Mazda to reveal ground-breaking HCCI tech and new design for its next small car within weeks

Mazda is just weeks away from revealing the revolutionary ‘sparkless’ ignition technology that will power the petrol engines in its fourth-generation Mazda3 due in 2018.

First details of Mazda’s industry-first homogenous charge compression ignition (HCCI) are expected to be revealed at a technology forum in Frankfurt later this month.

In a new product reveal campaign that will echo that of the original CX-5, Mazda’s first SKYACTIV model in 2011, this month’s HCCI tech forum will be followed by the October Tokyo motor show reveal of a small-car concept that previews next year’s all-new Mazda3.

However, while it will bring ground-breaking new ‘SKYACTIV II’ powertrains, the replacement for Mazda’s volume-selling small-car will not be based on an all-new platform

Instead, the 2018 Mazda3 will ride on the same SKYACTIV I platform. This is in line with Mazda’s policy of renewing platforms only every second generation, with a redesigned body (or ‘top hat’) emerging every five years (or so) with each model change.

Hence, again as per the ‘half new’ MkII CX-5, the successor for the MkIII Mazda3 (launched in January 2014, facelifted in July 2016 and pictured here in a design sketch) will be known internally as a ‘6.5-generation’ model.

SKYACTIV leapfrog

The new Mazda3 will leapfrog a rebodied, HCCI-equipped Mazda6 into production — because of its importance as Mazda’s global top-seller. Expect the ‘new’ Mazda 6 to echo the strategy.

The process will then be repeated with replacements for the Mazda2 (launched in October 2014), CX-3 (March 2015), MX-5 (August 2015) and CX-9 (July 2016), before the first truly all-new seventh-generation Mazda model, likely to be the MkIII CX-5, appears around 2022.

The China-only CX-4 and Japan-only CX-8 (both of which are based on the CX-5 but feature a curvier roof and longer wheelbase respectively) are also expected to get the HCCI treatment.

While the CX-4 is already on sale in China and the JDM CX-8 is expected to make its global public debut at the Tokyo show alongside the Mazda3 concept, our sources suggest both new crossovers are a now good chance to be released in Australia in their current generation.

By the end of this decade Mazda will also release a born-again rotary-powered sports car also fitted with HCCI technology, a new-generation BT-50 ute based on the Isuzu’s next D-MAX and its first all-electric car. The EV will be followed in 2021 by Mazda’s first plug-in hybrid – potentially with rotary range-extender technology.

As part of the post-2020 renewal of its entire model line-up, there’s the possibility Mazda will introduce a full range of MPS performance models based around an HCCI-equipped version of the CX-9’s 2.5-litre turbo-petrol engine. This hot-shoe line-up will almost certainly including an MPS-variant of the CX-5.

Emission reductions

Longer term, Mazda says it will release third-generation SKYACTIV III engine tech to meet Europe’s 2025 fleet-average CO2 emissions requirement of 65g/km.

For now, the company is targeting another 30 per cent reduction in fuel consumption with the ground-breaking introduction of HCCI next year. This claimed reduction is in addition to the 30 per cent cut it has achieved since 2008.

As we’ve reported, Mazda is expected to beat Daimler, General Motors, Hyundai and other car-makers to market with the first commercial application of the diesel-style compression-ignition system in a petrol engine.

Details are yet to be announced, but the centrepiece of Mazda’s SKIACTIV II engine line-up is believed to employ conventional sparkplugs at low rpms but compression ignition (a la diesels) at higher revs.

The lean-burn process is claimed to produce more efficient combustion (therefore reduced fuel consumption and emissions) while eliminating engine damaging pre-ignition (‘knocking’).

Mazda’s existing SKYACTIV-G petrol engines already employ a record-high, motorcycle-style compression ratio of 14.0:1 (13.0:1 in Australia).

This could increase to as much as 18.0:1 with the addition of HCCI tech, which could reduce the next 2.0-litre Mazda3’s fuel consumption to as little as 3.5L/100km and its CO2 emissions to less than 95g/km, as required in Europe by 2020.