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Toyota's new subcompact will use Mazda's Skyactiv engine
Toyota's new subcompact will use Mazda's Skyactiv engine SALAMANCA, Mexico -- Toyota Motor Corp. will add Mazda’s fuel-efficient Skyactiv engine to its tiny stable of borrowed powerplants when it sources a new Mazda2-based subcompact from Mazda’s just-opened assembly plant here. The car will get Toyota-designed sheet metal on the outside but Mazda’s high-compression, fuel-injected Skyactiv gasoline engine under the hood, said Keishi Egawa, CEO of Mazda’s operations in Mexico and director of its plant here. “They will make model-specific investment for the Toyota vehicle,” Egawa said in an interview at last month’s factory opening. “Stamping, dies -- that is theirs,” he said, as well as “some of the interior design work.” But the Toyota spinoff will use “our engine,” he said. 50,000 a year The factory will allocate about 50,000 vehicles for Toyota from its full annual capacity of 230,000 units. Output for Toyota is expected to begin after April 1, 2015, but before March 31, 2016. Using Mazda’s Skyactiv engine may help Toyota burnish the appeal of its subcompact offerings. The car is pegged to replace the lackluster Yaris, the latest generation of which arrived in the United States in the fall of 2011 with a carryover engine and transmission. It would be one of only a few direct-injection engines at Toyota. Only select Lexus nameplates, the Scion FR-S and some Japan-market Toyota sedans, such as the Crown, use direct injection. For Mazda, it means maximizing economies of scale at its Mexican operation. It also allows Mazda to promote its Skyactiv technology as the powerplant for a well-respected rival. This year? Mazda has not released details of the next-generation Mazda2, but it is expected to enter production in Mexico as early as the second half of this year. The company began producing the Skyactiv-equipped Mazda3 sedan and hatchback at the site in January. While the Japan-market Mazda2 already offers a 1.3-liter Skyactiv engine, the current U.S. version does not get Skyactiv treatment. The next generation is expected to receive the whole set of Skyactiv technologies, including the new engine, transmission and chassis. Mazda is migrating its entire lineup to the lightweight Skyactiv architecture, which aims to boost fuel economy while maintaining responsive driving dynamics. A key mission of the Salamanca plant is to further the penetration of the Skyactiv lineup in other markets. Others' engines A Toyota spokesman confirmed that Toyota’s Mexican-built spinoff of the Mazda2 will get a Mazda engine assembled on-site. He declined to comment on what other Skyactiv technologies, such as chassis components, would be used in the Toyota version. Toyota is no stranger to using engines from other manufacturers, although it does so rarely. Its Scion FR-S uses an engine from Subaru-builder Fuji Heavy Industries, and its Verso minivan gets a diesel engine from BMW AG. The Lexus LFA sports car, which ended production in 2012, was powered by a V-10 engine from Yamaha Motor Co. In October, Mazda will open an engine machining shop next to its Salamanca assembly plant. It will be flexible enough to machine any engine in Mazda’s lineup, gasoline or diesel. Supplying some of the engines to Toyota may help it achieve better economies of scale. Mazda currently mounts only the 2.0-liter Skyactiv gasoline engine in the Mazda3s assembled in Mexico. Mazda3s with the 2.5-liter engine are manufactured in Japan. A Mazda spokesman declined to give future engine deployment plans for Mexico. |
Using a Mazda engine and transmission in the Mazda-sourced Yaris-replacement will save engineering costs that would have been necessary to modify the small (low-margin) car for another drivetrain.
IMO, the problem was not with the Yaris' engine but the ancient 4-speed automatic transmission. |
Either way, nothing wrong with a little collaboration and a little Zoom-Zoom
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Originally Posted by Sulu
(Post 8419961)
Using a Mazda engine and transmission in the Mazda-sourced Yaris-replacement will save engineering costs that would have been necessary to modify the small (low-margin) car for another drivetrain.
Originally Posted by Hoovey2411
(Post 8419973)
Either way, nothing wrong with a little collaboration and a little Zoom-Zoom
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I can't recall any past joint effort between Mazda and Toyota... this must be a first.
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Originally Posted by bitkahuna
(Post 8420075)
i wonder if the sentiments would be the same if it had been a partner other than mazda :peep:
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The deal seems to be an ultimate vindication of Mazda's promise that Skyactiv would allow for class-leading, fuel-efficient engines. "You can't out-Toyota Toyota and you can't out-Honda Honda. You've got to be you," said Mazda USA's director of communications Jeremy Barnes to AutoblogGreen in 2011. Now, it has the world's largest automaker striking a deal to borrow its tech. If only it were that simple, but then, what else can you expect from Autoflog? Their word-processing software must have an automatic correction feature that automatically enters an anti-Toyota message whenever it sees "Toyota" in the story. Toyota has likely found that even importing the Yaris into North America from Europe is too expensive, so in order to continue selling a sub-compact here, it must resort to building it in Mexico. And to keep costs down even further, it must share a platform (including the engine and transmission) with another maker. And this sharing of the sub-compact platform may be a part of the deal that saw the licensing of Toyota's Hybrid Synergy Drive to Mazda for use in the JDM Mazda3 (Axela). |
Do people buy sub-compacts in USA? I don't think I saw one last time I was there..
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Originally Posted by Hoovey2411
(Post 8420184)
While I see where you're going with this (likely looking for anti Honda/Hyundai statements), I don't have a problem with who it is as long as the tech looks proven and a good fit :thumbup:
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Originally Posted by bitkahuna
(Post 8420501)
no wasn't looking for those kind of statements, just that it's somehow ok to have toyota use mazda engines but if they used, say, vw, which already makes vehicles and engines in mexico for example, it probably wouldn't be ok.
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Originally Posted by bitkahuna
(Post 8420501)
no wasn't looking for those kind of statements, just that it's somehow ok to have toyota use mazda engines but if they used, say, vw, which already makes vehicles and engines in mexico for example, it probably wouldn't be ok.
In Europe, Toyota has kind of similar deal with PSA (Peugeot/Citroen alliance), where they build this A class car (smaller than Yaris) together and shareparts... and first version actually did use PSA diesel engine (Toyota doesnt have tiny diesel). But next gen will not use any PSA engine, rather only Toyota ones (why PSA versions will). Which I find interesting. Of course, in PSA deal, it is Toyota leading the project and doing most of the work, it does not really apply here where they just change design on Mazda vehicle. |
Originally Posted by yowps3
(Post 8420485)
Do people buy sub-compacts in USA? I don't think I saw one last time I was there..
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Originally Posted by BrettJacks
(Post 8420846)
They do buy them, but not in the quantities that they buy larger vehicles. I do see quite a few Honda Fit's running around though.
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Originally Posted by yowps3
(Post 8420485)
Do people buy sub-compacts in USA? I don't think I saw one last time I was there..
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I wonder how the reliability is for Mazda built in Mexico.
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