Mazda Promises Hybrid Powertrains by 2010

The whole market is slowly moving towards hybrid powertrains and Mazda makes no exception to the rule. The Japanese manufacturer recently announced it will concentrate its efforts on gasoline-electric engines but emphasized that it won't release new vehicles but only hybrid versions of its current models. There are no details on the Mazda cars to receive hybrid drivetrains but a company spokesman told Autonews that first units are expected by 2010.

"It's going to be the 20-teens that we're going to be actually engineering all this," Executive Vice President Philip Spender explained at the Japanese debut of the Mazda3. "And we're actually trying to pull that forward, if we can."

Wondering what makes Mazda think more about hybrids? The company says it's the market environment who is continuously driving their efforts towards less polluting models. Additionally, the government incentives offered in many countries around the world could help it boost sales.

"We've started to talk a lot more about it lately, in part because everybody else is," Spender said. "We now know what the carbon dioxide targets are. We now know what our fleet performance and our gaps are."

But Mazda has always been unsure whether to produce hybrids or not. Back in early April, the company clearly stated that it won't build electric cars or hybrids but will improve its existing models to achieve better mileage. After only two weeks, CEO Takashi Yamanouchi revealed that Mazda will actually build some hybrids but the very first models won't arrive sooner than 2015. And now, this. Given all these sketchy statements, a Mazda hybrid displayed at one of the upcoming shows is a very likely scenario...