also achieves it by using more fuel, 6.6 litres per 100km in an automatic Mazda3 on the test cycle.

D heading for A-plus?

The D-Max utility’s release in Australia points to exciting news for Kiwi buyers of this model – and its impending Mazda sister ship.

BOUGHT a Ford Ranger or Toyota Hilux in the past few years purely on strength of these being considered well-kitted for driver assists and safety equipment? 

If so, then perhaps the replacements for those models should be two rigs that until now have been overshadowed on those ingredients.

Impression that this model and the Mazda BT-50 that derives from it are set to deliver enough advanced safety and technology to reset market expectations has been cemented by how the D-Max has just presented in Australia.

While Isuzu and Mazda in New Zealand have yet to set release dates for the new-gen one-tonners in this market – beyond saying it’ll be before year-end -  and even though the BT-50 has also yet to touch down in Australia, the D-Max’s specification for Australia, its first export market, have been fully laid out.

That act - which includes the video here today, made because the Australian media were introduced by way of a virtual launch, because of coronavirus - lends accurate insight in what’s coming here, given that the NZ market representatives of both makes have never made any secret that we can expect basically identical provisions that are being delivered across the Tasman.

If so, then ute market leader, Ford, and consistent runner-up Toyota are going have to become used to now treating the Isuzu and Mazda products more seriously as direct equals than they might have done previously. 

Isuzu essentially shocked the Australian industry in announcing every single model in the 2021 D-max range – including the basic tradie versions – will come with an advanced safety package, including class-first advances of perimeter sensing technology and a centre airbag.

It’s highly likely everything that goes into the Isuzu will transfer to the Mazda, given those model lines are already so closely aligned in every other major mechanical and design aspect.

As is, all D-Max models announced for our neighbour – and that’s four variants, from base SX to a new flagship X-Terrain fitted with plenty of flash kit - come with the new Intelligent Driver Assistance System (IDAS) with a unique twin-camera system used by independent partner Hitachi. Enabling 3D effect, the cameras substitute the usual radar sensors which mount lower in the vehicle and can be easily fouled by mud, dirt and accessories.

Yes, it might well come at a cost. The new flagship D-Max X-Terrain Crew Cab is $A58,990 ($64,648 in our money), so some $A7000 ($7676) more than its current range-topping D-Max LS-T.

However, this provision also means that what has until now been a stalwart work ute has become an especially advanced offering.

The full capabilities of the safety system include Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB), AEB with turn assist, forward collision warning, post-collision warning, mis-acceleration mitigation and adaptive cruise control (but only on automatics), lane departure warning and prevention, lane keep assist (also not for manual), traffic sign recognition, speed limited, blind-spot monitoring, auto high beams, rear cross-traffic alert and driver attention assist.

This big step up in safety tech is supported by the ute having also gone new in its design: A new look, fresh – though still, of course, old-school ladder frame - chassis and an all-new engine and improved drivetrain are also likely to be appreciated. 

Three D-Max cabin types are offered to our neighbour - Single Cab, Space Cab and Crew Cab – and aside from X-Terrain there are SX, LS-M and LS-U variants. 

D-Max’s renowned robustness is still a core ingredient, Isuzu assure; it says the development programme included more than four million kilometres of “vigorous” testing to ensure it has improved in every area of ride and handling and performance yet retained that acknowledged toughness.

Though it maintains the 3.0-litre capacity associated with the current D-Max, the ‘4JJ3-TCX’ turbo diesel engine is new. It produces 140kW at 3600rpm 450Nm of torque at 1600-2600rpm, an increase of 10kW and 30Nm over the old motor.

Isuzu speaks to a quieter, more refined performance with noticeable real-world driveability improvements. Just as importantly, in the legislative world, it now complies with Euro 5 emissions regs. Be prepared for a slight change of pace in respect to fuel burn. In some variants it sits at 7.7 litres per 100km

But others are up to 8.1L.

Transmission choices are a six-speed manual or auto, the latter being a new Aisin Rev-Tronic unit with sports mode and manual shifting.

A body that has grown wider (with a 30mm longer wheelbase) provides more cabin space, yet the shape is more aerodynamically efficient. The interior fitout has been covered previously, but one turnup is that the multimedia system (seven-inch screen at base, nine-inch for the luxury provision) is capable of wireless Apple CarPlay connectivity – a first for a ute in this market. Android users need a USB cable to use the Auto service. 

The larger touchscreen has built-in sat nav and interior appointments have also been given the upmarket treatment with new finishes and soft-touch surfaces.

The flagship has electrically operated leather-accented seats, piano black trim, remote engine start, dark grey alloy wheels, aero sports bar, roller tonneau cover and tub liner.

Ride and handling have improved, with new independent double-wishbone front and the same three-leaf spring setup in the rear but with 30mm of axle travel and tuned to light or heavy load work depending on the grade of model.

It also delivers upgrade to off-road ability, with all 4×4 models now offering an electromechanical rear differential lock, improved ‘Terrain Command’ that can shift from low to high range within one second on the move at up to 100kmh.

The D-Max has an 800mm wading depth. Aussie’s LS-U and X-Terrain also have a higher 240mm ground clearance with 30.5 degrees approach, 24.2 degrees departure and 22.8 degrees ramp-over. All four-by-two and four-by-four also offer hill start assist and hill descent control as standard.

For touring and working, the payload goes up to 1320kg in the SX cab chassis, and towing capacity is 3500kg braked with a 350kg tow ball limit. GCM is 5950kg and GVM goes up to 3100kg.

Oh yeah, we need to talk about the accessories – no ute being complete without a few add-ons, right?

The Aus market is taking more than 50 accessories -  bullbars, tow bars, electronic brake systems, roof racks, cargo organisers, alloy trays and tonneau covers, as well as toolboxes and oddments. 

Take note that the Isuzu factory nudge or alloy/steel bullbars will work with the IDAS system.

Towers will be able to select a tow pack with tow ball kit rated to 350kg and meeting expectations of the 3500kg braked towing capacity, and a Redarc electric braking system. There’s also a weight-distribution hitch on the list.

And what will all that tech do for the crash test rating? Conceivably, it should go well. Isuzu itself is said to be highly confident D-Max will score a maximum five-star ANCAP safety rating. However, that’s yet to be proven. crash testing has been delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Mazda3 Turbo breaks cover, but …

The much-rumoured hotshot Mazda3 has been revealed. It’s exciting. Don’t let it get to you.

 RIGHT out of left field … and, unfortunately, at this stage only likely to be built in left-hand drive.

