{"id":107789,"date":"2016-07-12T16:14:52","date_gmt":"2016-07-12T20:14:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thedetroitbureau.com\/?p=107789"},"modified":"2016-07-12T16:14:52","modified_gmt":"2016-07-12T20:14:52","slug":"mazda-not-ready-to-abandon-us-diesel-market-yet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/2016\/07\/mazda-not-ready-to-abandon-us-diesel-market-yet\/","title":{"rendered":"Mazda Not Ready to Abandon US Diesel Market \u2013 Yet"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Almost 80% of Japanese buyers order the new Mazda2 with a SkyActiv-D engine.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Nearly two years after the maker had originally hoped to begin offering a diesel version of its SkyActiv engine system in the U.S., Mazda Motor Co. is getting close to making a final go\/no-go decision, senior executives said during a luncheon meeting in Detroit.<\/p>\n

In the wake of the Volkswagen diesel emissions scandal, Mazda planners are concerned about future demand for the high-mileage technology. Ironically, a Japanese version of Mazda\u2019s SkyActiv-D powertrain has proven far more successful than expected, diesels now accounting for more than 70% of the maker\u2019s home market sales.<\/p>\n

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Breaking News!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The question is whether the emissions scandal has damaged the German maker\u2019s image or diesel\u2019s image, said Robert Davis, Senior Vice President of U.S. Operations for Mazda North America. \u201cWe think the damage is to Volkswagen, but we\u2019re still deciding\u201d whether there\u2019s enough demand for Mazda to finally launch a U.S. diesel.<\/p>\n

(Mazda CX-9 a contender for North American Utility Vehicle of the Year. <\/em>Click Here<\/span><\/a> for more.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/strong>Mazda had originally slated the SkyActiv-D launch for the beginning of the 2014 model-year, then pushed it back to the spring of that year before putting it on indefinite hold.<\/p>\n

The initial reason for the delay was technical, company officials said. The challenge was to come up with solid performance while meeting tough new NOx and particulate emissions rules \u2013 all the while delivering the sort of fuel economy diesel buyers would expect.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
While Mazda has yet to sell a U.S. diesel, it did score well with a racing version of the Skyactiv-D.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The engineering challenge was all the more frustrating because VW had been able to find that solution \u2013 at least, so it seemed until it was revealed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last September that the German carmaker had used a so-called \u201cdefeat device\u201d to rig its emissions tests.<\/p>\n

U.S. diesel sales have taken a sharp hit since the subterfuge was discovered, though much of the decline reflects the fact that Volkswagen was the largest marketer of \u201coil-burners\u201d in the American market, with its 2.0- and 3.0-liter turbodiesels accounting for about a quarter of its total sales.<\/p>\n

(Mazda3 lands spot on Best Family Car list. <\/em>Click Here<\/span><\/a> for the story.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Nevertheless, some senior executives are skeptical whether demand will rebound.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you like at industry data, you see little opportunity to be successful with diesel engines in the U.S.,\u201d said Masahiro Moro, the CEO of Mazda North American Operations.<\/p>\n

That said, the same might have been the reading of the Japanese market until recently. Diesels have traditionally accounted for barely 1% of that country\u2019s passenger vehicle sales, but the figure has nearly doubled since Mazda launched a home market version of the SkyActive-D.<\/p>\n

That 1.5-liter powertrain is used across the line-up, from the little Mazda2 to larger products like the Mazda6, as well as various crossovers. And on some products, it now accounts for more than 80% of demand. Overall, diesels power 70% of the vehicles Mazda is now selling in Japan, noted Moro. And the Hiroshima-based maker accounts for about 50% of total Japanese diesel volume which has nearly doubled since the launch of the SkyActiv-D.<\/p>\n

(Not all gasoline blends are up to snuff, warns AAA. <\/em>Click Here<\/span><\/a> to learn why.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After a 2-year delay, Mazda is getting close to making a final go\/no-go decision on whether to bring its SkyActiv-D diesel to the U.S., senior executives told TheDetroitBureau.com. The engine is already on sale in normally diesel-phobic Japan and now accounts for 70% of Mazda’s volume there — in the process doubling total Japanese diesel sales.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":79186,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"make":[],"post-state":[],"category_old":[151],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107789"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107789"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107789\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107789"},{"taxonomy":"make","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/make?post=107789"},{"taxonomy":"post-state","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post-state?post=107789"},{"taxonomy":"category_old","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/category_old?post=107789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}