Mazda Has A Plan To Save The Internal Combustion Engine

Mazda has been teasing us with its revolutionary new Skyactiv-X engine, which uses an extremely high compression ratio to allow for compression ignition (like a diesel) and in turn improve fuel economy. This new engine was expected to arrive alongside the 2019 Mazda3, and we evendrove a prototype version of the car with the new engine. But when the Mazda3 was revealed with no announcement of the Skyactiv-X engine, we were a bit disappointed, to say the least.

Now, Mazda has finally published power and fuel economy figures for the new engine, which will be available for the European, Japanese, Australian, and Chinese markets in the fall of 2019. But if you live in other markets, like the United States, you are out of luck. A Mazda spokesperson toldCarbuzzthat the company "will announce the powertrain lineup for each market at the appropriate time." In other words, the US isn't getting the engine just yet.

Mazda says, "We are currently studying when to launch Skyactiv-X in North America, in consideration of the business environment and the market needs." But the company also wants to point out that "Skyactiv-X is not the only way we are making our cars more competitive. We are making continuous updates to our existing Skyactiv-G and Skyactiv-D engines, including adding cylinder deactivation, optimizing displacements, adding turbocharging and so on."

So even though we may not be getting Skyactiv-X just yet, wecan look forward to Mazda's future inline-six engine. For those markets that are receiving Skyactiv-X, the 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine will produce 180 PS and 224Nm of torque (177 horsepower and 165 pound-feet of torque), which isnot far off from specs leaked a few months ago.