 That’s the news about the much-anticipated Mazda3 Turbo, whose existence was finally properly confirmed today in an announcement that also makes clear just Canada, Mexico and the United States are the only cited markets.

Mazda New Zealand has reinforced this, saying prior to the unveiling (but subsequent to an early sneak peak out of Mexico): “With regards to the Mazda3 Turbo, we currently do not have any information on availability of this vehicle for right-hand drive markets.” Asked, in wake of today’s announcement, if it had anything fresh to say, it said it had not.

What makes that news all the harder to take is that the first Mazda3 hot hatch – and sedan (cos it’s coming in both shapes) – since the MPS seems perfectly baked.

 In addition to releasing the two images here, Mazda USA has also provisioned enough technical info about a product they’ll have on the street within a few months to make it patently obvious it’s even more pumped than was first conjectured. 

Though intrinsically the same unit running in the CX-5, CX-9 and Mazda6, the model’s 2.5-litre turbo four-cylinder petrol engine has been retuned to produce 186kW and 434Nm. As against 140kW/252Nm in the CX-5 and 170kW/420Nm in the larger models.

Regardless of all the extra mumbo, those outputs relate unevenly against obvious rivals already working the scene here – basically, less power than a lot but generally more torque.

The Hyundai i30 N makes 202kW/378Nm, the newly-arrived Ford Focus ST has 207kw/420Nm, the Honda Civic Type-R cracks out 228kW/400Nm and VW’s Golf GTI and Golf R respectively deliver 180kW/370Nm and 213kW/380Nm.

The Mazda is four-wheel-drive and, interestingly, will avail purely with a version of the six-speed automatic that’s staple fare in Mazda product here.

The images don’t give too much away about the appearance pack, but enough is shown to suggest it’s quite subdued, save for the addition of some additional black exterior elements, such as a front splitter and rear spoiler.

Celebration cars a Kiwi choice

Mazda Japan has allocated NZ 100 centenary special cars – what form they take is up to Kiwi buyers.

 LOCAL market allocation of special editions Mazda has created to celebrate a brand milestone is being decided by novel means. 

Customers have the final say about models dress in celebration of the Hiroshima brand hitting a century of existence, since 1960 as an automobile manufacturer.

Auckland-domiciled Mazda New Zealand has explained this in wake of an earlier announcement about the consignment size. 

The only constraint from Japan is that it can take no more than 100 100th Anniversary Editions and that the trim can apply to the nine passenger models it produces – so, if you want a special BT-50 one-tonne ute, bad luck. 

Beyond that, it’s open slather of what provisions nationally in a colour scheme and with equipment that pays homage to Mazda’s first passenger vehicle, the 1960 R360 coupe.

A process that explains why these are being called ‘special’ rather than ‘limited’ editions is also influenced by the production cycle. Mazda being among makers that simply hasn’t capacity to send all the kinds of cars it creates down the line in any one day, so the order deadlines - in August, October and November - are by car line. It’s also why delivery will span the next five months.

 However, the national customer response already has been so strong already that it is conceivable the whole process could be wrapped up before the mid-August deadline for the first tranche, brand spokespeople say. 

“We’re limited to 100 units all up,” explained marketing services manager Maria Tsao. “But we haven’t been restricted on which models.”

The Anniversary-trimmed Mazda2, Mazda3, Mazda6, CX-3, CX-30, CX-5, CX-8, CX-9 and MX-5 each carry a $1500 premium over their respective donor variants – which are existing Takami editions except where that trim doesn’t avail (so, for Mazda2 and MX-5, Limiteds appear to be the start point).

Anniversary Editions are Snowflake White Pearl on the outside with special badging and wheel caps, burgundy leather seat trim with headrest logo, red floor carpet and floor mats aluminium branding, Anniversary key fob, special edition lower instrument panel trim and white door trim inserts. 

The order book for MX-5s and Mazda6s closes first, in mid-August. CX-5 and CX-8 decisions have to be made by mid-September. Interest in the remaining candidate cars has to be sorted by mid-October. The last cars will be here by January; the first are expected within two months.

It’s not as confusing as it might sound, Tsao and product and sales planning manager Tim Nalden assure. The beauty is that customers get a level of involvement makers generally don’t allow. As Nalden puts it – this is less about provisioning 100 cars than satisfying 100 customers. 

Mazda NZ has declined to detail what’s hitting the right buttons but says suggestion some cars – the MX-5 being the obvious primary choice - might lend themselves more to favouritism hasn’t really played out so far.

Yes, there’s been elevated interest in the global category best-seller that holds the best residuals of all current models and achieves 4-5 sales a month, yet the potential we’ll see the equivalent of almost three years’ volume in one hit is already remote. 

On the other hand, there’s potential at least a couple of CX-9s might come this way and the idea of a five-star make-over for the budget-minded, city-suited Mazda2 is also looking pretty agreeable to some.

Regardless of the form they take, the Anniversary models will universally make positive environmental impact. For every sale, Mazda New Zealand has pledged to purchase 50 trees from the Trees That Count programme to plant in the “Mazda Native Forest”.

The Mazdas you’ve never heard of

Naming Hiroshima’s biggest hits is easy. Identifying some of its most unexpected and unusual products … well, that’s a whole different challenge, perhaps. Today’s story is about those ‘Q’ (for quirky) efforts.

Hold on a minute … isn’t that a …? Yup, sure is. the mighty Mazda Road Pacer.

IN 1930 Mazda produced 30 250cc 4-stroke motorbikes - and the prototype won the first race it entered.

 In 1965, it built a futuristic 26 seat ‘glasshouse’ public bus that was unlike its rivals.

 More recently, it created a suitcase car. Yes, really. Luggage that could be driven.

 In the year that Mazda marks its 100th anniversary and celebrates the people, products and achievements of the last century, today’s contribution from the brand’s public relations department offers insight into some of the most unexpected, unusual and little-known vehicles produced by Hiroshima.

 From curious concepts and long-forgotten prototypes to vehicles that actually made production yet were destined to become rarities, this is an odd bunch whose contribution to Mazda’s history reflects engineering ingenuity and a convention-defying spirit.

 The courage to question common practices and forge new paths in engineering and design that others considered unfeasible has driven the team at Mazda since 1920.

 Along the way Mazda was the first Japanese brand to win the Le Mans 24 Hour race, commercially launched the rotary engine in the iconic Cosmo Sport 110S, created the world’s best-selling two seat roadster - the Mazda MX-5 - and with Skyactiv-X introduced the world’s first production compression ignition petrol engine.

