Prius-Powered Hybrid Mazda, Still a Mazda...

... or at least this is what the Japanese carmaker is promising about its first take at the hybrid market. And this despite the fact the hybrid planned by Mazda will use Toyota's Synergy Drive.

The reason behind this is, as the deal between Toyota and Mazda states, the fact that the latter will use its own SKY engines instead of the Prius 1.8l Atkinson cycle. And, even more, a Mazda hybrid will use Mazda brakes and accelerator pedals...

“The hybrid we are buying is an add-on electric device – that’s all it is,” Mazda Australia marketing manager Alastair Doak told GoAuto. “We are not buying anything more than that from Toyota. We control how the car drives, how it brakes, how it steers and how it feels like to the customer."

The partnership between the two carmakers comes just in time for Mazda, as it already stated its goal to increase the average fuel economy of Mazda vehicles sold globally by 30 percent by 2015, compared to its 2008 level. By cutting the R&D corners, Mazda may very well be on target to reach that goal.

“We have known technology that we are adopting in the short term, and then we will be building upon that,” Doak added.

“After that, we can introduce new technologies step by step, for example idle-stop technology and regenerative braking in our hybrid system – we call it our ‘Building Block’ strategy.”