Mazda Plans to Electrify Its Range, but Isn't Dropping Gas Engines
Mazda will introduce Skyactiv Multi-Solution Scalable Architecture for hybrids, PHEVs and EVs in 2022.
The automaker plans to offer three EV models, five PHEV models and five hybrid models between 2022 and 2025.
Dedicated EV platform dubbed Skyactiv EV Scalable Architecture will arrive in 2025, but Mazda will keep hybrids and PHEVs beyond 2030.
Mazda intends to offer a fully electrified range by the year 2030, the automaker said, following up on similar announcements by a number of automakers earlier this year and in 2020. The Japanese brand plans to achieve this in stages, dubbing its long-term strategy Sustainable Zoom-Zoom 2030.
Under this plan, Mazda will introduce an EV platform called Skyactiv EV Scalable Architecture starting in 2025, suitable for various sized battery-electric vehicles. The automaker also plans to develop hybrids and plug-in hybrids, based on a Skyactiv Multi-Solution Scalable Architecture that will also support battery-electric models. Using this latter architecture, Mazda plans to offer three EV models, five PHEV models and five hybrid models, expecting to launch them between 2022 and 2025. Battery-electric models on a dedicated EV platform will arrive between 2025 and 2030.
One aspect of Mazda's plan that you've probably noted by now is it leaves the door open for hybrids and plug-in hybrids beyond 2030—Mazda only said it plans to have a fully electrified range by the year 2030. So the automaker is leaving itself some room to maneuver, especially since it has to take into account various export markets that are not among the leaders in EV adoption.
Likewise, the share of EVs Mazda will produce by the end of the decade is not expected to make up the lion's share of production.
"Based on this product launch plan, we assume that 100% of our products will have some level of electrification, and our EV ratio will be 25% by 2030," the automaker says.
So even though Mazda will develop a dedicated EV platform by 2025, it certainly appears that the majority of its offerings beyond 2030 will be hybrids and plug-in hybrids.
Likewise, Mazda is not about to stop developing its internal combustion engines.
"We are continuously enhancing our internal combustion engines (Skyactiv-X and new straight-six engines) and electrification technologies as part of the 'Skyactiv Multi-Solution Scalable Architecture,' which is used in transverse power units in our Small Products and longitudinal power units in our Large Products," the automaker says. "Based on this architecture, we will deliver multiple electrification solutions to meet various customers' needs, environmental regulations and the electric power generating infrastructure in a market."
Overall, Mazda's plan is a conservative one, and like a number of other prominent Japanese automakers, Mazda has not been especially eager to offer EVs.
The automaker's first battery-eletric vehicle will go on sale stateside later this year, and only in California. The 2022 MX-30 is expected to offer a range of just above 100 miles in the EPA cycle that, needless to say, may not be quite industry-leading at the moment. Offering an EV with this expected range in California in late 2021 is a curious move, given the fact that the competition in that particular state is the fiercest in the country and that EV buyers there are also spoiled for choice. It's not immediately clear just how the MX-30 will aim to stand out from the crowd while facing EV competition from Nissan, Toyota, VW and others by the end of this year.
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