 Yet away from these famous significant moments and the countless coupes, sedans, sports cars, family cars, commercial vehicles and roadsters Mazda has become famous for, there’s a hidden story of the projects forgotten by time, so we dig even deeper into the history file to unearth the Mazdas you’ve never heard of. The first of which is the Mazda motorbike, which for a company that today is famed for creating a range of attractively styled and great to drive SUVs and cars, is a real surprise.

 Having started life as a cork products manufacturing company in 1920 before progressing to engineering when industrialist Jujiro Matsuda took charge of Toyo Cork Kogyo Co Ltd in 1921 and transformed the business first into a machine tool producer.

 The progression from here to cars via three-wheeled trikes like the 1931 Mazda Go is relatively well known, but the fact that before this Mazda produced a prototype motorcycle is a little-known paragraph in the Mazda history book.

Motorcycle racing was popular in Japan in the late 20s with most of the bikes imported or assembled in Japan from imported parts. Toyo Kogyo, as Mazda was then known, wanted to build a domestic Japanese bike and began development of a prototype in 1929. A 250cc 2-stroke prototype motorbike was revealed in October, 1930, and to everyone’s surprise it won its first race beating a British-made Ariel, which were one of the most-popular bike brands in the 30s’ and well-respected in Japan.

Toyo Kogyo went on to produce 30 more motorcycles in 1930, but commercially Matsuda took the decision to instead focus attention on developing the practical Mazda Go three-wheeler, setting the company on the road to success in automobiles rather than motorbikes, and leaving Mazda’s flirtation with motorbikes as a small snippet in the 100-year story of Mazda.

Mazda’s first car also never made it beyond the gestation period either, in 1940 Mazda built a small two-door prototype car called the PKW prototype (below), but the unset of World War II meant it never reached production and Mazda’s post-war reconstruction focused on the production of the Type GA and Type GB three-wheeled Mazda Go inspired three wheeled trucks and their ever bigger and more sophisticated successors.

However, amongst these successful and popular three-wheeled trike trucks Mazda also produced another one of its little-known four-wheeled pioneers – the Type-CA one-ton four-wheeled truck, which was a small open sided canvas roofed, split-screen open-decked truck that bore some resemblance to a Willys Jeep. It predated Mazda’s first production car the R360 Coupe by ten years and wasn’t as famous as Mazda’s three-wheeled trucks.

While the 1960 Mazda R360 was Mazda’s first car and started a lineage that leads all the way to today’s range, Mazda’s history includes commercial vans, pick-ups and light trucks. But while the smaller mini-bus vehicles based on the different generations of Mazda Bongo are relatively well-known, other bus models fall into the ‘Mazdas you’ve never heard of category’.

Mazda sold its first bus in 1960, it was a 13-seater (below) based on the D1500 cab-over compact truck and was sold to the Japanese Defence Agency. The interior was flexible enough that with the seats folded it was designed to transport injured soldiers on stretchers, and the D1500 bus was exported to the Middle East with centre-opening freestyle doors at the back that enhanced its usability as an ambulance.

Mazda’s first bus for general public use was the 1965 25-seater Mazda Light Bus Type-A. Based on a concept shown at the 1964 Tokyo Motor Show, with its huge curved laminated safety glass windscreen and futuristic styling it was a world away from the traditional buses found in Europe in the 60s. Into the 1970s Mazda continued to produce upscale mini-buses using the Parkway model name and in 1974 even introduced the world’s first rotary engine powered bus: the Parkway 26.

Incredibly, as futuristic as the 1965 Light Bus looked and as unique as the 1974 rotary Parkway bus was, both looked positively conventional compared to the 1974 Mazda CVS Personal Car Concept. Mazda’s look into transportation possibilities outside the realm of driver-controlled vehicles, CVS stood for computer-controlled vehicle system, and the CVS was a wheel at each corner box with sliding doors and a spacious interior designed for passenger comfort, including big leather chairs and a telephone.

However, forward-looking computer-controlled transport pods weren’t the only 70s oddities that fall into the Mazdas you’ve never heard of category

Created to meet Mazda’s desire to have a large executive car to be used by Japanese government officials, the little-known Mazda Road Pacer AP was launched in 1975. It used Holden HJ bodies, which were shipped to Japan without engines, whereupon Mazda fitted the 135ps 13B rotary engine. 

Designed to take on the grandly named Toyota Century, Nissan President and Isuzu Statesman De Ville, the Road Pacer AP featured luxuries such as speed related central locking and even an inbuilt dictation machine. Only sold in Japan, just 800 were produced between 1975 and 1977.

 Another global anomaly in Mazda’s history is the Mazda Pathfinder (above), a traditional 4X4 exclusively assembled and sold in Burma it was a rugged off-roader popular with the military and police. Powered by a 90ps engine it was offered with either a canvas roof or as enclosed nine-seat version, largely unknown in the rest of the world, a few can still be seen on the roads of Myanmar today.        

Even stranger than the Burmese built off-roader, futuristic bus or the Australian based limousine is the 1991 Mazda Suitcase Car. The development of a functioning car built into a piece of luggage came about thanks to the 1991 ‘Fantasy yard’ event - an inter-departmental contest to see which group of Mazda employees could come up with the most innovative and creative solution to produce a moving machine.

A select group of seven engineers from Mazda’s manual transmission testing and research group purchased the largest Samsonite suitcase they could find and a quarter size pocket motorbike and set to work on their idea. The 33.6cc two-stroke engine, handlebars from the minibike were fitted into the suitcase, with the rear wheels slotted onto the outside of the case, while the front wheel would pop through a removable hatch in the front. The suitcase car took just minutes to assemble and had a top speed of 30kmh, while the original prototype was accidentally destroyed just a few months after the ‘Fantasy Yard’ event, one Mazda suitcase car still remains in existence.

 The same sense of freedom of thinking for engineers and designers that led to a collaboration with the London Royal College of Art in 1993 to sponsor their design project to design to come up with a taxi concept for a future (above) where space would restrict vehicle size. While not an official Mazda concept, Mazda assisted by building the prototype, which was a futuristic looking narrow-track pod shaped mini-car, that was 20 years ahead of its time.  

Many of these oddities are a distant memory nowadays, but alongside the more famous models, competition success and records they form part of the history of Mazda - an independent car brand that has always pushed the boundaries of design and engineering to create award-winning vehicles and unique products.

Today, Mazda continues to defy convention to make things better, and as the firm enters its second century, the ingenuity and passion for automotive excellence that has flowed through the Mazda company for its first 100 years is still at the heart of everything the company does.  

Mazda BT-50 goes Kodo … and less kooky

Ready to fall in love with your ute? The new BT-50 is all about forming strong bonds, Mazda says.

