As we all know, Mazda may be the world's most dedicated brand to the development of fuel engines, in the past many years. Mazda has developed a rotor engine, compression engine and other technical concepts of very advanced internal combustion models, it can be said that in the era of fuel vehicles, Mazda is a typical representative of the technical school. However, "technology houses" seem to have a common problem, that is, they only focus on technology and are not sensitive to the perception of market changes.
In fact, with the continuous promotion of new energy vehicles around the world, many automakers have abandoned the research and development of naturally aspirated engines and large-displacement multi-cylinder engines, but Mazda is still interested in these models. The Mazda-3 Onkselas, which was previously put into production in China, was equipped with the latest 2.0L compression-ignition engine, but the result was that the price was close to 190,000, announcing the failure of this technology at the market level.
While global car companies are trying to "three-cylinder" many engines, Mazda has launched a technologically advanced in-line six-cylinder engine. It was previously reported that the core power of the new generation of Mazda 6 and CX-60 will be composed of an in-line 6-cylinder (L6) engine + 48V light mix. The displacement of this engine is 3.0L, after adding 48V light mix, the maximum horsepower is expected to reach 350Ps, the power data can be said to be quite strong, of course, the underlying technology of this straight six engine is also Mazda's latest compression combustion technology. Along with the introduction of the gasoline version of the straight six model, Mazda will also introduce a 3.3L diesel straight six engine.
Although the power data of this straight six engine is very good, from the perspective of the global market, it is likely that these two straight six engines will be "discriminated against". The reason is very simple, in the world, many countries and regions for large-displacement multi-cylinder models are not particularly friendly, small displacement, hybrid, pure electricity is the mainstream of automotive power development, we see even BMW X5, Audi Q7, and even 7 series and other million-level luxury brand models, the main sales model has begun to move closer to the 2.0T engine, so this large-displacement six-cylinder model in the future at the market level, may show the ability and height of technology is not proportional.
Of course, Mazda people also feel this, a few days ago, Mazda Europe R & D center technology development senior member Joachim Kunz said in an interview with the "European Automotive News" that the new inline 6-cylinder engine may be the last generation of Mazda brand internal combustion model, he said, "This is likely to be the last generation of internal combustion engine, we will be ready for the most difficult expected goals, and then use post-processing solutions to adjust it." ”
In fact, the implication is that Mazda has also seen an unstoppable trend in electrification at the relevant level, and the internal combustion engine has essentially no future, so for Mazda, which is obsessed with engine research and development, it may be that the inline six-cylinder engine is really the last "gift" that Mazda dedicated to the era of fuel vehicles before the advent of electrification.
In fact, from the current situation, in the global world, in fact, many car manufacturers have stopped the research and development of internal combustion engines, especially the research and development of naturally aspirated engines, which have basically stagnated, except for Mazda.
For many car manufacturers, in fact, we all see the current new energy vehicle sharp technological breakthrough capabilities, the height reached by the research and development of the internal combustion engine in the past hundred years, easily broken through by a group of batteries and motors, and electrification has become the main direction of future automobile development, which has almost formed a consensus. Then in this time period, time and capital are also invested in the research and development of the internal combustion engine, and it is likely that the technology has been developed, but the outlet of the market has passed.
For Mazda, it has actually been committed to the research and development of internal combustion engines over the years, but in many cases, it may be a wrong step, resulting in the technology can not be fully marketized.
For example, the previously mentioned 2.0L compression-ignition engine, 2.0L self-priming displacement, maximum horsepower 180Ps, placed in the natural suction era, this power data is very good, but at the moment, Nissan's 1.5T engine, the maximum horsepower is 204Ps, such technology has no advantage. And because the research and development time is too long, the cost must be amortized into the product price, so that the Mazda 3 OnkSela a small compact car sold nearly 190,000 "sky-high price", directly exceeding many joint venture medium-sized cars, the result is naturally a failure.
So for Mazda, if it still wants to continue to exist in the market as a car brand, electrification must be the only way out, and naturally aspirated and large-displacement engine research and development really don't have much prospect.