The reason behind the sudden change of heart is due largely to the fact that the company fears it will not be capable of reaching its 30 percent reduction in fuel consumption and CO2 emissions target without the introduction of such vehicles.
The news was confirmed by Mazda CEO Takashi Yamanouchi who also said that at the upcoming October Tokyo Auto Show his company will introduce new gasoline engines, which by making use of direct injection systems will provide about the same consumption rates as the diesel powered ones in the manufacturer's range.
As we said, is was only two weeks ago that Mazda said it doesn't plan to provide hybrids or EV's. Mazda officials even went as far as attacking Ford's Econetic Fiesta, a model that shares a lot of parts with the company's Mazda2 model.
"Is a punter going to buy it? No. They might get some fleet business out of it, because companies might say: 'Hey, we will make a green statement and we will buy this car.' But that is fleet business and that is not where we live," said Alastair Doak, Mazda Australia marketing manager at the time.
Still, Doak's statement isn't entirely the line followed by Mazda when it comes to hybrids. The company has already developed the Premacy Hydrogen RE Hybrid, the company's second hydrogen rotary engine model that will reach the market.
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