NOT just begat with Isuzu but set to be built by it as well.

That’s one of the interesting factoids emerging from today’s international unveiling the new Mazda BT-50 one-tonne ute, which is set to go on sale in New Zealand before the end of the year. Potentially following very closely in the tyre tracks of its new twin, the Isuzu D-Max.

A media release discussing the model makes clear that this fresh and design, a total divorce from the Ford Ranger-derived current model that has been here for nine years, appears set to roll off the same assembly line in Thailand that has been producing the latest D-Max since late last year, albeit only for sale to Thai buyers.

The process appears identified by Mazda commenting that “the all-new BT-50 is supplied by Isuzu Motor Limited on an OEM basis.” OEM, of course, is shorthand for ‘original equipment manufacturer.’

That gives it a subtly different status to the current model, which came out a joint venture plant. However, Mazda’ determination to separate from Ford made that relationship impossible; all the moreso now that the Blue Oval has shacked up with a new partner, Volkswagen, and will have the lead role in producing the next Ranger and its Amarok equivalent.

Isuzu having lead development of the ladder-frame chassis and the drivetrain for both, with Mazda focusing on its specific requirements and design, with both being all but identical under their skins is reinforced by the images and technical detail released today.

The 3.0-litre turbodiesel engine makes the same 140kW and 450Nm in either application. Likewise, both brands’ offers have a 1065kg payload and are rated to haul 3.5 tonnes.

here’s the twin … the new Isuzu d-max.

Unsurprisingly the doublecab formats that are arriving first have the same 3125mm wheelbase, but Mazda’s body is slightly longer – at 5280mm versus 5265mm – though both are equal in width, at 1870mm, and height (1790mm).

The Mazda and Isuzu cabin shapes are shared yet the nose and tail stylings are patently different. While Mazda has again incorporated a visual identity that relates to its cars’ ‘Kodo’ design ethos, the impact of that appears set to far less controversial; mainly because the sharp nosed look that arguably blighted the second-gen model has been retired. Now BT-50 is back to where it began, conforming to class norms with a bluff frontage.

Mazda NZ managing director Dave Hodge is satisfied with the look, saying it obviously makes it immediately recognisable as part of the Mazda range of vehicles.

He also believes the new model will stand tall for its driving performance, functionality and safety. These factors will ensure the vehicle “will meet the needs of the wide range of situations where our New Zealand customers will be using the ute.”

Mazda says special care went into the vehicle’s design, ease of use and into creating peace of mind for the occupants. It also has enforced an aim to become a brand that can “create strong bonds with customers by focusing on the pure essence of cars — the joy of driving — and committing ourselves to preserve our beautiful earth, enrich people’s lives and make a bountiful society that lifts everybody’s spirits.”

First look: BT-50 noses into view

A more conformist nose treatment suggests we’re in for a sharper-looking BT-50.

this all mazda wants to show us of the new bt-50 … for now.

‘SOMETHING huge is on the horizon … 

So goes the wording accompanying a official image out of Mazda of the next-generation BT-50, a shadowy teaser released ahead of the all-new ute’s global reveal at 1pm NZST next Wednesday.

What can we make of the side profile shot? Quite a lot, really. The 2020 model is, of course, now spun from the upcoming Isuzu D-MAX, which has already been fully revealed. On the strength of this single image, it’s clear the next BT-50 not only divorces completely – and thankfully so – from the duck-billed styling of the outgoing vehicle, but it also separates quite distinctly from the new donor.

So when can we see it? Good question that. Actually, it should be ‘them’.

If not for Covid-19, the D-Max would have been first off the rank, the makers’ deal giving Isuzu a sales head start of several months.

The local distributor’s plan was to have a new D-Max at the national Feildays in Hamilton that should have opened next week. All off now, of course.

The giant rural extravaganza has become a digital event for next month and, in any event, the impact of coronavirus on global carmaking has also delayed the utes, which source from Thailand. So, now there’s talk of the D-Max coming in September and then BT-50 … some time after. But before Christmas. 

The teaser image seems to indicates the new BT-50 will emerge first in volume-selling dual-cab four-wheel-drive ute form, with single-cab and extra-cab versions likely to follow.

Fair to assume the ‘something big’ promotional line doesn’t just reference the newcomer’s size, which in doublecab format comes to a length of 5265mm, 1870mm wide and 1790mm height.

The new Isuzu D-Max, which is reportedly delayed, is the basis for the new BT-50. The old one, below, was twinned with the Ford Ranger … under the skin, at least.

Mazda NZ would clearly benefit from achieving a step up in volume as well. It’s been feeling pretty much nothing but pain from the outgoing model, which launched in 2011. Such a cruel blow, given it was a sister ship – under the skin at least – to the Ford Ranger which has been a huge success, the country’s best-selling ute. Not so the BT-50.

The partnership with Isuzu means a new start under the bonnet, with Mazda expected to pick up the D-Max’s 3.0-litre turbodiesel that, in generating 140kW and 450Nm, generates seven kiloWatts less power and 20Nm less torque than the Ford-supplied 3.2-litre five-cylinder turbodiesel in the current model.

Six-speed manual and automatics will be on offer. The four-wheel-drive system will include a two-speed transfer case and a rear locking diff. It also formats in rear-drive.

The Isuzu and Mazda are expected to share include a 3500kg braked towing capacity and 800mm water fording ability. D-Max’s approximate 1890kg kerb weight and a maximum 1024kg payload would also conceivably carry over.

Autonomous emergency braking is set to feature among driver-assist systems and it achieves an infotainment system with 9.0-inch colour touch-screen and Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity. How much effort Mazda has put into revising the D-Max fascia, pictured, will become clear next week.

The high level trim will deliver leather seat trim, dual-zone climate control, keyless entry/start and a digital speedo.

a big touchscreen is a feature of the new D-Max fascia. Ditto for the mazda?

High-speed spin cycle

Coupes, sedans, station wagons and sports cars … even a pick-up truck and a bus, plus multiple concepts and a fair few race cars. The power of smooth and high-revving Mazda rotaries has spread far.

NO consideration of the 100-year history of Mazda would be complete without celebrating this Hiroshima brand’s convention-defying development and success with the rotary engine.

From the launch of the 1967 Mazda Cosmo to the end of RX-8 production in 2012, Mazda produced just shy of two million rotary production cars.

Yet, arguably it was the rotary engine’s success in competition that made it and the Mazda brand famous and helped to sell those production models.

