Photo: Mazda
Mazda will announce a new strategic direction for the next decade in the coming weeks. Based on the plan discovered by Automotive News, the Japanese carmaker will follow baby steps to electrification and will finally bring the rotary engine back into the spotlight.
It wasn’t a good year for Japanese carmakers, which stubbornly avoided switching to electrification and continued the old ICE way. What they thought would be business as usual was, in fact, a tectonic shift in consumer preferences, and electric vehicle adoption caught them by surprise. We know about Toyota’s struggles, and it is now Mazda’s turn to post lackluster results.
This is no surprise, considering the direction the auto industry is heading. It’s surprising that the Japanese carmakers, Mazda included, still don’t think it’s time for a strategic overhaul of their operations. According to Automotive News, Mazda is expected to announce a strategy change, but the direction is barely shifting. That means more internal combustion engines, including the long-awaited comeback of the rotary engine, and distant plans for more electric vehicles.
Mazda blames the pandemic and the war in Ukraine for the delay in revealing new plans for the company. The unpredictable market conditions they complain about should’ve been a strong incentive to accelerate the switch to electrification. Instead, Mazda is expected to announce the rollout of new crossovers, like the CX-70 and CX-90 in the United States and the CX-60 and CX-80 in Europe, Japan, and other markets.
Mazda still fails to step up electrifications plans, and we know how the compliance model MX-30 plaid out in the end. With disappointing performance came equally frustrating sales, and the first shot in the arm that Mazda leadership prepares is the addition of a range extender to the fledgling EV. Alas, this marks the long-awaited comeback of the rotary engine, expected to enter production early next year.
Europe will be the first market for the future plug-in hybrid version of the CX-30. This is bizarre, considering the Old Continent is further ahead with electrification than other markets. The rotary engine will not turn the wheels directly but acts as a range extender, recharging the battery. We expect Mazda to slash the Li-Ion battery capacity with the addition of the range extender.
Mazda will only put new EVs on the road toward the end of this decade with the launch of a new EV platform in 2025. This might be too little too late. The Japanese carmaker expects to sell around 450,000 EVs per year by 2030, which should represent a quarter of the planned 1.8 million global vehicle output. That assumes there will still be a market for ICE vehicles by then.
This is no surprise, considering the direction the auto industry is heading. It’s surprising that the Japanese carmakers, Mazda included, still don’t think it’s time for a strategic overhaul of their operations. According to Automotive News, Mazda is expected to announce a strategy change, but the direction is barely shifting. That means more internal combustion engines, including the long-awaited comeback of the rotary engine, and distant plans for more electric vehicles.
Mazda blames the pandemic and the war in Ukraine for the delay in revealing new plans for the company. The unpredictable market conditions they complain about should’ve been a strong incentive to accelerate the switch to electrification. Instead, Mazda is expected to announce the rollout of new crossovers, like the CX-70 and CX-90 in the United States and the CX-60 and CX-80 in Europe, Japan, and other markets.
Mazda still fails to step up electrifications plans, and we know how the compliance model MX-30 plaid out in the end. With disappointing performance came equally frustrating sales, and the first shot in the arm that Mazda leadership prepares is the addition of a range extender to the fledgling EV. Alas, this marks the long-awaited comeback of the rotary engine, expected to enter production early next year.
Europe will be the first market for the future plug-in hybrid version of the CX-30. This is bizarre, considering the Old Continent is further ahead with electrification than other markets. The rotary engine will not turn the wheels directly but acts as a range extender, recharging the battery. We expect Mazda to slash the Li-Ion battery capacity with the addition of the range extender.
Mazda will only put new EVs on the road toward the end of this decade with the launch of a new EV platform in 2025. This might be too little too late. The Japanese carmaker expects to sell around 450,000 EVs per year by 2030, which should represent a quarter of the planned 1.8 million global vehicle output. That assumes there will still be a market for ICE vehicles by then.
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