While many brands have been downsizing to four-cylinder engines, Mazda has introduced inline six-cylinder engines – and it has no plans to get rid of them.
In announcing its new Lean Asset Strategy, Mazda has reiterated it’ll introduce its new Skyactiv-Z engine technology to its inline six-cylinder engines, aimed at improving fuel economy while meeting increasingly stringent emissions regulations.
Mazda had previously flagged this late in 2024, but indicated this was still under study.
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CX-60
Now, it has confirmed the technology will be rolled out to the brand’s inline six-cylinder engines between 2028 and 2030.
Mazda has also now flagged vehicles on its Large Architecture may receive “technical elements of in-house HEV”.
That refers to the brand’s new hybrid powertrain, being developed in-house and set to debut in the next-generation CX-5.
We may therefore see both the brand’s new hybrid system and the compression ignition technology of the new Skyactiv-Z engine rolled out to Large Architecture vehicles.
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CX-90
The company currently offers these vehicles – the CX-60, CX-70, CX-80 and CX-90 – with a choice of 3.3-litre turbocharged petrol or diesel inline six-cylinder engines as well as, depending on the market and model, a 2.5-litre four-cylinder plug-in hybrid.
The six-cylinder engines already feature electrification in the shape of 48V mild-hybrid systems.
Even in the largest of these models, the CX-90, claimed combined-cycle fuel consumption is just 8.2L/100km with the petrol engine and 5.4L/100km with the diesel.
The new CX-5 will debut both the Skyactiv-Z technology and Mazda’s in-house hybrid system.
The CX-5’s Skyactiv-Z engine will build on Mazda’s existing 2.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine with compression ignition technology that the company says will allow it to offer greater performance and fuel economy and lower emissions.
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CX-80
The engine is designed to meet strict Euro 7 emissions regulations in Europe and both LEV4 and Tier 4 regulations in North America.
Mazda claims that to meet increasingly strict emissions regulations, the performance output of conventional engines would have to be dropped by around 30 per cent. However, its Skyactiv-Z engine achieves these lower emissions without any drops in output.
The company also claims the new Skyactiv-Z engine offers greater thermal efficiency and an “overwhelmingly wider range”.
The Skyactiv-Z engine features compression ignition like the existing Skyactiv-X engine, but Mazda says it will “reach the ultimate combustion threshold” by “expanding the area of [spark-controlled compression ignition] and accumulating heat shielding technology”.