From Mazda’s very first efforts in international motorsport with the Cosmo in 1968, the rotary engine’s lightweight, small size, power and fast revving nature have made it perfect for competition. In the early 1970s the Mazda RX-3 was raced in championships around the globe, while the first-generation RX-7 took this to a new level winning championships on four continents.

the Cosmo was Mazda’s first production rotary car, produced in 1967 and based on this 1963 concept revealed at the 1963 Tokyo motor show. Seven years on, Mazda wheeled out the somewhat more adventurous RX500, seen below at its unveiling and now a museum piece, taken to the Mazda’dedicated 2014 Goodwood Festival of Speed.

Most famously, in 1991 the Mazda 787B of Johnny Herbert, Volker Weidler and Bertrand Gachot won the Le Mans 24 Hours – making Mazda the first Japanese brand to do so. 

However, it wasn’t just four decades of production cars and motorsport success that made the rotary famous.

Mazda’s hallmark engine also appeared in a host of concept cars, so in Mazda’s centenary year we take a look at some of the most radical and advanced rotary powered and inspired concept cars, starting with the prototype rotary sports car driven to the 1963 Tokyo Motor Show by the father of Mazda’s rotary engine, Kenichi Yamamoto. 

Strictly a test prototype rather than a pure concept car, it led to the production of 60 Cosmo test mules in 1965, followed by the first production Cosmo sports cars in 1967. Subtly different from later production Cosmos, the 1963 802 prototypes were the first chapter Mazda’s rotary success story.

Similarly, the Bertone-designed Mazda RX-87 concept of 1967 was almost identical to the beautiful 1969 R130 Luce Coupe production car it previewed and likewise the 1967 RX-85 concept became the 1968 Mazda R100 coupe. 

1967 brought the RX-87 design study

Revealed at the 1970 Tokyo Motor Show, the next rotary concept car was unlike anything seen before, a pure futuristic design it was a showcase for safety technology and looked like a car from a different planet to the Cosmo, Luce and R100 rotary production cars on sale at the time.

The Mazda RX-500 was a wedge shaped mid-engined, rear wheel drive sports car with forward opening butterfly swing doors. Promoted as a road safety test bed, it had multicoloured rear strip lights at the rear that indicated whether the car was speeding up, cruising or slowing down by changing colour. 

The 10A 184kW rotary engine was accessed by gullwing opening engine covers. Painted orange with no headlights for its show debut it was later repainted silver, today the RX-500 concept still draws attention at the Hiroshima City Transport Museum. It also starred on the Cartier Style De Luxe lawn at the 2014 Goodwood Festival of Speed.

Even more radical than the RX-500, the 1983 Mazda Le Mans Prototype was penned by maverick designer Luigi Colani, who was famous for his radical ‘biodynamic’ forms.

the Colani car never went beyond conceptual stage, but was fast. very fast.

While it never went beyond conceptual stage, the 1983 Le Mans Prototype was an extreme wing car that was conceived to be powered by an over 600kW four-rotor engine and could have been capable of 380kmh if it had become a reality. 

The one-off theme continued with the 1985 Mazda MX-03, which unlike the Colani Le Mans Prototype, was a fully working concept. Powered by a triple rotor 232kW engine, this low-slung coupe was pure futuristic exuberance, with a cabin that featured an aircraft style yoke rather than a wheel, plus digital displays and a head-up display, its technology tally also including four-wheel steering and all-wheel drive, while the long low body delivered an aerodynamic Cd figure of just 0.25. 

Completely different from the MX-03, the MX-04 concept was a front-engine rear-wheel drive sports car chassis that had removable fibreglass panels, but not just one, but two different sets, allowing the car to switch from a glass dome roofed coupe to a beach buggy style open sided roadster. Powered by a rotary engine this barmy shape-shifting sports car was shown at the 1987 Tokyo Motor Show and while it was never a serious contender for production, by then Mazda was already developing the MX-5, and just two-years later, the most famous non-rotary Mazda sports car arrived. 

No prizes for guessing what the RX-01 concept was a pointer to.

By the 1990s, Mazda’s rotary engine had scored its biggest achievement with victory in the Le Mans 24 Hours, but revealed at the 1995 Tokyo Motor Show, the Mazda RX-01 previewed the next-generation of rotary road cars. A fully drivable concept It featured what would go on to be the Renesis engine that powered the last production rotary to date – the RX-8. With a 2+2 seat layout, some of the RX-01’s styling cues also hinted to the RX-8, which was revealed in 2003. 

Highlighting the flexibility of Mazda’s rotary engine technology, between 2005 and 2007 Mazda produced duel-fuel hydrogen/petrol powered rotary prototype testbed Mazda RX-8s and Mazda5s, which were leased to companies in Japan and Norway.

Highlighting the suitability of rotary engines for use with hydrogen, the RX-8 RE Hydrogen was the fifth Mazda rotary to be powered by hydrogen after earlier HR-X, HR-X2, MX-5 and 626 rotary powered concepts and prototypes. Further highlighting Mazda’s environmental development, the 2007 Mazda5 RE Hydrogen was a plug-in hybrid, while the 2013 Mazda2 EV prototype featured a tiny 330cc 22kW single-rotor range-extender engine. Today, Mazda is committed to the development of a rotary range-extender version of the forthcoming Mazda MX-30. 

Mazda recognised the potentials of the rotary engine with hydrogen, so built a wide variety of development cars, based on current production fare, plus some adventurous concepts, such as 1991’s HR-X concept.

However, other 21st century rotary concepts focused very much on the performance elements of the rotary engine: revealed at the 2008 Detroit Motor Show, the stunning Mazda Furai was built on the chassis of a Courage C65 LMP2 race car and its 331kW triple-rotor engine was powered by ethanol fuel. A fully working race car-based concept, it was developed by Mazda North America and was tested at several US and European tracks. Named Furai meaning ‘sound of wind’, this racy concept was the fifth and last of the ‘Nagare’ line of concept cars from Mazda. 

The fourth car in this lineage also featured a rotary: unveiled in 2007, the Mazda Taiki concept was a dramatically aerodynamically optimised coupe with a tapered teardrop shaped body that scooped inside the covered rear wheels. Inspired by flowing robes its sleek body had a drag coefficient of just 0.25 and it was arguably the most radical looking of the ‘Nagare’ concept cars. With butterfly doors and a darkened glasshouse it was a pure concept fantasy but was conceived to be powered by the same Renesis engine as the RX-8. 

The Furai (above) and Taiki (below) concepts were the last and most alluring of the Nagare line if concepts.

