Big engines and sales: It’s a busy week for Mazda news
It has undoubtedly been a busy few days at the Mazda press office, because the carmaker has announced two pieces of pretty big news in quick succession.
First up was the revelation concerning global full-year financial and sales results, which showed the brand had shifted 1,561,000 vehicles during the 12 months to March 31st 2019.
In Europe, this amounted to 270,000 cars being delivered, with the Mazda CX-5 proving to be the most popular.
Sales performance and profit both exceeded the forecasts announced in February, and Mazda revealed it wants to continue this positive growth by getting global sales up to 1.8 million until the March 2025 fiscal year.
Planned investments in next-generation products and technologies will no doubt help with this, as launches of the Mazda3 and Mazda CX-30 are both expected this fiscal year.
Meanwhile, Mazda fans were also kept occupied by the news that the company plans to develop new six-cylinder petrol and diesel engines.
This nugget of information was delivered in a presentation to investors and subsequently uploaded to the Mazda website, which promised that a SkyActiv-D diesel hybrid and a SkyActiv-X petrol hybrid are both planned for release.
Both will be offered with either a 48V mild-hybrid or a plug-in hybrid drive and it's likely that the new engines will be mounted longitudinally with all-wheel drive.
There was much speculation about what kind of new models this will mean for Mazda, with some suggesting more SUVs or crossover vehicles to accommodate the massive new engines.
However, given that Mazda already doesn't offer some of its SUVs over here (including the CX-9), another contender could be an update to the Mazda 6 saloon that hasn't been revamped since 2012.
Either way, this addition of larger engines puts Mazda in the same realm as BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Jaguar, which is likely to be good news for those who enjoy plenty of power under the bonnet.