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Mazda will bring two exciting new cars to the upcoming Tokyo motor show, a big hatchback-coupe using the clever new SkyActiv-X engine, and a seven-seat CX-8 SUV.
The big coupe, which looks as if Mazda is toying with the idea of an Audi A7 rival, represents the next-step in both the company's light SkyActiv chassis and architecture, as well as the evolution of the now-familiar 'KODO' design language.
It also uses the new SkyActiv-X engine, developed by Mazda to be the first HCCI (Homogenous Charge Compression Ignition) engine on the market. To boil the tech down to its essentials, it's a petrol engine that can burn fuel using either a spark-plug or diesel-style compression ignition, depending on how you're driving it.
Whether or not the coupe itself makes it through to production, the engine definitely well, as promises as much as a 30 per cent in improvement in fuel economy compared to a conventional petrol engine, with a similar improvement in emissions.
Sadly, that does mean that hopes Mazda might be using the concept coupe as a trailer for a new rotary-engined car were wide of the mark. Rotary development in Hiroshima seems to have stalled once again.
Mazda does have the new CX-8 though. We haven't seen any images of it yet, but it's a big, seven-seat SUV, based on the same architecture as the new CX-5, and is scheduled to go on sale in 2018, and will include a significantly updated 2.2-litre SkyActiv diesel engine.
"In August, we announced Sustainable Zoom-Zoom 2030, our long-term vision for technology development setting out how Mazda hopes to use driving pleasure, the fundamental appeal of the automobile, to help solve issues facing people, the earth and society. The vision commits Mazda to substantive cuts in Co2 emissions, and we believe the best way to achieve this is to reduce emissions under real-world conditions while offering a mix of combustion engines and electrification technologies in consideration of each region's energy situation and energy mix," said Mazda's Representative Director, President and CEO Masamichi Kogai. "Our stand this year marks the beginning of a new era for Mazda. We will showcase a concept with the design and technologies that will define a whole new generation of Mazda cars. Among them is SkyActiv-X, a petrol engine that achieves a long-held dream in the global automotive industry."