Mazda’s Le Mans heritage with the rotary engine came to the fore again in 2014 with the reveal of the Mazda LM55 Vision Gran Turismo virtual concept car. A digitally rendered concept for the Gran Turismo computer game, this low-slung Le Mans style prototype was named after the race number worn by the winning 787B at Le Mans in 1991. Bringing the performance and sound of the rotary engine to a whole new generation virtually in the gaming world, the LM55 Vision came to life as a full-size show car at the 2015 Goodwood Festival of Speed where it proudly sat atop Mazda’s Kodo design inspired central feature sculpture alongside the Mazda 787B.

However, it was later in 2015 at the Tokyo Motor Show that Mazda revealed what is arguably the most beautiful concept car conceived for a rotary engine: the RX-Vision.

Mazda’s vision of the perfect front-engine, rear-wheel drive sports car and the ultimate expression of Kodo design, the RX-Vision’s stunning proportions and delicate surfacing saw it named the ‘Most Beautiful Concept Car of the Year’ at the 31st Festival Automobile International, while it also made an appearance at the exclusive Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Esta in 2016. Under the long bonnet of the RX-Vision, Mazda’s designers envisaged that this sports car would be powered by a next-generation of rotary engine called Skyactiv-R. 

anyone can drive the RX-Vision GT3 … providing they have a gaming console.

Taking this imagination, a step further and bringing the RX-Vision to life in the virtual world, Mazda’s designers created the RX-Vision GT3. Just as the LM55 came to life in the virtual world in 2014, the RX-Vision GT3 was added to Gran Turismo Sport on May 22. With its wider front and rear track width and expanded wheel arches, the lower and more purposeful GT3 version features the wings and rear diffuser you’d expect of a virtual racer. And rotary fans in the digital world get to enjoy the next-generation four-rotor 420kW Skyactiv-R engine. 

Today, 57 years after the first Cosmo prototype previewed Mazda’s debut rotary sports car, the rotary engine lives on in the hearts and minds of Mazda’s engineers as the technology is explored for its part in Mazda’s multi-solution approach to ever more efficient cars, including range-extender applications. Additionally, concept cars like the RX-Vision influence the look and styling of Mazda’s current range, while the RX-Vision GT3 brings the rotary to life in the virtual world. 

MX family spans well beyond roadster

A history of Mazda’s MX models reminds that this monicker has attached to more than just the world’s best-selling roadster.

These are the MX models we know best … but the entire family is much, much larger

IN a year that sees Mazda celebrate its centenary, the Japanese firm is also looking to the future with the debut of its first all-electric production vehicle – the Mazda MX-30.

With customer deliveries expected to begin in early 2021, the MX-30 is a unique, stylish and versatile crossover EV; a stand-out addition to the Mazda line-up.

Yet why does it wear the MX moniker? This piece supplied by Mazda takes up the story:

A badge made most famous by the MX-5. Well, a look back through Mazda’s history highlights that the MX name pre-dates the world’s best-selling roadster and in fact has been used more than a dozen times across a broad spread of production, concept and racing Mazdas.

Mazda explains that the MX prefix is given to a car that takes on a challenge to create and deliver new values without being confined by convention regardless of vehicle type.

When it was revealed in 1989 the Mazda MX-5 was exactly this kind of car, as the automotive industry as a whole moved away from the affordable sports car, Mazda defied convention to create a perfect modern reinterpretation of the classic rear-wheel drive roadster.

More than three decades later the MX-5 needs no introduction, but the first car to wear the MX badge is less famous, however there’s no forgetting it once you’ve seen it.

1983 MX-02

1985 MX-05

1987 MX-04

1987 MX-04 ROADSTER

MX-03

MXR-01

Revealed in 1981, the Mazda MX-81 Aria concept car was created by Italian styling house Bertone, who using Mazda 323 running gear created a futuristic wedge-shaped hatchback.

With its gold paint, huge glasshouse and pop-up lights it stood out at the Tokyo Motor Show, but with its recessed square steering wheel, TV screen cockpit and side swinging front seats, it was arguably the interior that was the most radical. A one-off concept that certainly met the defy convention ethos of MX models, it led to a future relationship with Bertone, while things like the high-mounted taillights and pop-up headlamps appeared in future Mazda production cars later in the eighties.

Next in the MX lineage was the 1983 MX-02 concept car, a big flat sided five-door hatch with large windows, aerodynamic rear wheel covers and flared in door mirrors. Unique features included rear wheel steering and a windscreen head-up display.

The one-off theme continued with the 1985 Mazda MX-03, which again was a radical looking concept car, but this time it was a defy convention sports car that was powered by a triple rotor 315ps engine. Conceived purely as a concept, this low-slung coupe, was pure futuristic exuberance, with a cabin that featured an aircraft style yoke rather than a wheel, plus digital displays and a head-up display, its technology tally also including four-wheel steering and all-wheel drive, while the long low body delivered an aerodynamic Cd figure of just 0.25.

While the MX-02 and MX-03 shared some of the same futuristic design cues, the MX-04 was completely different. Revealed at the 1987 Tokyo Motor Show, the MX-04 was a front-engine rear-wheel drive sports car chassis that had removable fibreglass panels, but not just one, but two different sets, allowing the car to switch from a glass dome roofed coupe to a beach buggy style open sided roadster. 

Powered by a rotary engine this barmy shape-shifting sports car was never a serious contender for production, but little did outsiders know that Mazda was already developing the MX-5, and just two-years later, the most famous car to wear a MX badge arrived.

And the next cars to wear the MX badge were also production models, both cars built on the MX-5’s success and offered very different coupe styles.

MX-3

MX MICROSPORT

MX SPORT TOURER

MX-5 SPEEDSTER CONCEPT

MX-5 SPYDER CONCEPT

MX-5 SUPERLIGHT CONCEPT

MX CROSS SPORT

Sold from 1992 to 1993, the Mazda MX-3 was a four-seat coupe hatchback that disregarded the convention for normal hatchbacks to offer buyers something far more stylish and sportier, while it further earnt its MX badge by being available with the world’s smallest mass-produced V6 engine. The larger MX-6 coupe conveyed big premium coupe style for family saloon money, but in the 1990s arguably the most radical car to wear the MX badge was the Mazda MXR-01.

After the rotary powered Mazda 787B took victory in the 1991 Le Mans 24 Hours, the FIA promptly banned rotary powered cars, leaving Mazda looking for a new car for the 1992 World Sportscar Championship at very short notice.

A solution arrived in the shape of the incredible Mazda MXR-01 prototype race car. Based on the previous seasons Jaguar XJR-14, the British firms’ withdrawal from sportscar racing, allowed Mazda to adapt this radical Ross Brawn designed prototype and fit a Mazda badged V10 Judd engine. Famed for its incredible grip and downforce, just five examples where built, but sadly the collapse of the World Sportscar Championship at the end of 1992 spelt the end of Mazda’s world level motorsport programme and denied the MXR-01 the chance of success.

Into the 21st century the MX moniker returned to adorn concept cars, all of which stayed true to the MX ethos of delivering something new by challenging convention: the 2001 MX-Sport Tourer concept was a radical MPV concept with freestyle doors and sweeping body design, that highlighted the fact an MPVs did not have to be boxy or dull, something the resulting Mazda5 proved. In fact, the 2004 Mazda MX-Flexa was a concept that was even closer to the final ground-breaking Mazda5 production car, sharing its popular sliding rear doors.

The 2002 MX-Sport Runabout concept previewed the modern look of the second-generation Mazda2, while the 2003 MX-Sportif was the concept that previewed the first generation Mazda3, which was a big step forward from the outgoing Mazda 323.

The MX-MicroSport was a US focused hatchback concept, revealed at the 2004 Detroit Motor Show, but the nineties MX concept that really started Mazda on the road to another success story that set it apart from other brands, was the 2005 MX-Crossport.

Inspired by the Mazda RX-8 sportscar this was a sporty looking SUV concept with sculpted wheel arches, slender headlamps and bold shoulder lines that previewed the Mazda CX-7 - a pivotal car that established the fact that Mazda could build a stylish, sporty SUV with car like dynamics to rival the best SUVs from premium brands. A car that established a lineage of award-winning SUVs that leads to today’s CX-5 and CX-30 - the MX-Crossport sat at the start of this SUV success story.

And now with the arrival of the ground-breaking MX-30, it’s appropriate that the MX name returns to a production model – as Mazda’s first production EV, the MX-30 is a car that represents a new chapter in Mazda’s history.

2021 MX-30 - MAZDA’S ENTRY INTO THE ELECTRIC SCENE

Special Kei provided an enduring taste

Mazda’s first car was a cheeky little coupe. It’s never broken the two-door hardtop habit.

the enduringly awesome cosmo

MORE reminder of Mazda’s determination to never bend to car design and engineering conformity has come with reminder of how many two-door cars it has knocked out over the years.

The tenor of an in-house history of the company’s coupes, released as part of this being the brand’s 100th year, is a fascinating insight into its enduring commitment to this design style. 

Whereas many other Japanese makes committed more deeply to mainstream sedan shapes that were far more likely to win greater volume returns (that’s how Toyota, Mitsubishi and Nissan did it), Mazda always played beyond conservative tastes.

 That a conviction formed right at the start about how coupes best reflecting core brand philosophies remains adhered to now is a tribute to the make’s independent spirit. It hasn’t been a smooth road, but what a trip!

Agreed, that first offer, the R360 microcar designed for the domestic ‘kei’ category, is an utterly humble thing in comparison with the far more sporting products that have ultimately followed, but it nonetheless speaks clearly to Mazda’s intent to make cars that were attractive and visionary.

Of course, there was more. Mazda also identified that the best coupes around when it kicked into car-making in 1960 (having been involved in other industry, and starting out as cork supplier in the 1930s) were those that delivered performance-enhancing structures like rigidity, aerodynamics and weight reduction. These have also remained central elements of the brands product philosophy, wrapped up in the ‘fun to drive’ ethos that even the R360 was able to cheekily demonstrate, albeit less by virtue of its outright performance than the happy fact of it being the lightest in class.

Anyway, that made it an immediate bestseller, capturing 65 percent of Japan’s burgeoning microcar segment and 15 percent of the domestic market in 1960, the year of its launch.

Here’s the how the history unfolded from thereon, in the maker’s own words:

“The Mazda Carol P360 coupe, which had a longer wheelbase and a four-cylinder engine, joined the line-up in 1962 with comparable success.

Mazda’s first performance car was also a coupe, unveiled at the 1964 Tokyo Motor Show, the Mazda Cosmo Sport 110S would arrive on the market in 1967 as the world’s first production model with a twin-rotor engine. With space-age looks matched by the powertrain’s turbine-like sound, it was the beginning of an illustrious age of unconventional rotary sports coupes at Mazda. The Cosmo Sport also launched the brand’s international motorsport career.

However, the big international sales breakthrough would come with the Familia/R100 and Capella/616/RX-2 series – the respective forerunners to the Mazda3 and Mazda6 – along with the Grand Familia/818/RX-3. Mazda took its rotary engine global with these models starting in 1968, and their Italo-design inspired looks electrified buyers, quickly driving overseas unit sales into six-figures.

Even more stunning was the Mazda Luce R130 coupe introduced in 1969. Designed at Bertone by Giorgetto Giugiaro (who had also styled the first Familia), it was Mazda’s only front wheel-driven rotary model and is now a sought-after collector’s item. Slotted above the RX-2 and RX-3, the Luce R130 would make way in 1972 for the Mazda RX-4. Marketed as luxurious and sporty, the hardtop coupe version was available with an “AP” (anti-pollution) rotary that improved emissions and fuel economy. The engine would also see service on the RX-3 and Mazda Cosmo/RX-5 launched in 1975 in coupe and fastback format. Performance of the 110-135PS rotary RX coupes, with kerb weights in the 900-1,100kg range, was very respectable for the time.

The Hiroshima carmaker took this recipe for driving fun up a level in 1978 with the Mazda RX-7, whose unique wedge-shaped design featured a wraparound glass rear window. Under the bonnet of Mazda’s first truly mass-market sports car was a completely redesigned rotary engine. Propelling a lightweight structure with near-perfect weight distribution, it was exceptional to drive. Successful on the racetrack and rally stage, the RX-7 developed over three model generations into a high-performance twin-turbocharged super-coupé on par with the best the competition had to offer. With some 811,000 produced, the RX-7 remains the most popular rotary powered car in history.

Less well known is the Eunos Cosmo, a Japan-only luxury sports coupe built from 1990 until 1995. It was the only production model with a three-rotor engine; the 300PS twin-turbo “20B-REW” was also the largest-ever production rotary. The Cosmo introduced many new cutting-edge technologies, like the first built-in GPS navigation system and a touchscreen display.

Another domestic market model, the Autozam AZ-1, was remarkable in its own way. Weighing only 720kg, the exciting mid-engined kei coupe developed under Toshihiko Hira, MX-5 programme manager, had gullwing doors and a 9,000rpm redline – in a segment personified by utilitarian “boxes on wheels”.

This was typical Mazda, always seeking new ways of making its coupes look and feel special. The Mazda 929 coupe (1982-86), with its lowerable opera windows in the B-pillar, is yet another example. The stylish Mazda MX-6 (1987-97), meanwhile, had optional four-wheel steering. And the compact Mazda MX-3 (1992-98) was available with the 1.8-litre K8 engine, the world’s smallest mass-production V6.

Even back in those days, Mazda dabbled in crossover designs, widely considered a 21st-century phenomena. The Mazda 323F (1989-98) made a family friendly five-seater out of a wedge-shaped sports coupe with pop-up headlights, while the Mazda Xedos 6 (1992-99) walked the line between luxury coupe and mid-sized saloon. And the Mazda RX-8 (2003-12), a two-row “quad coupé” with freestyle doors yet, again demonstrated the company’s sophistication when it came to refreshing coupe design.

Today Mazda continues to push design convention with models like the Mazda MX-5 RF (“Retractable Fastback”). As with the previous generation MX-5 Roadster Coupe, the RF’s one-of-a-kind power hardtop gives the world’s most popular roadster the comfort of an enclosed cabin, while concept cars like the Mazda RX-Vision and Vision Coupe demonstrate how stunning coupe design influences the Kodo: Soul of Motion design philosophy that delivers the award-winning styling you find across the whole Mazda range, something demonstrated by the 2020 World Car Design of the Year winning Mazda3.”

Ute outlook Pt 1: Mazda's new love ... Max

Our national obsession for utilities, especially family-minded dual-cabs, knows no bounds. The market is booming at the moment, and filled with plenty of strong options. Yet surely you’re also keen to know something about what’s coming up next, when and from whom? So, here’s the first instalment of a three-part analysis.

2020 D-Max

ONE of the big motoring stories over the next few months is going to be all about utes – what’s going to be new, and who is going to be building them.

It’s called platform sharing, folks.  And the art of sharing development costs. In recent times it’s seen the likes the Mazda BT-50 built on the same platform as the Ford Ranger, the Mercedes-Benz X-Class built on the same underpinnings as the Nissan Navara, and the Holden Colorado sharing the platform of the Isuzu D-Max.

Now the deckchairs have been re-arranged and the platform sharing has started all over again. But while the process itself is remaining the same,  the outcomes are a lot different.

So which new ute is being developed with which other new ute – or even utes? In this series of articles, we provide the breakdowns, starting with a pair of newly-weds.

Back in the day when Ford owned 35 percent of Mazda,  the Australian division of the blue oval company was largely responsible for development of what remains New Zealand’s biggest-selling vehicle, the Ranger.

And, thanks to the ownership scenario at the time, Mazda conceived its BT-50 version off the Ranger. Although it featured such differences as unique body styling and different suspension settings, the two utes shared the same chassis and same powertrain and were even built in the same factory in Thailand.

While the process saved a lot of money in development costs, in New Zealand  this platform sharing scenario proved to be something of a double-edged sword for Mazda.

That was because of Mazda’s 24 Kiwi dealerships, 18 of them were also Ford dealerships – and for sales staff it was easier to sell the hugely popular and masculine-looking Ranger than the BT-50, despite the fact Mazda NZ went to great lengths to differentiate between the two, particularly as regards pricing.

 End result: Ranger has a 20 per cent share of New Zealand’s ute market, while the almost identical BT-50 owns 5 per cent.

2020 D-Mx

Ford doesn’t own any stake in Mazda any more – it sold its shareholding in 2010 – and the current BT-50 is the only remaining remnant of that ownership scenario.  And now that’s about to change, thanks to a supply agreement Mazda brokered four years ago with Isuzu.

At the time, the two brands said the agreement would allow Mazda to “maintain own-brand market coverage.” In other words, get out from under the shadow of Ford.

And Isuzu? Back in 2016 it said the agreement would allow it to “enhance its product competitiveness”. In other words, rid itself of lingering claims that its D-Max ute has for all intents and purposes always been a Holden Colorado.

Actually, it’s always been the other way around.

At one stage General Motors owned 49 per cent of Isuzu,  which gave the Detroit giant access to Isuzu light trucks.  That explains why the Holden Rodeo sold in Australasia from 2002 to 2008 was in fact the original Isuzu D-Max.

But when GM began to sell down its shareholding in Isuzu, the two brands began to go their own ways. GM lost the right to the Rodeo name and changed the name of the Holden ute to Colorado, then Isuzu distribution operations were established in Australia in 2008 and New Zealand in 2010, which allowed the brand to begin to sell the D-Max.

It’s been like that ever since, with the D-Max and the Colorado essentially sharing the same platform but being increasingly their own vehicles – different engines and powertrains, different bodyshell designs (well, from the A pillar forward anyway), and built in different Thai assembly plants.

But now that’s all about to change. Instead of a BT-50 being a Ranger and a D-Max being a Colorado, the new BT-50 will be a new D-Max.

First to arrive will be the D-Max, which has already been launched in its home Thailand and was scheduled to be unveiled in New Zealand just after mid-year – in fact dealers were scheduled to be in Thailand in late April to watch the first kiwi models roll off the assembly line.

 But thanks to Covid-19 the assembly plant was shut down, and the trip had to be cancelled. Isuzu Utes NZ Ltd marketing manager Kathyrn Hayward said the company is now working with the factory to confirm a new arrival date for the D-Max.

“We will provide more information when we can,” she added.

A feature of the new ute is that it will be powered by a beefed-up version of the excellent 3.0-litre four cylinder turbo diesel that is under the bonnet of the current model. Power has gone up to 140 kilowatts and torque has risen to 450 Newton metres. It’s also going to have improved safety specification and more infotainment.

During last year’s Tokyo Motor Show, Isuzu told the attending media that the new D-Max was developed solely by Isuzu as the original equipment manufacturer, with the finished product then provided to Mazda.

A shared disclosure agreement with Isuzu means Mazda New Zealand is unable to disclose any specifics about how the brand has BT-50-ised the ute. That will become clear when the vehicle is launched here later this year.

 But Mazda NZ product and sales planning manager Tim Nalden did confirm that the current BT-50 is enjoying such a “halo” period at the moment – it’s achieving its highest monthly segment share levels since its first year on the market in 2011 – that it is leading the company to consider selling both models side-by-side for a period of time.

It’s going to be interesting how both these new models perform on the New Zealand ute market.

Last year the BT-50 was the sixth biggest selling ute here with 2325 sales, and the D-Max one place behind with 1802 sales. But in 2020/2021 a combination of the fact they are brand-new, and the imminent disappearance from the market of the volume-selling Holden Colorado,  could see a rise in registrations of both of these models.